From Dave Winer’s influential Scripting News
We don’t get no respect from Google, we don’t get no respect from the EFF, but we do get respect, tons of it, from Rupert Murdoch. Now who do you think gets it, the tech industry, or…? Heh. My bet is, I hope, clear. The techies have an inflated sense of self-importance.
The information system of the WORLD is changing, Murdoch sees that, and sees himself as an immigrant (all of us who were reared in the centralized information system of the 20th century are), and because of that, understands that he has much to learn. The young minds of the tech industry aren’t young enough to be rooted in the transition, or old enough to get that a transition is taking place, and that they are building on a foundation that’s eroding.
If they were aware, Google would be pushing RSS instead of resisting it, and the EFF would be protecting the integrity of our work, instead of helping Google undermine it.
Specifically, EFF has not spoken out, and indeed seems to support, the noxious Google AutoLink, which rewrites webpages, sticks advertisements on them, and doesn’t pay the webmaster a dime. An odd stance for an organization devoted to freedom on the Net.
We have a chance for a revolution, it’s just a chance, Murdoch gets this, so the barriers are probably going up, as we speak. We, the little people, need to work together, now, like we really mean it.