Government Decision

Another entry on Library stuff was an article about how Germany has put a stop to Google images being accessible to Germans on the internet because the people making the decision believe that Google images is an infringement on copyright laws.  This is something that I have wondered about myself.  We sometimes need book cover art for displays and if we can not get from amazon we get them from google images, and I have noticed that there are a lot of images on Google images that are professional pieces of photography or art and anyone can take them and copy them without paying the artist for the work they have done.  As an artist myself, I do not think that is right; however is it the governments job to decide that?  In other words, if that decision was made by the United States government, would the ALA have let them away with it?  or Google's lawyers for that point.  And if it is not the government's job to censor that part of Google, whose is it, or is it not censorable?  Are owners of personal work suppose to copyright it and take care of the problem themselves...or should we all practice more ethics?