Summary: The Czech Presidency is seen promoting Microsoft's agenda once again

INNOCENT observers might be able to spot anti-Google fronts which are sponsored or created by Microsoft every now and then [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Sometimes they may not be related to Microsoft [1, 2], but they are tied to AstroTurfing entities. They try to appeal to innocent minds and thus achieve the objectives of their sponsor/s.

In addition, several times in the past we demonstrated (using evidence) how the Czech EU Presidency was fighting for software patents in Europe and had been helping Microsoft's OOXML [1, 2]. It's part of a trend [1, 2, 3, 4].

Now we are finding this report in EurActiv:

EU countries want the European Commission to investigate the economic implications of Google’s book search project amid fears that it will harm the European publishing industry, it emerged on Tuesday (26 May).

EU competitiveness ministers meeting in Brussels tomorrow and Friday (28-29 May) are likely to ask the Commission to launch an investigation into the implications of the project for Europe's authors, a Czech EU Presidency source told EurActiv.

[...]

But Czech Presidency sources told EurActiv that it was "extremely early to say" whether common judicial proceedings were even a viable prospect.

The entire text is conspicuously biased. The article is mostly ghostwritten based on this source from the Czech EU Presidency. It does not even wish to be identified on the face of it. Who could possibly be advancing this agenda? Is it possible that the Microsoft-funded Czech Presidency has again joined those other fronts which Microsoft set up to attack Google from different angles? This one uses the angle of book scanning, which would make it a case of hypocrisy assuming Microsoft acts as an agent provocateur. Microsoft tried to do exactly what Google does with literature, but it lost the battle and gave up last year. Only months ago Wired Magazine showed that Microsoft used publishers as a weapon against Google. ⬆

"Our friends up north [Microsoft] spend over five billion dollars on research and development and all they seem to do is copy Google and Apple."

--Steve Jobs, 2006