Adding to the pile of posts against Google AutoLink:
I understand the argument that says “my browser is mine, and I can do whatever I want to the content that appears there.” I also understand Google’s argument, which says “hey, we’re only showing this if the user explicitly asks for it.” I won’t claim to be master of copyright law, but I suspect these arguments are correct – you can choose to let Google modify the links on your page, and Google can give you this option. However, if Google really wants to live up to its ‘don’t be evil’ motto, it’ll resist the temptation. Why? Because modifying the link pages of content producers helps take the incentive out of publishing.
Really, folks, it’s basic psychology – people resent it when other people take from them without giving something back in return. When a company uses a publisher’s content for a service that doesn’t benefit the publisher in any way, that’s a slight. The publishers know they’re being taken advantage of, and that’s why they’re angry. Being taken advantage of takes the fun out of writing in a very real way. And when writing isn’t fun, people are far less likely to do it. And that’s bad for all of us. Forgive the lapse into buzzwords, but by deincentivizing content production, Google is threatening the viability of the participatory revolution that makes Internet 2.0 a possibility.
Sure, you might argue, Google’s use of content is relatively benign and minor on its own, and it’s not going to stop anyone from writing – but Google legitimizes this in a way some scumware company can’t. When twenty major companies are rewriting user links, will you feel the same? Sure, you might argue, the vast bulk of content producers aren’t going to stop writing – but when the emerging class of professional online writers can’t make a living due to commercial link-leeching, will you still agree?
Look, right now I could design a toolbar that’d turn every product name on your webpage into a link to the comparison shopping engine I work for. Hell, every product related phrase could become a search query. It’d be easy to do, and it’d likely be profitable, because some percentage of the population would find this useful. No comparison shopping engine’s done this yet, because it’d quite surely kick off an evil PR nightmare from hell – it’d risk making them the next Gator. If Google gets away with AutoLink, and Yahoo and Microsoft keep up with the Joneses, that’s no longer going to be the case. Robert Scoble said it best – this is a Pandora’s Box you don’t really want to open.
{ 0 comments… add one now }