Liability & Legality

**danifer** · 07-25-2006, 12:24 PM

Is anyone else worried about the number of people taking the text contents of their websites - the blood, sweat, and tears we put into writing those articles/posts/etc. and using them for their own ends?

I'm not talking about the spam blogs either - I'm referring more to the big guys like Google, Yahoo, and MSN who seem to have no problems with copying big sections of copyrighted my text, displaying them on search results and putting ads next to them

</rant>

**ForgottenCreature** · 07-25-2006, 02:00 PM

...don't the search results include a link to your site?

**danifer** · 07-25-2006, 02:04 PM

Yes they do. And I appreciate it because that increases my traffic and makes me money. I'm just uneasy with the trend that it's OK to take and use without permission. Copyright law is the only thing that protects me as a writer and keeps food on the table.

There's a legal term that applies to landowners called permissive easement. It's basically the idea that if you let people live on or use your land long enough without actively kicking them off, then at some point they develop a right to live there whether you want them to or not.

**ForgottenCreature** · 07-25-2006, 02:07 PM

Well I'm confused. When you say google and MSN and other search engines it sounds as if they are just indexing your content and displaying it in their search results, which is what search engines do.

Or am I reading it wrong?

**danifer** · 07-25-2006, 02:14 PM

No, you're right. The problem is that no one from Google or MSN ever came to me and asked my permission, they just did it and they're doing more of it. MSN's webpage preview, Google's cache feature, Google book search, are all examples. At what point does it stop being OK?

Note: This is a philosophical discussion. I'm not campaigning against Google/MSN, just making a point.

**imported_Think** · 07-25-2006, 02:15 PM

You could always deny them access in robots.txt

Added: You can also try out <META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOARCHIVE"> if it's the caching you don't like

**Tran** · 07-25-2006, 02:33 PM

Or.. if you wish email them and ask them to remove it? I feel that they're just indexing it.. Not trying to screw you over or anything.. Thats what a SE is..

**Libertate** · 07-25-2006, 02:50 PM

I believe they do not display complete pages of yours, but simply a synopsis which is covered under the "fair use" section of the Copyright law.

As public content, your website maybe quoted partially. That is what Google, Yahoo!, MSN and their ilk is doing.

**danifer** · 07-25-2006, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Libertate

I believe they do not display complete pages of yours, but simply a synopsis which is covered under the "fair use" section of the Copyright law.

As public content, your website maybe quoted partially. That is what Google, Yahoo!, MSN and their ilk is doing.

That's a valid point, but then what is fair use? How should I feel about Google's cache, and all the Google image searches? It just feels to me like the internet is turning into an information free-for-all and only the Googles of the world are going to make money. Worse yet, writers and web authors seem to be helping move it along by giving Amazon, Google, Yahoo, etc. more and more control over their sites.

**danifer** · 07-27-2006, 12:52 PM

Thought this was a good thread, but the responses are slow...

**briansol** · 07-27-2006, 03:08 PM

i don't see the point....

if you don't want your pages searched or cached, specify so on your pages with the proper commands.

http://www.google.com/support/webmas....py?topic=8459

**Lpspider** · 07-31-2006, 12:15 AM

I've thought about this before... but if you don't want it displayed, you can keep it from being displayed, as already stated.

**kindsvater** · 08-01-2006, 11:00 PM

In the 'Music Videos" thread in this sub-forum I have posted some cases involving Google that address these issues.

**Ma2T** · 08-03-2006, 08:14 PM

Google and the like is doing you a favour by helping your site get visitors and promoting you, if you don't like it, set it up so Google and the other search engines can't list your pages.....but then you would be losing out on a lot of traffic.
Also Google only shows like 15 of your words.... if the user on the search engine likes what he / she reads they will visit your site.

Most people appreciate what Google does for their sites, if you don't, simply don't let them index you!...you can control it... your choice.

**Hobbit** · 08-04-2006, 02:10 AM

This is a good excuse to sue a search engine, but it wouldn't work.

**NavySeals91** · 08-04-2006, 02:29 AM

Wanting to not be indexed is bad, it is not stealing your copyrighted information. If you do not set up meta content tags, it uses part of the article as a description. To put it simple you can't have your cake and eat it too. If you want to make money off of content, you can't tell the SEs to take you off, it is nuts, you will lose your revenue. Also, is this a precursor to sue Google, MSN, Yahoo? It seems just a bit like it.