Copyright issue with RevGoURL commands?

[Richard Gaskin]

Stgoldberg at aol.com wrote:
> Does anyone know if there is a copyright issue with using the powerful 
> RevGoURL command to access websites using known Internet search engines?   For 
> instance, if one is interested in dogs one can access Google simply by writing:

It's not so much a copyright concern as one of lost revenue.  Search 
engine sites make their money from advertising, and automated searches 
nullify the value of such advertising.

Google, for example, states their position on this in their Terms of 
Service at <http://www.google.com/intl/en/terms_of_service.html>:

     No Automated Querying

     You may not send automated queries of any sort to Google's
     system without express permission in advance from Google.
     Note that "sending automated queries" includes, among other
     things:

     * using any software which sends queries to Google to
       determine how a website or webpage "ranks" on Google
       for various queries;
     * "meta-searching" Google; and
     * performing "offline" searches on Google.

     Please do not write to Google to request permission to
     "meta-search" Google for a research project, as such
     requests will not be granted.


On the upside, Google does provide an API for developers to use for such 
purposes:

<http://www.google.com/apis/>


--
  Richard Gaskin
  Managing Editor, revJournal
  _______________________________________________________
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