Readers of this list may have seen the article by Jeffrey
Toobin
in the current issue of The New Yorker on Google's Book
Search
program. There is no new information in it, but the piece
is
accompanied by two delicious cartoons. Were these cartoons
chosen to comment on the topic of the article or is their
placement random?
The first cartoon has Death seated on a tiny, isolated
island.
Death sits in the sun, while all around him (her?) are the
fragments of the shading palm tree he has cut down. A wry
comment on Google, which is attacking the intellectual
property
industries that make its services valuable? Or a comment on
the
publishers who are suing Google? Or perhaps simply a
broader
comment on those whose very character damages their own
interests.
The second cartoon shows someone stopped by a traffic cop.
The
officer requests not the license and registration but a
"head
shot" and registration. Head shot? Snippet? Or
simply a satire
of the encroachments of the PR industry into the
commonplaces of
American life?
If you skip the article, enjoy the cartoons.
Joe Esposito
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