Is Web 2.0 Fraying at the Edges?

Man, between the article I posted yesterday and this one today, I'm really excited to see what legal precedents get set this year:

To quote from the article, ironically, "Neither Mr. Singleton nor a statement released by The A.P. mentioned any adversary by name. But many news executives, including some at The A.P., have voiced concern that their work has become a source of revenue for Google and other sites that can sell search terms or ads on pages that turn up articles."

The article, titled, "Associated Press Seeks More Control of Content on Web," discusses how smaller websites are profiting from using large portions of AP articles (or entire articles), while advertising money drawn from views of those articles is going to sources other than the AP. Now, I don't think they have a prayer in court of saying that people aren't allowed to quote online from their articles, but maybe they do. Sites that use articles wholesale and reap profit from views, however, will probably have to pay.

And the irony is perpetually in my head that I'm posting these things on a Google-run website.

I _love_ Google. Don't get me wrong. I totally subscribe to the Death Star, daycare and all, but Google is the John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and J.P. Morgan of this age, and laws need to be adjusted to deal with this behemoth, just as they were changed to deal with the industrialists and bankers of yesteryear.