{"id":64,"date":"2005-03-10T15:12:55","date_gmt":"2005-03-10T15:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lachy.id.au\/log\/2005\/03\/google-autolink"},"modified":"2006-04-30T23:46:43","modified_gmt":"2006-04-30T23:46:43","slug":"google-autolink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lachy.id.au\/log\/2005\/03\/google-autolink","title":{"rendered":"The Google AutoLink Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A few weeks ago, Google added a new <a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/support\/toolbar\/bin\/static.py?page=features.html\">AutoLink\r\n\t\tfeature<\/a> to the <a href=\"http:\/\/toolbar.google.com\/T3\/\">Google Toolbar\r\n\t3 beta<\/a> which automatically recognises certain structures including street addresses,\r\n\tISBNs, package tracking numbers and automobile VINs; and converts them to useful\r\n\tlinks for the <strong>user<\/strong>. This feature has been met with a great uproar from the blogging\r\ncommunity with many arguments for and against it.<\/p>\r\n<p>Basically, the feature has been called by some \u2018as evil as Smart Tags\u2019, while\r\n\tbeing recognised as \u2018useful for the user\u2019 by others. Authors have cried foul\r\n\tover its modification of their documents without consent, yet it is praised\r\n\tby others for giving the user the added information; ridiculed for inserting\r\n\tlinks to a potential competitor\u2019s site, yet applauded for giving the user some\r\n\tchoice in the matter; and finally criticised for the lack of an opt-in or opt-out\r\n\tchoice for the author or publisher, while some user\u2019s are screaming back about\r\n\t\u2018who\u2019s user agent is it anyway?\u2019<\/p>\r\n<p>So, in light of all this discussion, I\u2019m going to take an objective look at\r\n\tthe debate so far including all the major arguments I\u2019ve found, both for and\r\n\tagainst, giving the perspective of each affected group: content authors and\r\n\tpublishers, users, and Google; and examine the desire for author control by\r\n\tmeans of an opt-in or opt-out mechanism.<\/p>\r\n<h3 id=\"problems\">The Problems<\/h3>\r\n<p>Many high profile bloggers have noted their <strong>strong objections<\/strong> to this feature,\r\n\teach relating to different aspects of the issue at hand. These problems include\r\n\tdocument modification and the publisher\u2019s rights to control their content; the\r\n\tinsertion of advertisements and the monopolistic effect this may have on competition;\r\n\tand the lack of choice for the content publishers.<\/p>\r\n<p>Counter arguments for each of these issues primarily revolve around the user\u2019s\r\n\trights and ability to choose where and when such modifications take place, including\r\n\tthe fact that it\u2019s not an automatic process. This raises questions about the\r\n\tuser\u2019s ability to discern the origin of the links, how far software producers\r\n\t(including Google) may go to provide such features and whether or not the proverbial\r\n\tline has already been crossed.<\/p>\r\n<p>Along with the arguments from those that don\u2019t support AutoLink, there have\r\n\tbeen requests for the ability to either explicitly opt-in or opt-out on a page-by-page\r\n\tand\/or site-wide basis, with most claiming that either would be acceptable,\r\n\tyet debating about which is the most appropriate. On the other hand, those that\r\n\tdo support AutoLink claim that neither are acceptable and authors that <strong>should\r\n\tnot<\/strong> interfere with <em>their<\/em> user agent functions.<\/p>\r\n<p>In summary, this can be broken down into separate issues that need to be addressed,\r\n\tincluding:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li><a href=\"#doc-mod\">Document Modification<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t<li><a href=\"#user-choice\">The User\u2019s Choice<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t<li><a href=\"#link-sites\">Linking to Sites and the Effect on Competition<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t<li><a href=\"#opt-in-out\">Opt-in and Opt-out<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h3 id=\"doc-mod\">Document Modification<\/h3>\r\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/radio.weblogs.com\/0001011\/2005\/02\/28.html#a9485\" title=\"Ahh, evil feature not evil if you force user to download, sign EULA, and click button?