Silicon Valley’s biggest names are bearing down on Washington DC today, in order to fight for a ‘free and innovative’ internet for us all. Under the banner of “The Internet Association”, the likes of Facebook, Google, AOL, and others have officially set up a lobby group in order to make their presence felt at Congress.

The Internet Association, which views itself as the first trade association to represent the interests of the internet economy on Capitol Hill, today officially released the full list of its member organizations that make up “the backbone of the online economy”.

So far, 14 of the internet’s most prominent players have signed up to the lobby group, including Amazon, AOL, eBay, Expedia, IAC, LinkedIn, Monster, Rackspace, salesforce.com, TripAdvisor, Yahoo and Zynga.

Michael Beckerman, newly appointed president and CEO of The Internet Association, outlined the group’s goals during an interview with TechPresident.com:

“A free and innovative Internet is vital to our nation’s economic growth. These companies are all fierce competitors in the market place, but they recognize the Internet needs a unified voice in Washington. They understand the future of the Internet is at stake and that we must work together to protect it.”

The Internet Association’s website lists its goals as being “dedicated to advancing public policy solutions to strengthen and protect Internet freedom, foster innovation and economic growth and empower users.”

These are ambitious goals, and so to achieve them the Internet Association will need to put its money where its mouth is. Google alone has already spent over $9 million lobbying Congress in 2012, while Facebook has spent an additional $1.6 million of its own money.

But while it’s going to be expensive, Beckerman believes that the maneuver is necessary to prevent the signing into law of any legislation that could lead to gross regulation of the web, like the Stop Online Piracy (SOPA) bill that caused such an outrage last year. Writing in the Huffington Post yesterday, he explained:

“Congress nearly altered the Internet’s fundamental DNA without fully appreciating the perspectives and concerns of the engineers, entrepreneurs, innovators and tens of millions of individual users that make the Internet what it is today,”

“The Internet Association was formed to protect an innovative and free Internet and to relentlessly represent this critical economic sector, in collaboration with main street businesses and individual users, to ensure that the Internet will always have a seat at the table in Washington.”

“The Internet provides incredible benefits to our economy and to society at large. Policymakers must understand that our country, and the world, depends on a free Internet. As we approach another presidential election, the gold standard of democracy around the world, our message to both parties and both candidates is simple: The Internet is one of the greatest engines for economic growth, freedom and prosperity the world has ever known. The Internet Association, and millions of active users (and voters), stand ready to protect a free Internet and the innovation it fosters.”