02/24/2005

What's going on with Google's Autolink

Post @ 08:22 in Internet - Search Engines

Google released their new toolbar for IE and integrade a controversial feature called "AutoLink". If user switch it on it will turn street addresses into links to Google Maps, Book publishers' ISBN numbers trigger links to Amazon.com, among other things. After released, it was getting a lot of heat on the web.

Dave Winer had a article argued on this feature: Google's toolbar and content modification. He was thinking AutoLink may infract author's copyright and modified content with no authority.

All documents will have to contain a disclaimer that links contained within the page may not have been placed there by the author or organization whose copyright notice is on the page. Same is true for legal documents, end-user license agreements, rental agreements, etc.

Also here is a potential patant issues: Is Google AutoLink Patent-Pending By Microsoft?

While Google pooh-poohed any comparison of its controversial AutoLink feature to Microsoft's SmartTag technology, Google's generation of dynamic links to maps and use of ISBN numbers to trigger links to booksellers cover the same territory as Microsoft's 2000 patent application for Providing electronic commerce actions based on semantically labeled strings, whose sole inventor - Jeff Reynar - was the lead SmartTag Program Manager while at MS and is reportedly now a Google Product Manager who's being credited as AutoLink's creator.

Where is the line for Google? Dave asked. Hopefully google will collect these reactions from the web and keep promising Larry Page's Beta-Strategy.

Update: Jeffrey Zeldman note us How to block AutoLink in your page, Oops, If I need to install that much code on my server, Certainly I will either uninstall the toolbar or switch to Firefox.