here, I thought you should see if you haven't already," Edelman wrote to Google Senior Policy Counsel Johanna Shelton, sending her a Forbes article.

As the conference started, Google contacted the Office of Science and Technology Policy with concerns that the State Department would agree to an unfavorable deal. Ross LaJeunesse, a delegate to the conference and then Google's Global Head of Free Expression and International Relations, wrote an email to the White House's Edelman expressing worry that the United States would sign on rather than face "the optics" of being one of the few countries not to.

Google was concerned a deal would be reached

LaJeunesse wrote that his "read" was that the State Department was "interested in reaching a deal." At the end of the note, he wrote, "Pleasereaction to the conversation." It's unclear who "Eric" spoke to: Clinton herself, or a member of the staff. (Schmidt is now a supporter of Clinton's presidential campaign.)

Ultimately, 89 countries out of the 151 participating signed on, with the United States one of those against. It was a complicated, mixed result: the final decision reached may have been more about signaling what binding resolutions could be made, rather than actually passing such resolutions. LaJeunesse, in an email to Edelman, bluntly said "we lost," although Edelman responded, "The world lost. This treaty now has no legitimacy."

"I understand that Eric personally called Secretary Clinton's office, which was an impressive show of force."

It's difficult to say what role Google, which declined to comment, may have had in the US decision to not