I agree, but would add -- five years ago "Google has been stymied by copyright" was most of the story for them, but today "Google is subject to political pressu

I agree, but would add -- five years ago "Google has been stymied by copyright" was most of the story for them, but today "Google is subject to political pressure to exercise editorial control" (to put it charitably) is as important. Not to diminish the disappointment over Google Books being curtailed (Google actually went to court for it!), or DMCA takedowns on Youtube or Google Search results. But we also have to admit that today Youtube is exercising editorial control to ban opinions they don't like, and that Google Cloud is as quick to drop "the wrong kinds of customers" as the payment processors everyone was complaining about ten years ago. Maybe "getting ahead of the censors" minimises the damage, maybe it encourages the censors. I don't know. I guess the company is run by smart people who want to make as much money as possible in the long term, so it's likely good for consumers on net. That said, it's a shame we don't see them fighting for those principles today.