Oh snap, the thing that everybody IN THE WORLD predicted would happen, happened.

Some Belgian newspapers sued Google in 2006 because Google was linking to them and the wanted money. Now the courts have ruled in their favor, they got some money and (of course) Google stopped linking to them. And now they’re complaining that they are being “unfairly punished” because Google is no longer sending them traffic.

Well DUH! Einstein, what did you actually think would happen? You bit the hand that feeds you, i.e. sue the site that is sending you traffic, and now they cut you off and you whine like spanked little children? And you wonder why the whole world thinks you’re money-grabbing bungholes who are desperately clinging on to a dying business model? And why Belgians are universally giggled at?

As Mike Masnick put it: “So, let me get this straight. When Google links to them, it’s ‘theft.’ But when they don’t link to them, it’s ‘harsh retaliation.’ How does that work?”

More info at Techdirt.

UPDATE: Excellent op-ed piece by Max Smoley at Hyper Om.

UPDATE 2: Oh. My. God. Google had “talks” with Copiepresse, and has received “permission” to link to the newspapers after all. If I were Google I’d have spit in their coffee, giggled a lot and then gone home. Full info right here.