To protest against what is largely being seen as Internet search giant Google’s perceived betrayal of the movement for federal Internet openness rules, almost a hundred ‘net neutrality’ activists – including long-time technologists, first-time protesters, and enthusiastic young campaigners - gathered at Google’s Silicon Valley headquarters on Friday.

The issue being protested was the Monday-released joint policy statement by Google and Verizon, wherein the two companies proposed that calls for the exemption of wireless networks from the ‘net neutrality’ regulation – a proposal that hints at having different rules for the wired and wireless Internet.

The proposal – which aims at preventing high-speed Internet access providers from prioritizing different kinds of traffic – has widely been construed to be Google’s turnaround of its long-standing support for federal rules that would allow Internet users could use the apps, services and devices of their choice, without unwarranted intervention from their Internet Service Providers (ISPs) or mobile carriers.

With the proposal already having sparked opposition from other bigwig Internet companies, including Facebook, eBay and Amazon, the Friday protest had the activists holding signs that said “Save the Internet” and “Don't Be Evil.”

Commenting on the protests against Google, James Rucker, a software developer who delivered the petition signatures, said: “Google has built itself on this idea of not being evil. Many others have looked at Google as a company that's gotten big, but also as a company that has values. And I think the brand of Google is at stake here.”