Belgians have invented Smurfs, make some of the best beer in the world, and know how to fry a potato chip. However, one must say the country's leading newspapers scored an own goal when they took Google to court last year for listing their content in the search engine's news section and won on copyright.I guess they didn't look at how people arrive at a typical online newspaper site, which derives up to 50 percent or more of their visitors from Google. In addition to taking the group of papers out of its news section, Google also stopped indexing them in its search engine. Now the newspapers are complaining that they are being discriminated against unfairly!Google claims it had no choice given that the court said it would fine the company 25,000 euros for each infringement. This week the company got Copiepresse, which owns the newspapers, to sign a statement saying it wouldn't enforce the penalty and started reindexing them in its search engine. Goal! However they do have a point: it is an issue that media publishers have long complained about sites that aggregate news and make a profit out of their work by selling advertising.Google has big power and the danger is how the company wields it in pursuit of profit. It brings traffic to websites, but the company that claims to "do no evil" can also taketh away ostracising those for good and bad reasons.The company is also stepping up its aggregation news service by trying to attract more volume through the "gamification" of Google News. Google is following a trend among news sites to bring readers in. With their consent, readers will be rewarded with "news badges" based on their reading habits. Badges of varying levels will be given out depending on the amount and types of articles you read. About 500 badges are available to suit a wide range of topics. Google News indexes about 50,000 sources. Keep reading and get those badges! Maybe.Here is a note in support of those in Bermuda (and I know a few) who have been consistently calling for faster and affordable broadband access. In June OECD governments and other stakeholders agreed not to further regulate the Internet. Meeting in Paris, participants noted that the Internet has achieved global interconnection without the development of any international regulatory regime."The development of such a formal regulatory regime could risk undermining its growth," they said in a communiqué. However, Governments should instead improve their efforts to protect personal data, freedom of expression, and other fundamental rights online. And they should also promote high-speed broadband access to reap the full benefits of an Internet economy."Governments have a key role to play in spurring demand for broadband, particularly in areas such as education, health, energy distribution and transport," the statement said. The onus is on government; and this is especially true in Bermuda's economy which went though a painful and fractious period of deregulation, support for the Internet economy during the dotcom boom, and now some sort of stability. The result, high costs and low speeds; even when taking into account Bermuda's wealth.There is no easy answer in a relatively open economy, but one does need a standard bearer, someone with a passion and understanding, to lead the way.Speaking of tech bubbles - and I enjoyed the last one if only for the characters that sprung up out of the woodwork and attempted to make a bundle from Bermuda apparently the consensus is there's another one under way.Get ready for a different ride. I describe the last dotcom boom as a traffic-free one many start-ups went after investment based on a smile and a business plan. The companies in this dotcom boom (if there is one) already have the traffic but in many cases have comparatively low revenues.They are looking to build that side of the business on top of the one they have built in a few short years. The ride this time will be more mature, but that won't stop some lemmings from jumping off the cliff.Send any comments to elamin.ahmed[AT]gmail.com