Subject: Google.com ordered the relevant WWW::Search to be removed from CPAN

From: Shlomi Fish <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2002 18:28:16 +0200 (IST)

Use Perl reports that Google ordered the WWW::Search::Google module to be
removed from CPAN, because it violated their terms of use:

http://use.perl.org/article.pl?sid=02/03/01/1641208&mode=thread&tid=32

The author agreed to remove the module, but nevertheless the question is
whether such module consistutes of fair use. I know it can be abused to
perform many simultaenous queries and other such abuse, but it can also be
used legitematibly and beneficially.

Regards,

	Shlomi Fish

There is no IGLU Cabal! Someone wrote a Perl module to generate IGLU
Cabals, and now it is hard to tell what is the original one.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Shlomi Fish        [email-masked]
Home Page:         http://t2.technion.ac.il/~shlomif/
Home E-mail:       [email-masked]

"Let's suppose you have a table with 2^n cups..."
"Wait a second - is n a natural number?"

---

From: "Nadav Har'El" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2002 19:17:31 +0200

> removed from CPAN, because it violated their terms of use:

Google's TOS says that you may not use an automated program to query their
site. One may argue if this makes any sense (aren't proxies and browsers
also automatic programs? is it ok to use wget?) on whether the users or
module writers are at blaim, and wether this applies to anything else (e.g.,
my sendsms, my (unpublished) stock quote sending script, etc.).

But actually, the real reason why Google became worried is probably one that
appears in the site you mention, and for some reason is marked "funny". It
is not funny it all - it is very likely to be the real reason Google got
upset:
  "This may be related to Googlewhacking [googlewhack.com].
   Disclaimer: the term "Googlewhack" was invented by my employer, Gary Stock
   [unblinking.com] (his home page is where it all started). At one point he
   was getting hundreds of emails a day, people offering up their clever
   googlewhacks, arguing about scoring and legitimacy, describing programming
   hacks, etc. The scariest was somebody who said he was coding up a script
   to walk through /usr/share/dict/words (or whatever) and submit all the word
   pairs to Google ..."

Obviously, a person who wants to do this doesn't really need a clever Perl
module: he can just write one himself in a couple of hours, or use wget, or
whatever. So I'm not sure at all why Google though that asking this guy to
recall his Perl module will put a stop to the automated googlewhacking...

-- 
Nadav Har'El                        |        Monday, Mar 11 2002, 28 Adar 5762
[email-masked]             |-----------------------------------------
Phone: +972-53-245868, ICQ 13349191 |What's the difference between roast beef
http://nadav.harel.org.il           |and pea soup? Anyone can roast beef.

---

From: Oleg Goldshmidt <[email-masked]>
Date: 11 Mar 2002 19:39:26 +0200

> http://use.perl.org/article.pl?sid=02/03/01/1641208&mode=thread&tid=32

It is not clear to me without actually going to the code what this
module does. An "automated" search in Google (or other seach engine)
can be done by simply constructing the proper URL and invoking a web
browser. Is that what it does?

Let me explain why I am interested.

A few years ago I hacked a simple x?emacs interface to search with
several engines including Google - it can search for a string, a word
at point, an active region, or any X selection (not just in emacs). I
found it very useful because it allows me to mark (with the mouse),
e.g. an error message or something I see in an email etc, and search
the web for it with one keystroke.

I never published it (it's a hack, not a finished product). From time
to time I toy with the idea to post it on gnu.emacs.sources, but I
have no time to make it a bit more presentable. If anyone here is
interested in the rough edges, let me know.

Now, was I (inadvertently) wise? Does this violate Google's (and
possibly others') TOS?

-- 
Oleg Goldshmidt | [email-masked] 
[Lisp] is the only computer language that is beautiful. 
                      - Neal Stephenson