Rupert Murdoch May Block Google Searches∞
Or, alternate title: Rupert Murdoch Is A Whiny Bitch!
It would be nice if he came out and said what he actually MEANS, which is that he wants to still be indexed by Google with the added bonus of them sharing their ad revenue with him when a search links to his page. Instead he’s hiding behind this ridiculous argument that Google searches are stealing from him somehow. Furthermore, he somehow has it in his brain that he has to get rid of the fair use doctrine. Here’s what he had to say about it:
There’s a doctrine called ‘fair use,’ which we believe to be challenged in the courts and would bar it altogether
Poor grammar notwithstanding, THAT’S his solution to Google using headlines and blurbs from his articles for their search results? Going after fair use? Whoops. I guess I shouldn’t have used that quote… which is exactly what his news sites wouldn’t be able to do if fair use were gone. YOU CAN’T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS, BUDDY.
Of course, that argument (if they’re stupid enough to even bring it) will get shot down in court way before it ever gains the slightest amount of traction. And to your general whininess about Google stealing from you, Mr. Murdoch, I say:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /
That should block Google and all those other pesky search engines from indexing your content. If you truly don’t think you need those millions of incoming links—if you TRULY think that will help you offset your advertising losses with subscribers—you can use that to replace your current robots.txt file, which (ironically enough) specifically optimizes your site for Google.
Whoa. The guy in charge of Fox News being hypocritical? No way!
