Google Tricks

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 From Time Magazine --
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1032364,00.html

Google Tricks
By ANITA HAMILTON

Look out, surfers: there's a wave of controversy headed your
way over the latest version of the Google Toolbar, a popular
Web browser add-on that attaches a search box and an extra row
of buttons onto Internet Explorer. The new version (available
at google.com) includes a feature called AutoLink, which can
transform plain text on any Web page into a link that sends
users to a related site for more information. AutoLink, though
still in beta, has many Web watchers crying foul because it
gives Google--not users or publishers of sites in which links
are embedded--the power to decide which sites it sends you to.

How does it work? Say you are scanning a list of restaurants
online and want to check the location on a map. Instead of
copying and pasting the address into a mapping site, you can
click right on the address and view a Google-branded map that
shows you where the dining spot is. The AutoLink feature
directs people to Amazon for books and to Carfax for cars.

The problem is that while AutoLink can save time, some say it
gives the search company too much control. "Google is
inserting links on people's Web pages," says Danny Sullivan,
editor of Search Engine Watch.com At least one retailer,
barnesandnoble.com has blocked AutoLink by adding coding to
its site that overrides it.

Google says it is not receiving any revenue for sending people
to Amazon and Carfax. What's more, since users have to click
the AutoLink button on the toolbar each time they want to
activate the new links, "it is a user-elected feature," says
Marissa Mayer, Google's director of consumer Web products.
<snip>

--

TIME Magazine writes:
 > Look out, surfers: there's a wave of controversy headed your way over
 > the latest version of the Google Toolbar, a popular Web browser
 > add-on that attaches a search box and an extra row of buttons onto
 > Internet Explorer. The new version (available at google.com) includes
 > a feature called AutoLink, which can transform plain text on any Web
 > page into a link that sends users to a related site for more
 > information.

One deplorable consquence is that sites may choose to make their
disclaimers stronger.

A lot of sites run disclaimers saying that they have no control over
links to external sites. The BBC springs to mind. If you look at e.g.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4310453.stm, you'll see that the
external links are located in a box by themselves, with a disclaimer.
With Autolink, text anywhere on the page can turn into links the BBC
wouldn't want to be responsible for. Google's argument that it's user
choice doesn't hold: few pupils have control over the software
installed on school PCs, for example.

(Btw, is it true that the feature can also change the targets of
existing links, even links to the same site?)

Arnt

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