France, Grudgingly, Imagines Google as a Partner on Digital Media Projects

As France slowly brings its cultural past and present into digital form, it is realizing that the job will require support from a company often viewed with deep suspicion here: Google.

Google is highly popular with many Internet users in France, where it controls about 80 percent of the search market. But the French cultural elite has not always been as welcoming, because Google's growing presence demonstrates France's dependence on the company to develop its digital media business. As a result, France has yet to find a successful way of involving Google in various projects. First, France tried a coercive approach, suggesting that Google ought to help aid the beleaguered music industry, and recently even threatened an antitrust investigation into the company. Then it tried a more conciliatory move, proposing a partnership with Google to accelerate the development of a viable French digital library. But even on projects agreed to by both sides, the details have often hindered progress.