\"><cite>Robert Scoble\u2019s<\/cite>\r\n\t\tmain objections<\/a> relate primarily to the document modifications,\r\n\tclaiming that the integrity of the document is destroyed because the user agent\r\n\tis modifying it (despite it being at the user\u2019s request) to include links to\r\n\tresources that the author did not intend to be there.<\/p>\r\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/radio.weblogs.com\/0001011\/2005\/02\/28.html#a9485\"><p>I believe that anything that changes the linking behavior of the Web is evil.\r\n\tAnything that changes my content is evil. Particularly anything that messes\r\n\twith the integrity of the link system.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>In relation to this issue <a href=\"http:\/\/radio.weblogs.com\/0001011\/2005\/02\/27.html#a9484\" title=\"Cory, do you really want to open this pandora's box?\">Scoble\r\n\t\talso claims<\/a> that the rights of the publisher\r\n\tand of the user are in conflict with each other, and questions: in the favour\r\nof which group should this issue be resolved.<\/p>\r\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/radio.weblogs.com\/0001011\/2005\/02\/27.html#a9484\">\r\n\t<p>As a user I&#8217;d love all sorts of things. But don&#8217;t you see that the rights\r\n\tof the end-user are in conflict with the rights of the content producer?\r\n\t\tWill you ALWAYS settle the argument in favor of the user?<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\t<p>Similarly, other\u2019s have agreed with this and request that the rights of the\r\n\t\tpublisher be met by means of an opt-in or opt-out mechanism, which I will address\r\n\tlater.<\/p>\r\n<p>Counter claims have likened such document modifications to Ad blocker\u2019s\r\n    \tthat remove advertising content from pages, site scapers that extract or\r\n    \talter the site\u2019s content at the user\u2019s request, the ability to control font\r\n    \tsizes, colours and the overall ability to override or disable stylesheets;\r\n    \tand other user agent extensions that perform document modification functions\r\n    \tall at the request of the user.<\/p>\r\n    <p><cite>Cory Doctorow<\/cite> wrote in <cite><a href=\"http:\/\/www.boingboing.net\/2005\/02\/26\/why_you_should_love_.html\">Why\r\n    \t\t\tyou should love Google&#8217;s toolbar<\/a><\/cite> that\r\n    \t\tthe user\r\n    \tshould be able to request a user agent to perform any document modification\r\n    \tat all, so long as the user agent is not, in anyway, committing fraud\r\n    \t\t\t(i.e. The user must know and understand that the modifications\r\n    \t\t\tare taking place).<\/p>\r\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/www.boingboing.net\/2005\/02\/26\/why_you_should_love_.html\">\r\n    \t<p>I think I should be able to use a proxy that reformats my browsing sessions\r\n    \tfor viewing on a mobile phone; I think I should be able to use a proxy\r\n    \t\tthat finds every ISBN and links it to a comparison-shopping-engine&#8217;s\r\n    \t\tbest price for that book across ten vendors. I think I should be able to\r\n    \t\tuse a proxy that auto-links every proper noun to the corresponding Wikipedia\r\n    \t\tentry.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\t<p>Similarly, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dashes.com\/anil\/2005\/02\/17\/free_the_user_a\" title=\"Free the User Agents!\"><cite>Anil\r\n\t\t\tDash<\/cite> agrees<\/a> that the document is fodder for processing however\r\n\tthe user likes.<\/p>\r\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/www.dashes.com\/anil\/2005\/02\/17\/free_the_user_a\"><p>In the same way I can rip, mix and burn all the other media I bring into\r\n    \tmy computer, something as straightforward as an HTML page should be fodder\r\n    \tfor processing however I want.