With Google all over the news, both foreign and domestic, about its policy on aggregating news content, Google has explained over at its blog why management made the decision to maintain its stance on aggregation. I love this quote from a recent post on the Google blog, which says, "the Internet has broken down many of the barriers that exist between people and information -- effectively democratizing access to human knowledge."

Could not have said that better myself. But, in the process of democratizing information, Google is irking the purveyors and publishers of knowledge who cling to outmoded copyright thinking. I'm not saying that all copyright holders should not protect their content (if it's original and not simply parroted wire stories). But, the publishers of information need a swift kick so that they can wake up to realize that the rules of information transfer is changing -- from the establishment's control to the consumer's control. And, there is no going back. Ever.

So, what can Google do? For one, the company says that they do respect copyright, although that statement may be rankling the Belgian and French governments at the moment. Google, at its blog, states the below in regards to the content it does not own and in respect to content owners who need to protect their rights.

Google pledges to:

• respect copyright
• let owners choose whether it indexes content in its products
• try to bring benefit back to content owners by partnering with them

That last bullet is the kicker -- Google's partnering with content providers needs a facelift, big-time. The smaller bridges it has burned are tiny compared to the lavish rewards of mutual partnerships.