Google Pays AP To Help Put The F(U) In AFP

from the playing-nice dept

The AFP news agency, for some reason, felt really hard done by Google, and decided to sue the company for having the audacity to link to its stories. While AFP’s customers are understandably upset, since Google removed AFP from Google News, taking away a significant source of traffic. Google has now muddied the waters a little bit by announcing a deal to pay the AP, another news agency for the use of its stories and photographs. While at first glance, this might appear to bolster AFP’s case, Google is quick to add the deal has to do with a new product that will complement Google News, not for its linking to AP stories within the News product. This announcement really doesn’t change anything in regards to the AFP case — Google News is still nothing more than a search engine, falling well within fair use boundaries. And the real fact of the matter hasn’t changed — that Google News drives traffic to news providers’ sites, where they’re free to monetize that traffic however they see fit, or attempt to monetize it, anyway. AFP had other options than to sue Google and get itself removed from Google News. Even if it prevails in the case and gets the $17.5 million in damages, or even a bit more, it won’t be ahead in the long run. For too long, traditional news organizations have resisted adapting to the internet. They need to understand they’ve got more to gain by working with the likes of Google to help craft win-win scenarios, rather than resisting innovation and technology.


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Comments on “Google Pays AP To Help Put The F(U) In AFP”

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30 Comments
Ajax 4Hire (profile) says:

Re: Re: hard to read

Bad grammer exactly means hard to read.

Grammer, Syntax, structure, style are all part and parcel of well-written or not good writing, it tells on the author and makes the subject hard to delve.

Just as programming languages can veil the true operation in hard to grasp variables and odd structure, so too can the grammer of written word also hide the intent of the writer.

I could be more clear but then I would be transparent.

Ryan says:

why sue

why sue? haven’t they ever heard of a robots.txt file denying Google. it’s a 10 second fix.

I also fail to see how traffic on a news site can ever be a bad thing… If you don’t want people to see it, don’t put it out there.

There needs to be some sort of check on these lawsuits so they don’t even go to court.

Whatever he said says:

Re: Re: why sue

Don’t forget the indirect publicity; AFP and other news agencies are all in a transition phase because people aren’t reading papers anymore, but now AFP gets headlines and folks start going there on their own.

Wouldn’t Marshal, Will, and Holly love the world we created for them?

How dare they! says:

Re: why sue

Ryan is correct, it’s a 10 second fix that would prevent Google’s crawler from scouring their sites. I can’t believe that Google had the audacity to send more traffic to those news sites. Isn’t that what everyone wants? Less traffic to their sites? I get sick of Google doing that. Have you also heard that Google is directing traffic to OTHER types of sites as well that aren’t news sites?

bkdbhhdhiduhvbhbvbvhbsifgbsisjgjdgsduifgsfhsfhhggq (user link) says:

Re: 6

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Sick of greed says:

Um, I fail to understand why a news company would sue a search engine for linking to them. If I were running that company, that’s what I would WANT to happen. Why did they sue Google for doing so? Because they wanted Google to pay them for access to their content? Sheesh, can this world get any greedier? Build a good website that generates its own revenue and then let everybody link to it. Quit being lazy, thieving morons.

And btw, I will say this one time. The Internet is NOT an excuse to forget how to use the English language. Grow up and learn your grammar and spelling, and quit being lazy too, because it makes you look like the idiot you probably are.

Kerry says:

Robot insurance

I’d like to offer AFP a chance to purchase Robot Insurance from Fidelity-Mutual-Underwriters Farm State Corp. of Delaware. For just pennies a day, we can protect them from the evil robots. No more will they hae to worry about mechanical or electronic home (or homepage) invasions by robots, real or imagined.

With our coverage, AFPs children never have to worry about a robotic traffic accident. Their loved ones will be well taken care of.

If they act right now, I can offer them 10, 15, and 17.5 million dollar policies. Again, for only pennies a day.

For more information, call 1.800.5537.8008

or write to:

Fidelity-Mutual-Underwriters Farm State Insurance

C/O Avery Minette Asukrisborn

Box 335-A

Quahog, Delaware

55378-008

(Any mispellings or bad grammar were completely intentional. Any resemblance to real persons or events….Oh wait! That’s for fictional wokls)

Xcetron says:

Google should just stop linking any site that decided to sue them, after a couple cases people will start to learn that it doesnt help your business much if youre sueing free advertisements. Google is undoubtedly one of the most popular search engine on this planet and being linked to by them for free is obviously a great help to drive more people to your site, so why would you sue them?

PoorleySpelte says:

Why don't they throw some my way???

What’s all this about my grandma?? hehe… Google seems to be shelling out a lot lately all of this suing nonsense must come to and one day surely, seems damn stupid to me…..but what do i know, i’m broke 🙁 …not from being sued though… How much is Google worth can someone please enlighten me…I’d look for myself but i don’t think i can afford the lawsuit….i need money for beer.

Astralis (user link) says:

Google is not being consistent

The fact that Google is now paying AP shows that Google will pay for content, exactly what these publishers are demanding they do for them. Google’s inconsistency is problematic in the court of law. You can’t claim you don’t pay for content which means you place a monetary value on it while paying for content.

What has to be done now, is to determine the monetary value of the headlines the publishers have. I believe it’s over for Google now that they’ve started to pay.

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