To understand how dominant tech companies are, see what they lobby for

A firing this week by a Washington think tank has exposed the deep and often hidden influence of tech companies that are driving key governmental decisions affecting people both on and off the Internet. On Wednesday, the New America Foundation -- a think tank funded by Google as well as one of its cofounders, Eric Schmidt -- ousted members of its Open Markets program, its anti-monopoly research arm, that had openly criticized the Web giant's growing power. Google and New America have said this specific decision was not motivated by the group's remarks. But critics say the episode highlights the tech industry's enormous power to set the terms of public debate in the nation's capital. The funding of think tanks is just one way Silicon Valley is quietly expanding its influence in Washington.