In early September, a Belgian court ruled that Google could not reproduce certain copyrighted titles and summaries on its Belgian Google News Web site. [BW: "Google in Tussle for Digital Rights"] This case could easily be dismissed as a minor incident in a small European market, but it definitely questions the basic premise of online news aggregation, and even search indexing.
Google contends that it observes "fair use" practices and that copyright law allows for snippets of text to be published. Any publisher not wanting to be indexed in Google News can opt out, or use a tool called robots.txt, a widely accepted standard that allows publishers to block items from being indexed. But not being in Google implies loss in traffic coming to their sites. Publishers seem to be perplexed by this conundrum.
The growing concern among publishers is that they're getting eyeballs but little or no revenue from news aggregators. But the end-customers seem to be happy with the likes of Google News. One gets the best news from different sources on a single site. Saves time!
Since Copyright laws aren't harmonized across the world, and what constitutes "fair use" not clearly spelt out, it is a matter of time before there is a showdown between the publsihing world and the world's largest search engine. Will the courts then view Google News as no different from a library's card catalog or consider it as a usurper of someone else's IPR, is something that will determine who owns the content?
I wonder how can laws written decades ago deal with challenges that face businesses in 21st century. There has to be a paradigm shift in how we view the issues facing us in a "flat world".
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Satyagraha of a different nature
In what is being called a "strike of crossed legs", supported by the Pereira mayor's office, the wives and girlfriends of gang members have said they will not have sex with their partners until they vow to give up violence.
Read more about this novel form of peaceful resistance on Mathaba News Network
I am not sure if the hardened criminals can be lured into submission by the denial of sex but it would be interesting to see which of the two basic human instincts --- sex and violence --- wins this battle.
Read more about this novel form of peaceful resistance on Mathaba News Network
I am not sure if the hardened criminals can be lured into submission by the denial of sex but it would be interesting to see which of the two basic human instincts --- sex and violence --- wins this battle.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Wish You Enough.......
Came across this beautiful anecdote on a blog. Thought of sharing it with those who visit here. 
Recently I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, “I love you and I wish you enough.”
The daughter replied, “Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom.”
They kissed and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking,
”Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?”.
“Yes, I have,” I replied. “Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?”.
”I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral,” she said.
”When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, ‘I wish you enough.’ May I ask what that means?”.
She began to smile. “That’s a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone.”
She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail and she smiled even more. “When we said , ‘I wish you enough’, we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them.”
Then turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory.
I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.
I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.
She then began to cry and walked away.
Recently I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, “I love you and I wish you enough.”
The daughter replied, “Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom.”
They kissed and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking,
”Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?”.
“Yes, I have,” I replied. “Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?”.
”I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral,” she said.
”When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, ‘I wish you enough.’ May I ask what that means?”.
She began to smile. “That’s a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone.”
She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail and she smiled even more. “When we said , ‘I wish you enough’, we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them.”
Then turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory.
I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.
I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.
She then began to cry and walked away.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Are "user-generated" video sites sustainable?
Does Starbucks sell coffee? Obvious answer is that Starbucks provides an expensive and comfortable environment so that people will buy overpriced coffee. The same business model is being pursued by websites that host user-generated content such as personal blogs, photographs and amateur videos, which can be uploaded and watched on sites such as Blogspot, Flickr, Google Images, YouTube, Google Video, MySpace, Guba, Veoh and Metacafe. By offering a setting for free interaction, such sites provide the online equivalent of comfy chairs found in Starbucks. The trouble is that, so far, there is no equivalent of the overpriced coffee that brings in the money and pays the bills.
YouTube, the clear leader in its category by audience size, is casting around for a business model for sustenance. Some estimates put YouTube's current loses at more than $500,000 a month. Afterall there are the costs of running such a site—--video requires a lot of bandwidth and storage.
YouTube and the other video-sharing sites face another big hurdle---infringement of copyright law. I've seen almost entire Bollywood movies being uploaded on YouTube. Now this is serious matter. Though the sites promise to pull pirated content when asked to do so, but it is only a matter of time before one of them is hit with a big lawsuit.
Since users do not like advertisements inserted at the beginning of video clips, YouTube has announced two experiments with advertising. One idea is for “brand channels” in which corporate customers create pages for their own promotional clips. The second experiment is “participatory video ads”, whereby advertisements can be uploaded and then rated, shared and tagged just like amateur clips.
Another concern for the advertisers is putting paid-for advertisements alongside amateur video clips, perhaps based on keywords or tags. Many firms will be cautious about letting an automatic system—such as, say, Google's AdSense—place their ads next to user-generated clips of unknown provenance and with potentially embarrassing contents.
Another revenue source can be a combination of advertising plus the sale and rental of commercial video material. Guba.com offers both free amateur videos and paid-for content, including films from Sony and Warner Brothers. Google Video allows content owners to charge for video. This suggests that internet-video sites are on a collision course with DVD-rental outfits, such as Netflix, which are moving towards the delivery of films via the internet, rather than as discs sent through the post.
Another strategy that can be adopted by the 200-odd internet-video sites can be to woo and be bought over by media conglomerates instead. Recently Sony, which has a large film studio and lots of video to promote, bought Grouper, a small video-sharing site, for $65m. And News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate, is turning MySpace, its popular social-networking site, into a challenger to YouTube.
It will be interesting to see whether the enterprsing spirit that gave birth to the concept of user-generated content sharing would be able to come out with novel revenue generation model as well or will it be the same old story of big sharks eating smaller fish.
Source: The Economist
YouTube, the clear leader in its category by audience size, is casting around for a business model for sustenance. Some estimates put YouTube's current loses at more than $500,000 a month. Afterall there are the costs of running such a site—--video requires a lot of bandwidth and storage.
YouTube and the other video-sharing sites face another big hurdle---infringement of copyright law. I've seen almost entire Bollywood movies being uploaded on YouTube. Now this is serious matter. Though the sites promise to pull pirated content when asked to do so, but it is only a matter of time before one of them is hit with a big lawsuit.
Since users do not like advertisements inserted at the beginning of video clips, YouTube has announced two experiments with advertising. One idea is for “brand channels” in which corporate customers create pages for their own promotional clips. The second experiment is “participatory video ads”, whereby advertisements can be uploaded and then rated, shared and tagged just like amateur clips.
Another concern for the advertisers is putting paid-for advertisements alongside amateur video clips, perhaps based on keywords or tags. Many firms will be cautious about letting an automatic system—such as, say, Google's AdSense—place their ads next to user-generated clips of unknown provenance and with potentially embarrassing contents.
Another revenue source can be a combination of advertising plus the sale and rental of commercial video material. Guba.com offers both free amateur videos and paid-for content, including films from Sony and Warner Brothers. Google Video allows content owners to charge for video. This suggests that internet-video sites are on a collision course with DVD-rental outfits, such as Netflix, which are moving towards the delivery of films via the internet, rather than as discs sent through the post.
Another strategy that can be adopted by the 200-odd internet-video sites can be to woo and be bought over by media conglomerates instead. Recently Sony, which has a large film studio and lots of video to promote, bought Grouper, a small video-sharing site, for $65m. And News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate, is turning MySpace, its popular social-networking site, into a challenger to YouTube.
It will be interesting to see whether the enterprsing spirit that gave birth to the concept of user-generated content sharing would be able to come out with novel revenue generation model as well or will it be the same old story of big sharks eating smaller fish.
Source: The Economist
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