Tuesday, April 15, 2003

Google and copyright Something occurred to me today about Google (and other search engines - but mainly Google).

When Google indexes a website, it takes a snapshot of each page and keeps a copy of the page cached on its servers, so that users can still access the 'cached' version of the page if the original site expires or happens to be broken.

I'd be very interested to know the legal position on this.

For example, when I write an entry on this weblog, the words belong entirely to me - I created them, I composed them, and I published them. As a result, I own the copyright on those words.

The same goes for all of the other writers here at The Copydesk - the website is merely a publication tool, and only the originator of the material can ever own the content, unless they agree otherwise.

With this in mind, how does Google get away with publishing a cached, completely viewable page from my website using only the following disclaimer:

Google is not affiliated with the authors of this page nor responsible for its content.

Answers on a postcard, please. 

BlogFC Still on football, BlogFC is a fantastic service for people who wish to set up a soccer-related weblog without all the hassle.

It's reasonably priced too.

Found on Parallax View.