Stupid Is As Murdoch Does

I've always thought that Rupert Murdoch (pictured), as rich as he is, was not the brightest bulb on the tree. Now it looks like he's out to prove that by limiting access to the online sites of his news organizations like the Wall Street Journal and New York Post in America, and the Times and Sun in the U.K.

He had already announced that his sites would begin charging for readers to access their websites. He had hoped to start that by June of 2010, but it now looks like that may be delayed. Now he wants to ban Google and other search engines from listing stories from his sites.

He says he thinks it is illegal for search engines to use his headlines or paragraphs, and he wants to ban the practice altogether. Obviously, he doesn't understand the value of search engines. They are not stealing his content, but instead are sending him a ton of readers. Evidently, he wants his sites to virtually disappear from the internet.

Personally, I wish him success in his insane venture. I hope he does start charging for visits to his sites. I also hope he gets his sites removed from all the search engines. Doing both of these two things would ensure that his internet sites will fail (and there will be less access to his right-wing slant on the news).

There are two things that are pretty much assured. Free access to news on the internet is going to continue (and probably expand), and search engines will continue to direct much of the internet traffic.

If Murdoch doesn't want to participate on the internet, I doubt he'll even be missed.