Occupy Google has begun.
About 20 activists from San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland set up camp on the Internet giant's Mountain View campus, promising a 24/7 "occupation" of the Googleplex until demands are met, according to the Daily Kos.
Organizers say that they want a meeting with Google brass and a promise from the company that it will do what it can to protect net neutrality -- that is, making sure that some Internet content is not prioritized for bandwidth over other content.
Tents up at #OccupyGoogle #NetNeutrality #freespeech . http://t.co/zj4Pv9BNOW Come one come all.1600 Amphitheatre Way pic.twitter.com/cK1Ih3SDZI — Occupy Google (@occupygoogl) June 24, 2014
Google company officials are aware of the protesters and allowed the group to be there, Mountain View police Sgt. Saul Jaeger said.
By the time NBC Bay Area's chopper flew overhead late Tuesday afternoon, the tents were no longer visible.
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The group is worried about a proposal by Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler to create a "two-tier" system permitting service providers to offer fast connection speeds for fee-payers and a second, slower speed for the rest of the public.
The FCC will be taking comments about the proposal until July 15.
Occupy Google organizers are calling for a day of action and online protest on July 10, urging website operators to "blackout" their sites for the day and instead post links to online petitions and the FCC's comments page for people to express support for net neutrality.
In addition to tents on the Google campus lawn, organizers also set up a website, www.occupygoogle.org.
Bay City News contributed to this report.
