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Solutions to the Google row - By Emily Booth

Why Duncan and Grade may be better off building bridges with Google.

Is it a coincidence that two of the  best-known figures in broadcasting to have laid into Google are also in charge of the two most financially challenged commercial broadcasters? This week C4 chief Andy Duncan joined ITV's Michael Grade in what is becoming a growing chorus of disapproval of the online search engine giant.

While Grade famously called Google a parasite, Duncan accused the company of taking without giving back to the UK production scene.

At the centre of their complaints is Google's apparent inability to halt unauthorised copyrighted content on services such as YouTube. Not everyone has confined their attacks on the search engine to words, with Viacom recently indicating that it is confident it will prevail in its $1bn lawsuit.

Whatever the outcome of this eagerly awaited legal verdict, Google's position is clear. It insists that it is simply a tool designed to help people find what they are looking for in a world of online information overload. It also insists it isn't a content company.

Perhaps it's time for Google to reassess this mission statement - to take a leaf from Bebo and launch initiatives to create its own content. This, alongside the measures it is taking to discourage users from posting copyrighted material, would surely help deflect the growing volleys of criticism.

One thing seems clear - mere discouragement is no longer enough. Google is already in exploratory talks with the Advertising Association along with AOL, Facebook and Bebo to introduce a list of standard requirements for self regulation.

Perhaps the biggest threats to Google are not harsh words or legal action, but regulation. Culture secretary Andy Burnham has indicated the government is keen to step up regulation of the internet and his new minister Stephen Carter is considering the issue in his Digital Britain review, due next year.

Of course, the context for the rising tide of complaints is that Google's most vocal critics are looking at setting up their own online content distribution services. VoD joint-venture Kangaroo is one of C4 and ITV's brightest hopes for new revenue streams.

Google's disarming stance on Kangaroo is that it hopes to partner with the service - in contrast to VoD providers, such as Joost, which opposed Kangaroo.

The reality is Google is a dominant force in an increasingly online world. Commercial channels might be better off striking deals rather than browbeating the search giant. One of Google's central concepts for success has been to make content as widely available as possible. It's a message worth listening to.
Emily Booth, Acting Editor

• Author: Emily Booth.

MY RESPONSE:

Reader Response

Added: Thursday, 23 October 2008 12:00 BST
Jan Simmonds, Lymington, United Kingdom

Finally Emily...someone with a brain!

Rather than acting like petulant schoolboys taking pot shots at the prize winner, they'd both do better to put themselves on a level playing field.

Using an analogy that Michael especially would understand, the likes of Google, Facebook et al have already created the oceans and therefore the ability to charge a small tax (CPM) for those that use them. The focus now is to build the biggest and the best ships to sail on them and at an appropriate premium.

With the potential shareholder glory of being the landlord well and truly gone, Andy and Michael need to focus on creating British ships of the line to keep those waters free from political influence and the favoured choice of all travelers. I'm sure that Google etc. would welcome and support that ambition.

In my humble opinion, kidding themselves that they can somehow circumvent this and create value within separate new platforms is a naive and potentially catastrophic error of judgement which will ultimately end in tears!

I would love to see both of them showing a clear strategy for their brands and, perhaps wielding a few law suits in front of them, carve a leading influence in the new media world.

Focus on the quality of the content guys and protect it with all you can muster...then maybe you will prevail! Jan [at] famebook.com

Re: Media coverage of Osbourne issue...and about politicians and media in general!

Do the media really think that the general public are that stupid that they will think this is anything other than typical Mandelson style 'bitch politics' at play?

I'm quite sure that quite a few are bending over for those still with the cash and influence, but rest assured it will still be the current cabinet who have their trousers down furthest. I only wish the likes of the Nat Rothschild hadn't blighted one's respect for the family name by getting so indiscretely and closely involved with this relatively irrelevant issue given the bigger picture.

