Oops, Google indexing millions of Bing image search thumbnails

images

Google has been found to be indexing millions of image thumbnails from Microsofts Bing search engine, a littleembarrassingseeing as Google accused Microsoft of copying its search results back in February this year.

Search Engine Roundtable reports on a discussion on the Google Webmaster Help forums, where a user flagged up that he had spotted the problem, explaining I am not so sure that its a good idea to index the cache thumbnails of another image search engine. Do you think it would be a good idea if Bing was indexing all the thumbnail images from the google-image cache image database?

In addition, i dont think that Google should encourage (or even allow) web pages to hotlink thumbnails from image-search cache, he continued. For image copyright owners, it is certainly not good to see Google doing that, because Google will be indexing copies of some copyrighted work, and giving some visibility to pages that hotlink those copied content, too.

Indeed, if search engines index each otherthings could get very messy very quickly. Googles Matt Cuttsstated in 200 7 that In general, weve seen that users usually dont want to see search results (or copies of websites via proxies) in their search results.

To be fair, it doesnt look like theres anything untoward going on here. In the forum discussion, Google employee Gary Illyes promises to escalate the issue internally with the company, indicating that this may well be nothing more than an error.

That said, given the bitterwar ofwords between the Google and Microsoft over alleged copying of search results, its a little odd to see the show on the other foot in this case.Image source


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

12 startup founders discuss working on Christmas Day

Image
Well, it would seem a trifle rude to not begin proceedings with a warm Merry Christmas. But I must askwhat the hell are you doing reading this when you should be playing your new Nintendo 3DS, or guzzling that tenth mince pie of the day? But then, you will probably ask what the hell am I doing here writing this piece on the holiest of holy-days. My excuse? I love what I do, so its not like Im really working per seplus, I actually prepped much of it yesterday. And your excuse is likely along the lines of I love all things tech, why would I switch off just because my calendar says December 25? Fair point. Confucius once said: Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. Nice sentiments for sure, but theres still the issue of a healthy work/life balance to contend with even for startup founders. So I asked a handful of founders and CEOs whether they would be working on Christmas Day this year, or whether theyd treat themselves to a day off. I mean, it is a...
Keep reading

Flipboard needs to branch its content out from US/UK, heres why

Image
Earlier this month, an eagerly anticipated iPhone app was finally launched as Flipboard took its highly acclaimed iPad app to the phone. The app has been out for a few weeks and, with the deafening chorus of cheers fading, Ive found myself shunning its beautiful and innovative design for the simple fact that its content isnt relevant enough for me. Compared to Zite , which may not be as aesthetically pleasing, Flipboard comes up wanting on content. Zite is, among others , an app which aggregates content from my social web Twitter, Google Reader and others giving it to me in a magazine style layout. Though it lacks the page flipping ingenuity of Flipboard, the reading is more varied, which is ultimately what Im looking for from a social magazine. There is credit to be given to Flipboard however, as it is addressing the issue by building an editorial team, as its founder told Robert Scoble recently . The company has also started curating content publicly too, with @flipboardtech cura...
Keep reading

Digitimes: Apples iPhone 5 to include smaller screen and metal chassis

Contray to previous reports that suggested Apples next-generation iPhone would include a 4.2-inch touch screen panel, Asian technology publication Digitimes reports that the device will feature a smaller 4-inch panel, adapting the rear of the device to ship with a metal chassis instead of reinforced glass. Digitimes points out that the many of the rumoured specifications expected to be featured in the iPhone 5 are the markets expectations, with sources indicating that the device will possibly adopt a significantly smaller screen than first imagined: The sources pointed out that the upcoming iPhone will not have many differences compared to iPhone 4 in terms of components and the panel will still be less than 4-inch. The iPhone 5 will adopt a 3.5- to 3.7-inch panel with a design to allow the bezel of the panel to become thinner and make the screen look larger. The inclusion of a metal back will divide opinion, given suggestions that Apple had intentionally utilised glass designs to boo...
Keep reading