Google too good for the French

It is a slow Saturday here at the Feedlot. About like most Saturdays this time of year. Apart from the sad story of Jessica Lunsford, and other tragedies, the news is mostly about Europeans making stupid look sharp. On the latter theme, Drudge Report finds this Netscape/CNN page with this Reuters story about AFP:

"SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Agence France Presse has sued Google Inc. (GOOG), alleging the Web search leader includes AFP's photos, news headlines and stories on its news site without permission.

The French news service is seeking damages of at least $17.5 million and an order barring Google News from displaying AFP photographs, news headlines or story leads, according to the suit filed on Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. "

It doesn't surprise this anti-francophile to see the Frenchies try to throw a wrench into the internet innovations the Google folks have brought forth. Bad enough Google is not a French word, they can't pronounce it unless they have heard it. I never really wanted to Cherche their commie newspapers, but if I want to read AFP stories for free, I look here , where Yahoo collects the latest headlines. For more thorough browsing, here is a list of major world publications that buy AFP stories and publish them in their own unique contexts. You can read all of these papers on the big web.

I hope Google beats the AFP. As far as I'm concerned, anyone beats the French.