HN user
I would imagine what Google does is less "evil", while also being totally legal, than how California government would actually chose to spend those taxed dollars. Maybe if Google holds off a little longer then California may actually get more competent people handling their debt obligations and future expenditures. Overspending at a local level needs to be reigned in for any tax revenue to be truly effective.
Oh Nintendo, thanks for the memories!
HA! Exactly what I was thinking, but couldn't remember the service's name. Thanks for the mental unblocking.
It was probably cheaper to force or induce the closure of index sites that are done more as a love of community than of profits, not make nearly as much as the usenet providers themselves. These index sites, I'm sure, understand the legal costs and risks of continued operation if those options were presented to them. With the majority of them down and out of the way the providers themselves will see a reduction in revenues and may not put up a fight when they fall into legal pressure to close up shop.
And thus we explore a brief glimpse of the tragedy of the commons.