Slashdot Mirror
Murdoch To Explore Blocking Google Searches
In another move sure to continue the certain doom looming over classic publications, Rupert Murdoch has elaborated on the direction he would take in an effort to monetize the content that his websites deliver by attempting to block much of Google's ability to scan and index his news sites. "Murdoch believes that search engines cannot legally use headlines and paragraphs of news stories as search results. 'There's a doctrine called "fair use," which we believe to be challenged in the courts and would bar it altogether,' Mr Murdoch told the TV channel. 'But we'll take that slowly.'"
I know the slash-tards think everything is fair use, but this has nothing to do with it. It has to do with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_News_Service_v._Associated_Press The term is called "hot news." The ruling basically states that you can't copyright the facts with current events.
Fair use is a defense when you are guilty of copyright infringement. It's an extenuating circumstance. On the other hand, Google has not engaged in copyright infringement because the articles themselves are not copyrightable in the short-term -- as the events are happening. They do not need to use a fair use because the headlines/summaries they are copying are not under copyright.
1) The morons have to pay the HeadMoron for their daily propaganda. 2) The rest of us don't even get any of it accidentally fed to us by Google. I see this as win-win. Go Murdoch!
Information doesn't want to be free
True; it would be as easy and truthful (or thruthless) to say "information wants to be paid for".
But when information isn't free, neither are we.
Free Martian Whores!