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n    <p>In response to this issue, <cite><a href=\"http:\/\/archive.scripting.com\/2005\/02\/26#danGillmorMeetsWithGoogle\" title=\"Dan Gillmor meets with Google\">Dave Winer<\/a><\/cite><a href=\"http:\/\/archive.scripting.com\/2005\/02\/26#danGillmorMeetsWithGoogle\"> asks<\/a>:<\/p>\r\n    <blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/archive.scripting.com\/2005\/02\/26#danGillmorMeetsWithGoogle\">\r\n    \t<p>\u2026what happens when Google isn&#8217;t satisfied to add links to our sites,\r\n    \t\tsuppose they were to change the actual words? I haven&#8217;t heard Google\r\n    \t\tsay they would never do that, have you?<\/p>\r\n    <\/blockquote>\r\n    <p>That\u2019s an interesting point, but it fails when you consider that such\r\n    \tmodifications by other user agents already occur. In a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.boingboing.net\/2005\/02\/28\/does_google_complain.html\" title=\"Does Google complain if you reformat its pages? Nope\">follow-up\r\n    \tarticle on Boing Boing<\/a>, Cory Doctorow and others proceed to list several user agents\r\n    \tand tools that perform document modifications at the user\u2019s request on a\r\n    \tregular basis. In addition to this list, there are several other\u2019s that\r\n   \tshould have been included, which I would like to point out.<\/p>\r\n    <ul>\r\n    \t<li> The <a href=\"https:\/\/addons.update.mozilla.org\/extensions\/moreinfo.php?id=190\">Linkification\r\n    \t\t\textension<\/a> for Firefox automatically converts plain\r\n    \t\ttext <abbr title=\"Uniform Resource Locators\">URLs<\/abbr> and e-mail addresses to clickable links, in a way similar\r\n    \t\tto Google\u2019s AutoLink, by inserting &lt;a&gt; elements into the <abbr title=\"Document Object Model\">DOM<\/abbr>.<\/li>\r\n    \t<li>The <abbr title=\"World Wide Web Consortium\">W3C<\/abbr>\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2003\/12\/semantic-extractor\">Semantic\r\n    \t\t\tExtractor<\/a> scrapes content from a document and outputs\r\n    \t\t\tall the semantic information it can find.<\/li>\r\n    \t<li><abbr title=\"XSL Transformations\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/Style\/XSL\/\">XSLT<\/a><\/abbr> is designed to transform any <abbr title=\"Hypertext Markup Language\">HTML<\/abbr>, <abbr title=\"Extensible Hypertext Markup Language\">XHTML<\/abbr> or <abbr title=\"Extensible Markup Language\">XML<\/abbr> documents into\r\n    \t\tanother format. <\/li>\r\n    \t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/world.altavista.com\/\">AltaVista\u2019s Babel Fish<\/a> and other translators do change the actual words\r\n    \t\t\tof a document \u2013 that\u2019s its purpose! As a result (because automated\r\n    \t\ttranslations are not perfect) the intended meaning of the author\r\n    \t\tmay be unintentionally corrupted by the tool. <\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cheerleader.yoz.com\/archives\/001930.html\" title=\"Want a line? Here's a line.\"><cite>Yoz\r\n\t\t\tGraham<\/cite> explains<\/a>, in response to some other questions from Dave Winer,\r\n\tthat such modifications are completely acceptable, as long as certain conditions\r\nare met.<\/p>\r\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/cheerleader.yoz.com\/archives\/001930.html\"><p>If a content-modifying function:<\/p>\r\n<ol>\r\n\t<li>has a definition that is completely understood by the user<\/li>\r\n\t<li>is only invocable at the user&#8217;s request and in isolation (i.e. not automatically)<\/li>\r\n\t<li>has an effect limited to the user who invoked it<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<p>then it&#8217;s entirely within the spirit of the Web, no matter what modification\r\n\tit performs. No exceptions.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>Indeed, I must agree in favour of allowing document modifications and note\r\n\tthat those conditions are met by each and every one of those tools and user\r\n\tagents listed above. However the question is: are all of those conditions met\r\n\tin the case of AutoLink? Basically, the answer to that question all comes down\r\n\tto the user\u2019s understanding and choice in the matter.