Well, hopefully people (especially fellow geeks) start to realize that google isn't that glorious company it used to be. So much for "don't do evil" and all that.
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Google is still the same company...just larger. At some point with a growing company, you have to set an example that someone can't just blatantly break your Terms of Service and be done with it. I personally thought Gmerge was fantastic and I was lucky to get a wallpaper from it before it was taken down. Having said that, though, I would personally rather have Google to continue developing amazing products such as Gmail and Google Maps rather than spend their time looking out for geeks who want to do with G's products what they will. You can be a geek but you also have to respect certain rules.
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That sucks :(
Let's hope Google setup a similar service soon. |
I don't think that's evil. They own the copyright to the satellite imagery, don't they? So everyone building services on top of theirs via screen-scraping is breaking their ToS and disrespecting their copyright. I still think the tools are cool, and Google should release an API to help developers. It's just that I don't think they *have* to to be "unevil". |
I agree Philipp, I think once Google releases an API everything will be fine.
Google has always disliked scraping their tools. |
Google doesn't own the satellite imagery, at least not all of it. They license the images from outfits like EarthSat, Digital Globe, and AirMaps USA. Those companies probably gave Google a good price on the imagery provided that Google doesn't compete with their commercial business and makes the images available for personal use only. Google is probably required to pass these terms on to its customers. |
The tone of Google's email is very reasonable and measured – and note that its not a lawyer written "cease and desist" letter. So, in my books anyway, i'd say that Google are living up to the "dont be evil" motto.
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So, is a website like this one OK by Google standards. Is there a relationship with Craigslist?
Glenn Davies
http://www.2percentcreativity.com (blog plug ;-) |
