There is a joke in that headline.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Murdoch is even confused about what he fears! He doesn’t fear search, he fears linking in general, and deep linking in particular. Search as an Internet application is just one way of organizing the deep links. So are web sites like TMO, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc. With his TV empire, about the only links he has to worry about are programming listings, which are not particularly deep. The YouTube/Hulu aspects are kind of a tangential story.

This really gets to the point of why I just dislike the iPad, and why I hope that other manufacturers won’t go down the same road. It’s not just that Apple inserts itself as mandatory middleman between developers and users. It’s that they have to do that to deliver on an implied promise to Murdoch and his friends to “save” publishing. If they make the device secure enough so that users have to enter the WSJ through the front door every time, Murdoch can monetize that and not have to worry at all about deep links into his content.

I know. 99% of consumers want that. It’s just a small percentage of us that want to hold our own discussions outside the bounds of walled communities. Blah blah blah.

99% of consumers want that. It’s just a small percentage of us that want to hold our own discussions outside the bounds of walled communities. Blah blah blah.

I must have missed the part where having an iPad means Apple controls all content. I always thought that the internet was open to all. Of course, content on the internet belongs to the poster. I’m grateful that you allow your content to be accessed by all. The WSJ, among others, takes a slightly different approach: their content can be accessed by all who pay for it.

Idealism created the internet.

Capitalism made it interesting.