The Debate Over Online News: It's the Consumer, Stupid

AP does get fees for news..that's their business and no one says otherwise.



Their beef is with others using their content without permission, specifically search engines etc. who index sites for content.



Sites with this content need only use common web practice to avoid being indexed. No one can stop someone from manually duplicating something. AP etc. need to make sure those who legally publish their content on web sites include some simple tools to stop Google, Yahoo and all responsible engines from indexing their content. It is simple to do for any average web developer.



The down side is that AP and others want high rankings in search engines. This is a free service to their benefit based on the quality of the content on their site. Block indexing and down goes your rankings. It is a trade off. If you lose rankings you also lose your own ad revenue.



The bottom line is you can cut off the news at the source but you can't stop it from spreading through any non-traditional means...and you don't want to.
About Eric Schmidt
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