Source:
APFriday, April 22, 2011, 1:52 PM
SAN FRANCISCO -- Google Inc.'s lobbying costs are rising to new highs along with most of the company's other expenses as the Internet search leader's expansion plans and privacy breaches draw more government scrutiny.
The company, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., spent $1.48 million making its points with U.S. lawmakers and regulators during the first three months of the year, according to documents filed late Thursday. That's the most money Google has devoted to government lobbying during any quarter since the company opened its lobbying office in Washington in 2005.
Google's first-quarter lobbying bill represented a 7 percent increase from $1.38 million at the same time last year. After last year's first quarter, Google spent slightly less on lobbying in each of the next three quarters.
The uptick to start the new year coincided with government inquiries into Google's $700 million acquisition of airline fare tracker ITA Software and the bungled launch of a social network called Buzz that caused some of the company's Gmail users to publicly expose their contact lists.
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