Re: Google settlement rejected

[Sandy Thatcher <sandy.thatcher@alumni.princeton.edu>]

Since you mentioned Baidu, this story out of china should be of 
interest:

http://www.cdeclips.com/en/nation/fullstory.html?id=63296

Sandy Thatcher

>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