Selling the Cloud Sublime - To the Cloud: Big Data in a Turbulent World - page 112

Lobbying for the Cloud
Two additional forms of promotionalism are important to consider: the
expansion of lobbying by irms involved in cloud computing and the
proliferation of corporate trade shows dedicated to the cloud. There are
certainly overlaps among the various forms of building a vision of the
sublime cloud. While it might not take place as directly at Davos, host of
the World Economic Forum, as it does in Washington, D.C., lobbying is
intrinsic to political activity in both places. Nevertheless, there is enough
difference to warrant distinguishing among the contributions made by the
advertising spots that promote the cloud's ability to create the perfect fam-
ily, the sponsored blogs that chronicle the cloud's seemingly unstoppable
growth, the report that documents a hyperconnected world in the cloud,
and the hand-to-hand networks that lobbying and conferencing build.
Perhaps because the irst waves of IT entrepreneurs believed that the
technology would sell itself to decision makers in Washington and other
world capitals, there was little organized lobbying until recent years. This
is particularly surprising because the telecommunications and electronics
industries are legendary for their lobbying prowess. In the United States,
AT&T and General Electric were at the top of a long list of irms that were
prominent in the corridors of power. Scholars attribute much of AT&T's
ability to maintain its monopoly control over the telephone industry to its
army of lobbyists, who made the case that Ma Bell embodied the needs of
local subscribers, a massive workforce, and the millions of shareholders,
all of whom held America together in one seamless network (Tunstall
1986). To tamper with the network in any way, whether with companies
that might want to compete by building a better or cheaper service, or
just those who want to sell a pink telephone, would be harmful if not
downright un-American. AT&T's lobbying clout built a particularly cozy
relationship with the Pentagon, which could be counted on to defend the
telecommunications monopoly as a matter of national security. According
to the company line, multiple providers would endanger secure networks
that were essential for national defense. It was not until AT&T met its
lobbying match that it lost its monopoly control over the telecommu-
nications marketplace. That could only happen when the banks, insur-
ance companies, retailers, and others who paid a premium to sustain a
telecommunications monopoly decided to form user associations whose