Toobin on Google in the New Yorker

["Joseph J. Esposito" <espositoj@gmail.com>]

Readers of this list may have seen the article by Jeffrey Toobin 
in the current issue of The New Yorker on Google's Book Search 
program.  There is no new information in it, but the piece is 
accompanied by two delicious cartoons.  Were these cartoons 
chosen to comment on the topic of the article or is their 
placement random?

The first cartoon has Death seated on a tiny, isolated island. 
Death sits in the sun, while all around him (her?) are the 
fragments of the shading palm tree he has cut down.  A wry 
comment on Google, which is attacking the intellectual property 
industries that make its services valuable?  Or a comment on the 
publishers who are suing Google?  Or perhaps simply a broader 
comment on those whose very character damages their own 
interests.

The second cartoon shows someone stopped by a traffic cop.  The 
officer requests not the license and registration but a "head 
shot" and registration.  Head shot?  Snippet?  Or simply a satire 
of the encroachments of the PR industry into the commonplaces of 
American life?

If you skip the article, enjoy the cartoons.

Joe Esposito