The Googlization of Everything

see also: EPIC 2015 (the update)

&

Snarkmarket (the creators' blog)

This has been around for 3-4 years and did need an update since some of what it predicted back then didn't come to pass so it's confusing and misleading. (I get the general point, but still, it's not ideal to have past dates with wrong info.)

I've noticed pointers to this video showing up again, which raises the question: is it worth reposting links to some things we bookmarked a few years ago given that many people out there may not have seen them?

Terrific video. Raises some interesting concerns. But I don't know if the Supreme Court would rule in favor of Google in NYT v. Google. In a fair use case, the burden of proof is on the infringer, i.e. Google. Google would have to prove that what it was doing was adding value. That case can conceivably be made, but it's a weak case in my opinion.

So I think the Supreme Court would rule for NYT.

But if they didn't, we could all just move to Europe, where they appear to be alot more proactive in reining in online companies like Google and Microsoft. Maybe I should start practicing my French.

Someone recently speculated that, given the NYT's est. value of 2bn, Google could make the Sulzbergers an "offer they can't refuse" and buy out the paper of record for 4bn or so. (which would also include a 17% stake of the Red Sox!)

To me, that's a more likely scenario than Supreme Court backing of a "personalized information construct" as fair use.

In the end, the "nightmare scenario" may be less a digital world centrifugally sucked into Google servers than a "centripetal" internet with epic battles between vertically integrated concerns. See, e.g., Kevin Werbach on the Centripetal Internet.