Re: Google settlement rejected

[jean.claude.guedon@umontreal.ca]

I know that there is a great deal of scepticism about governments 
in the US, and I suspect this is what Jim is reflecting here. 
However, and a bit like democracy, although (democratic) 
governments are far from perfect, they are still better than no 
government.

The US government may have had numerous chances, and Congress may 
have blown it so far, but there is no other way but to wait and 
to push until they get it right. At least, this is what I would 
do if I were a US citizen. And if congress gets to it, but gets 
it wrong, there will be more work to be done to redress it. 
Again, this is what a democracy is all about: no solution is ever 
perfect or definitive. Yes, it will take years. Getting out of 
the age of digital incunabula (Gregory Crane's phrase) will take 
decades, which is not going to please the impatient ones among 
us.

The Google settlement was a horror show for the future: a 
monopolistic position can be extremely difficult to dislodge and 
it may take decades to do so. The settlement would have ensured 
digital incunabula for a very long time, and a control over 
knowledge that would be deeply unhealthy. Google would have been 
in the position of a unique and powerful librarian with a huge 
library at his/her disposal, and that librarian could have 
manipulated the card catalogue at will (the search algorithms) 
without users being able to ascertain what is going on in the 
back end of the process. This is anything but reassuring. Imagine 
Baidu buying out Google in ten years...

As for the last sentence, I do not understand (neither do I 
understand the reference to Johnny Mathis).

Jean-Claude Guedon

Le lundi 28 mars 2011  a 21:38 -0400, James J. O'Donnell a ecrit:

> Shall we have a listmembers' pool of predictions about how long
> it will take the U.S. Congress to clear its mind of dealing with
> true crises like incandscent bulbs and getting coddled NPR
> reporters out of LIbya and to focus on getting orphan works
> sorted out and done? They've had numerous chances.  Any Johnny
> Mathis fans among us?  Side bets also should be welcome on
> whether what Congress does ends up being more or less
> corporate-friendly than what was in the settlement.  I'm not a
> particular fan of the deceased settlement, but I also don't think
> that spending several years not solving the problem adds as much
> value as some might think.
>
> Jim O'Donnell
> Georgetown