Do us all a favour you in the media, and simply don't give these idiots the opportunity to feed us this spin for the next eighteen months leading up to the British election next year. Instead, find people in government even with an ounce of integrity and tell us why they are decent people who are building a future for our children, because for every negative character assasination you embark on, there are always a slimey bunch of people spinning the story for political ends.

One of these days there will be a tipping point, if it hasn't already arrived, where the assumed stupidity of the global population by the media, bankers and politicians, backfires to such an extent that any integrity in those 'brands' will be diluted beyond recognition and albeit maybe an elegant 'revolution', the whole landscape will be re-written!

Social networking sites to be snooped on by security services! - A Response...

Social networking websites will be snooped on by the security services under new powers which campaigners fear will lead to an expansion of the "Big Brother" state.

By Christopher Hope, Home Affairs Editor - The Daily Telegraph
Last Updated: 5:04PM BST 15 Oct 2008

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Information collected from the sites is likely to be used to build a new super-database at the heart of Government, allowing officials to monitor people's every online move.

The plans were dismissed as "Orwellian" by Opposition parties while campaigners said that monitoring internet traffic was evidence of the rise of the "stalker state".

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said communications data which helped convict the July 7 bombers were no longer being stored on a routine basis.

New laws were needed to let officials to keep track of potential terrorists who use social networks, such as Facebook, and gaming sites, as well as online messaging, to plot attacks free from detection.

Miss Smith said ministers were looking at ways to "collect and store" records of phone calls, emails and internet traffic.

But, she said, the Government was not looking to extend its powers to monitor the content of the messages.

Without the right to monitor the flow of internet messaging, the police and security services would have to consider a "massive expansion of surveillance", she said.

In a speech, she said: "The challenge is the changing technology and the way it is possible to collect communication data."

The likely outcome will be either a new super-database held by the Government or a series of smaller databases which are held by internet service providers.

Security services will be able to access the information but not by other bodies like local authorities which have used anti-terror legislation to investigate "lower level criminality", Miss Smith said.

Miss Smith insisted there would be safeguards on how the information was used including a new watchdog to monitor the storage of information.

After a spate of data losses by the Government in recent months, Miss Smith admitted that the public was right to be mistrustful about the Government's handling of people's private information.

The Home Office will start a three-month consultation on the plans in the new year, with a white paper due next summer. The proposals are likely to be opposed by privacy campaigners.

The plans come after Security Minister Lord West's announcement that the authorities were monitoring the beginnings of "another great plot" by terrorists.

The plans were heavily criticised by Opposition parties and campaigners. The Tories warned of the "exponential increase in the powers of the state".

Dominic Grieve, Shadow home secretary, said: "These proposals would mark a substantial shift in the powers of the state to obtain personal information on individuals. The Government must present convincing justification for such an exponential increase in the powers of the state."

Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, added: "The Government's Orwellian plans for a vast database of our private communications are deeply worrying. I hope that this consultation is not just a sham exercise to soft-soap an unsuspecting public."

Guy Herbert, from campaign group NO2ID, said: "The Home Secretary talks about 'principles' but the only principle she appears to be acquainted with is convenience for the stalker state.

"Monitoring your communications is as intrusive as searching your home. It ought to only be permitted as part of a specific investigation and only on a warrant from a judge."

MY RESPONSE:

This is nothing but a smokescreen for those in power to mitigate against the potential future impact of global social networking sites over political influence in general.

It will be interesting to see whether the likes of Mark Zuckerberg et al will continue to protect their well publicised idealistic view of a free internet and resist any attempt by governments to control what are the first true potential antidotes to localised propaganda the world has ever had. This move implies to me that the politicians can already see their control over communications and therefore public perception, rapidly eroding in front of them. I only hope those that run the businesses themselves have the guts to ward off these trojan horse moves and see them for what they really are!

Jan Simmonds

Mandelson is back!

The Labour Party are organising a 'house-trashing' party before they hand back the keys to their landlords... the people of Britain. Anyone is invited, whatever your background or integrity. Confirmed guests include: