Try to google a French-language newspaper today in Beligum and you're going to have a problem.

Seems that Google has wiped out all reference to French language newspapers on the Belgian Google Site. (Belgium is a bilingual country, with Flemish spoken along the Dutch border and French along the borders with France and Luxembourg).

The action was taken to avoid a penalty of a million dollars a day as the result of a successful law suit by French language Belgian Newspaper Association. Seems they objected to Google caching stories that no longer existed on the original sites. A copyright violation?

Google appears to have been caught in a common legal trap. Belgium, as a sort of commercial beachhead for the European market, and the Belgians have been building a legal structure to fleece the newcomers for quite some time. If you're going to do business in Belgium, better consult a lawyer first.

Belgium is not North korea or China, but regardless of the reasons for wanting to control information, the outcomes are the same. Ironically, the French language newspapers may well have shot themselves in the foot. As the Canadians have learned the hard way, information, like water, always finds a way through. A media ban on the details of the the Paul Bernardo trial failed on account that the courts failed to recognize that 90% of the Canadian population is within broadcast range of American television stations. Last year's Gomery inquiry was also subject to a media blackout which didn't work out too well. Captain's Quarters got the blog-of-the-year award and a massive boost in readership for reporting the details of the Gomery commission to Canadians.

Socialist governments (and liberal Democrats) aren't too fond of free speech (witness the Democrats attempt at censoring "The Path to 9/11"...) and ironically, it appears that the media is more than a little threatened by it as well--even when its there own stuff!