Show All » » Welcome
Thursday, October 08, 2009Protecting Your Website, Online Business & Reputation
In past posts I've commented upon the rise of "e-books" and their associated issues. Now comes word that "e-publications" are on the verge of being "Napster-rized." It seems a Swiss website is now allowing anyone to post any content for free download, no matter the content nor how it was obtained. For those publishing e-books, and even those holding the rights to popular "p-books" which are being illegally scanned and posted, this situation isn't very different from what happened to popular music over the past decade. Music "sales," even accounting for the i-Pod downloads from Apple, have fallen precipitously since illegal downloading was enabled.
Printers who aren't "in the book printing business" however, ought not breathe a premature sigh of relief. Turns out Google, the same company which scanned and posted millions of books without paying any rights fees beforehand, is on to something much more disturbing these days.
Google is now "pushing" a new feature on the free "Google Search Bar" commonly referred to as a Google Sidebar.wiki. So what you may ask. Well, here's what this means to everyone with a website. Once folks download the sidebar.wiki feature (and I believe they now also have to also have a gmail account), they can visit your website and post ANY COMMENTS THEY CHOOSE right alongside each of your web pages. It gets "better" - every posted comment (true, false or downright malicious) will be seen alongside your web pages by every future visitor who has (perhaps unwittingly) downloaded this new free Google toolbar utility. Oh, and Google has unilaterally decided that when these folks visit your website(s), about 40% of each screen image they will see will be the "wiki comments section" taking up the entire left hand side of the screen.
Ponder what you just read. Yes, a hostile competitor can now post comments designed to frighten off your customers and visitors...encouraging them to leave for a competing site. Yes, someone now can literally "blackmail" a website owner by threatening to post almost anything on that person's site. One extreme example posted a few days ago was the possibility of someone being labeled a pedophile or other type of criminal...right on top the site they (or you) paid to build, pay to operate and have spent years developing into a responsible platform. In effect, Google is now enabling the universal "hijacking" of every website (albeit under the guise of "advancing social networking"). Doesn't matter how much you invested in your site, SEO, keywords or links. Anyone can now post anything they wish right on top of your privately owned content 24/7.
Where does this place you? First, and foremost, it almost literally "blackmails" you into downloading the Google sidebar.wiki application (spreading the menace) just to be able to check every single one of your web pages every single day...simply to ensure you've not been unfairly maligned or become a victim of libel or slander. If you don't download the new Google sidebar.wiki, you can't see what every visitor (who has the wiki feature) sees when they visit your sites. In this case, ignorance is not Bliss. It's downright reckless. No doubt the legal profession will earn plenty arguing cases about whether "posted comments" are libel...or simply "free speech" (no matter how irresponsible or false). Google, just in case you were thinking of contacting them to quickly and easily remove disputed and offending comment, has so far announced "they will decide" whether to remove offending comment (on their terms, on their timetable). This month, perhaps there are only a few hundred of website owners complaining. How fast do you think Google's response will be to "remove unfounded slurs" and other totally objectionable content once millions are complaining weekly? How outrageous might this behavior become? As irony would have it, two of the first sites to have seriously objectionable "reviews" posted on top of them were "google.com" and "microsoft.com." Face it, if Microsoft cannot prevent the posting of garbage on top if its own site, how successful do you expect to be?
Yes, there is already an e-entrepeneur selling (for $27 at present) a line of code you can buy and install to "block" unapproved "wiki posting" on your site, BUT he clearly states at point of sale: he cannot guarantee how long the code will work before Google makes changes which obsolete your ability to block their wiki.
If your business depends upon website traffic, you'd be wise to start emailing Google about your displeasure right away. Otherwise, all the time and money you've invested there has, basically, just been confiscated from your control. My guess: only when millions complain to Google and appropriate legal agencies, will the unauthorized right to post on top of your webpages be overturned. Certainly it's taken years for Google to negotiate an agreement to begin paying rights for all the "books" (read: intellectual property) they've essentially confiscated via unauthorized book scanning over the past several years. Last I knew, the proposed settlement in that case was still under discussion. One wonders, when the intellectual property of millions of businesses is comprised, how much will be at stake in financial terms. No doubt some smart class action lawyer is already pondering this question, but the only way you can now protect your online content from Google's new sidebar.wiki feature is to download it thanks to Google. As was said about pornography, "I may not be able to define it, but I know it when I see it." What I'm inclined to say about Google's new sidebar.wiki is: "I can't say it's illegal (not being a lawyer), but I know grossly irresponsible behavior when I see it." What I suspect will get Google's attention fast: WHEN those paying them millions every month for Adwords and other Google products...simply "turn off" their spending until the "unauthorized wiki posting" feature is withdrawn. "Opt Out," a likely future negotiating ploy, simply ISN'T a responsible alternative. "Opt In" is the only acceptable way to bring this feature to the marketplace, but I seriously doubt the majority will "opt in" simply because so many lack the time and resources to check every web page every single day. Those who do "opt in" will be voluntarily subjecting themselves to whatever comments the most irresponsible visitors choose to post 24/7...in hopes of a reasonable number of "praise posts." Oh, and just as spam proliferated, how long do you think it will be before someone figures out how to post "mass hostile wikis" (with irresponsible or false content)? Guess we'll have to endure still another clever pejorative word (since phishing is already taken). Who knows, maybe Google will sponsor a naming contest for the new "hostile message" tool they've now enabled on "your" website (while "commandeering 40% of viewable space"... without bothering to ask your permission or pay for the privilege).
I don't expect Google to worry much about my opinion, but for what it's worth: my 'year's-long' Google searchbar is now "Bing," my Adwords test is over, and I'm looking to replace Postini with another spam blocker (hopefully a comprehensive software which will also enable blocking of Google's sidebar.wiki spam).
Hugh Griffin
Posted By: Hugh Griffin @ 2:48:24 PM