The Register: Google pocketing over half ‘unlicensed news’ money
The Register reports how over a 30-day period in October and November 2009, more than 75,000 websites ‘reused’ at least one newspaper article without sharing revenue with the publisher, according to a new study by the Fair Syndication Consortium. Google, one of the sites assessed, accounted for 53 per cent of the ad revenue attracted by such ‘unlicensed content’. Yahoo accounted for 19 per cent.
“On the 75,195 sites fingered, the Consortium found 112,000 ‘near-exact copies’ of unlicensed articles (meaning reproductions that lifted more than 80 percent of the original article and more than 125 words) and 163,173 ‘excerpts’ (less than 80 per cent of original article and more than 125 words). But in most cases, sites are merely reusing the headline (125 words or less).”
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