Google Discrimination?

Google has been pushing hard for net neutrality. Their claim is they do not want anyone to be discriminated against on the Internet. Apparently they may know a bit about discrimination. Broadcasting & Cable today points out that Google has been grilled by the Senate about preferential treatment that may be occurring in its AdWords.

Having been asked about this before, their reply was simply that AdWords had been put up for auction and those who wanted the space could pay more for them.

That’s an awfully odd poSition to take given that is the exact argument the telcos have made for tiered service. If you want better service/placement, you pay more for it. So it seems that Google wants to have its cake and eat it, too. Google wants to charge more for better placement in advertising, but doesn’t want that same concept applied to it.