Are New UK Copyright Laws Introduced For Google?

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary in the UK, is about to announce some sweeping changes to UK copyright law based on the Hargreaves Report which I blogged about a couple of days ago. But the fact that it is being done at the British Library, and some of the terms being used, make me see the hand of the tax-avoiders-in-chief, Google. As well as affecting music and film, it seems that the proposed new regime will enable them to commercially exploit out of copyright print publications too.

Worst of all is the idea that these proposals will somehow open up opportunities for British business - the real beneficiaries will be the American online monopolies and oligopolies who use offshore tax structures to ensure no local competitors can grow or survive, and who have such dominance in the market that they are unassailable since they seem not to have to operate under the existing copyright, competition or commercial laws those of us trying to build businesses have to.