Meanwhile, back in Dumbfuckistan …
And speaking of that deal whereby Google privatizes the American (and English, and Australian, and Canadian) public library system, steals copyrights from authors and publishers, and decrees that it owns (and can charge you for) anything ever written in English that somebody doesn’t step forward and prove they own — yesterday afternoon a Federal judge said okay, sounds good to me.
As Jessica E. Vascellaro details in this Wall Street Journal report, Judge Denny Chin “granted preliminary approval” of the Google Book Search Settlement deal — despite widespread and growing criticism — and scheduled a hearing for February 18th. Chin also decreed that opponents — expected to include the US Department of Justice — “will have until Jan 28. to file objections.”
WTF? How can anyone think this Google deal is even vaguely acceptable?
“and decrees that it owns (and can charge you for) anything ever written in English that somebody doesn’t step forward and prove they own”
This, it seems to me, cuts to the heart of what is simultaneously stinky ‘n’ bizarre about the whole business. What’s surreal isn’t that a corporation wouldn’t be so — ah, you know –, but that the case had *any* traction at all.
Incidentally, any background info on Judge Chin? Who is he? What’s his judicial history?