Think back to January 18, 2012, the day Internet companies led a blackout (it was more gray really) of their websites in protest against the dreaded SOPA & PIPA bills. On that day, Google backed a petition with a slogan that sounded so reasonable. It said, End Piracy, Not Liberty. It was classically effective because they could count on anyone who wasn’t paying close attention to the issue — and that would be nearly everybody — to think the message makes sense, that of course, companies like Google want to end piracy as long as the methods don’t threaten liberty. Who wouldn’t agree with that?
Of course, Google had no intention of doing a damn thing about piracy, and they knew that millions of people who clicked on that petition two years ago wouldn’t be paying attention to the matter by the morning of January 20th. And since that day, which has been treated as the web industry’s Alamo and Yorktown in one, Google and friends have steadily promoted piracy, which I believe is the opposite of ending it. So, I guess what I’m saying is that headline, which drew millions of pavlovian clicks, was unalloyed bullshit. As mentioned a couple of posts ago, a Google search on the term “movie piracy,” takes you to what is now the top result only because Google wants it to be the top result. I refer you to the earlier post, but this link will take you to an article written in support of an anti-copyright, libertarian, Koch-funded organization that just happens to be wonderful for Google’s bottom line. I don’t care if you hate copyright, this is just a tiny example of how dangerous it can be to have one company presume to “organize the world’s information.” To serve whom exactly?
