There has been a vast amount of notable activity in cyberprof territory in the past few weeks, when I've not been posting here. Most notably MGM v Grokster reached the US Supreme Court on 29 March.
All the usual suspects covered the story.
I just wanted to draw your attention to the Washington Post article yesterday, though, suggesting that French President, Jacques Chirac, had quietly declared [cultural] war on Google, as a result of their project to digitise famous academic libraries.
"France declared war on the United States three weeks ago.
You didn't notice? Clearly, you're not French.
This war is being fought against one of America's greatest exports. Not rock 'n roll. Not McDonald's or the Disney Co. This time it's Google that the French have in their crosshairs.
Jean-Noel Jeanneney, president of France's Bibliotheque National, or National Library, declared last month that Google's project to create a searchable online database of the world's books constitutes the sunrise of an American hegemony over information and literature.
Jeanneney's call to arms rattled French President Jacques Chirac's saber. Along with French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, announced on March 17 that France would study ways for the European community to embark on a similar project so as to counter Google's thrust into the heartland of Euro-culture."
Great news frmo my perspective. The more that open access becomes a mainstream political issue the better, especially if the competition gets focussed on who can be the most open!
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