Google's Hairy Mainstream Pickle

Who knew something stupid like “Rickrolling” would become such a problem for Google? Thanks to an Internet fad, Rick Astley’s one 1980’s hit “Never Gonna Give You Up” and video were played on YouTube 154 million times.

The royalties the song’s creators received from that sudden revival? Google refused to renew.

This problem echoes, of course, the fire Google is facing from news publishers, who claim Google devalues content and profits from doing so. The argument is also queerly duplicitous: Musicians, record companies, and news organizations don’t want Google to stop featuring their content, they just want a bigger piece of the online advertising pie.

Nick Carr, who’s been wrong about lots of stuff lately (Google making us stupid comes to mind), describes