Mr. Obama, put an end to the internet wild west era!

Newspapers are going out of business by the day as the perception that content of any kind should be free on the internet. During the past decade we have had an internet wild west were the google cowboys made a killing on the back of the small web site/content operator. To add insult to injury, on April 8, 2009 Google Inc. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt issued an order to news sites operators to do what they are told or else. For Mr. Schmidt who has been making loads of money, the business model is really easy: take everything you can from a content operator for free, including brand name, content, brand associations and brand definition then turn around and benefit from the free stuff you were able to gather. No web site would dare revolt as s/he would risk losing to their competition – blackmail at its best. So now, in the best impersonation of the bandit in the Godfather movie, Schmidt goes to newspapers and says: you are doing business in ‘my’ neighborhood and you have to pay me. Schmidt the genius or Schmidt the crook..

Google dominates over 65% of the internet so Mr. Schmidt’s neighborhood is quite large..For more than a decade Schmidt’s cowboys have absolutely destroyed the internet content business model reducing to either google it or die..Some of the major web site operators have resisted the onslaught and they are making some money from google. But unless you are AP or News Corp. google would not even bother to talk with you. Google would take your brand and mess it up any way they want, including description, content associations and any brand value you can think of. You’ve got it, you work hard to build it, you spent money to create an image for it.. well google doesn’t give a banana for it..

Web businesses everywhere have become hostages to one business model: google. Content innovation and new business model have all but disappeared. Like in the old wild west, as long as the google bandits are in town, nobody moves.

Mr. Obama, please put an end to the internet wild west!! We need new rules for the road for a new internet era. If you are serious about having a knowledge based economy, then it should not start 65% of the time from google.. that is not an internet economy that fosters innovation, growth and business ventures. The google deception over brands all over the world MUST STOP.
Web site owners, brand owners and content creators all over the world UNITE!
Let the internet revolution begin! Let the Google monarchy forever end! Let the FREE content market place begin!