Illegal links not allowed.

[Carnage]

Originally posted by Vin Diesel@Apr 14 2004, 11:12 PM

If this is true then I have lost all my respect for Google, the internet should be a realm of TRUE free-speech and should not be tainted by politics, morals or bias. NOTE: I'm talking about a search engine like Google which we all depend from not RDF which is a private site.

It's not a matter of politics,morals or bias. It's a matter of law.

Google isn't imune from legal rulings, which that is a direct result of.

[afzan]

Originally posted by Vin Diesel@Apr 14 2004, 11:12 PM
If this is true then I have lost all my respect for Google, the internet should be a realm of TRUE free-speech and should not be tainted by politics, morals or bias. NOTE: I'm talking about a search engine like Google which we all depend from not RDF which is a private site.

What's the difference between Google and RFD? they are both privately owned, and they can operate however they see fit..

RFD removes links that have other people's affiliate links in them, and gets to choose what makes it to the front deals page.
Google similarly chooses what they are going to display.

[bdckr]

What's the difference between Google and RFD? they are both privately owned, and they can operate however they see fit..

RFD removes links that have other people's affiliate links in them, and gets to choose what makes it to the front deals page.
Google similarly chooses what they are going to display.

Well put. "Losing all respect" for google is a lot different from deciding that google is not the most useful search engine for your needs. They are still a private company that offers a service. And they don't want to be sued. Removing some results and acknowledging that they were removed (and giving the reasons for removal) is a good compromise between offering the best service possible while protecting the company. If you don't like google's position, you don't have to use it.

[justme]

If you don't want to use Google, use these instead
http://www.altavista.com/
http://www.dogpile.com/
http://www.askjeeves.com (My personal favourate)

[coolpc]

so i guess it is not ok to ask about private online game servers, such as RO, right??

[JLee]

so many people are posting links to liscenced anime, you'd think they'd know that it ISN'T allowed.

[SickFinga]

It's not a matter of politics,morals or bias. It's a matter of law.

Google isn't imune from legal rulings, which that is a direct result of.

Question: Can search engines be liable for copyright infringement by providing hyperlinks to search results?

Answer: Some Internet search engines have been getting "takedown" requests under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Section 512 (see DMCA Safe Harbor Provisions for more information). The DMCA provides a safe harbor to information location tools that comply with takedown notices, but it is not settled whether they would be liable for copyright infringement if they did not use the safe harbor. Arguably, computer-generated pages of links do not materially facilitate infringing activity or put their hosts on notice of copyright infringements.



I guess Google does it voluntarily

[zekrn]

Google is a corporation out there to make money for itself and its shareholders. If it could make more money for its shareholders by keeping those links that they removed than the cose of being sued, they would have.
It's about economics rather than law or about doing "what's right".
Obviously it's the same for Sharman Networks who is obviously losing money due to the propagation of free alternatives to its software, so they threaten to sue google to get them to remove those links.

The same can be said of all those companies losing money because of people downloading their software or any other copyrighted material through p2p software such as bittorrent. Hence the point that it's illegal to download (non-free) software that you haven't paid for, and that you shouldn't link to it.

Question: Can search engines be liable for copyright infringement by providing hyperlinks to search results?

Answer: Some Internet search engines have been getting "takedown" requests under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Section 512 (see DMCA Safe Harbor Provisions for more information). The DMCA provides a safe harbor to information location tools that comply with takedown notices, but it is not settled whether they would be liable for copyright infringement if they did not use the safe harbor. Arguably, computer-generated pages of links do not materially facilitate infringing activity or put their hosts on notice of copyright infringements.



I guess Google does it voluntarily