<\/p>\r\n<h3 id=\"user-choice\">The User\u2019s Choice<\/h3>\r\n<p>The user\u2019s ability to choose the way in which they access content on the web\r\n\tis central to the way the web works. A user may choose which browser they use,\r\n\twhich extensions they install, whether or not they want to see images, the allowed\r\n\tfonts and colours in a document, and many other presentational aspects. A user\r\n\tmay choose whether or not they want to access a site and which links they want\r\n\tto follow from a site. They choose whether or not they wish to access or download\r\n\tresources, and which information or services they want from those resources.<\/p>\r\n<p>AutoLink is just one service offered by the Google toolbar, which the user\r\n\thas the complete freedom of choice to use or not. However, while some choices\r\n\tare completely under the control of the user, others are not and are causing\r\n\ta great deal of controversy. In relation to this issue, <a href=\"http:\/\/archive.scripting.com\/2005\/02\/25#When:3:05:43PM\"><cite>Dave Winer<\/cite> states<\/a>:<\/p>\r\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/archive.scripting.com\/2005\/02\/25#When:3:05:43PM\"><p>The issue for authors and publishers is whether readers know they&#8217;re reading\r\n\ttext that&#8217;s been modified.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>There are really two aspects to this question: whether or not the user knows\r\n\tthat changes have occurred and whether or not the user is able to determine\r\n\twhich changes were made. Google\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/egofood.blogspot.com\/\">Chris\r\n\tDiBona<\/a> and Marissa Mayer describe how\r\n\tthe use of both AutoLink and the toolbar itself are entirely under the control\r\n\tof the user. <cite>Chris DiBona<\/cite> as quoted by <cite>Robert Scoble<\/cite> in <cite><a href=\"http:\/\/radio.weblogs.com\/0001011\/2005\/02\/28.html#a9485\">Ahh, evil\r\n\tfeature not evil if you force user to download, sign EULA, and click button?<\/a><\/cite> states:<\/p>\r\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/radio.weblogs.com\/0001011\/2005\/02\/28.html#a9485\">\r\n\t<p>We allow the user to never install the toolbar and never use the feature\u2026\r\nUser choice is the difference.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p><cite>Chris DiBona<\/cite> states in <cite><a href=\"http:\/\/egofood.blogspot.com\/2005\/02\/oh-please.html\">Oh\r\nPlease!<\/a><\/cite>:<\/p>\r\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/egofood.blogspot.com\/2005\/02\/oh-please.html\">\r\n\t<p>Since the user explicitly wants to do this, the user is choosing to augment\r\n\tthe content of a given website.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p><cite>Danny Sullivan<\/cite> quoting <cite>Marissa Mayer<\/cite> in <cite><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.searchenginewatch.com\/blog\/050225-104317#acceptable\">Google\r\n\t\tToolbar&#8217;s AutoLink &amp; The\r\nNeed For Opt-Out \u2013 What&#8217;s Acceptable &amp; What&#8217;s Not?<\/a><\/cite> states: <\/p>\r\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/blog.searchenginewatch.com\/blog\/050225-104317#acceptable\">\r\n\t<p>&quot;It&#8217;s important to recognize that the toolbar is installed by people\r\n\twho want Google-enhanced functionality,&quot; Mayer said. &quot;I would argue\r\n\tthat the user is adding the link to the page. Google just provides the tool.&quot;<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cheerleader.yoz.com\/archives\/001928.html\" title=\"A response to Dave Winer about Google AutoLink\"><cite>Yoz Graham<\/cite> also\r\n\t\tsupports this<\/a> by stating that the user has both requested\r\n\tthe modification and has the right to do.<\/p>\r\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/cheerleader.yoz.com\/archives\/001928.html\"><p>I say that it does nothing that the user has not specifically asked for. And\r\n\tif the user has asked for it, there is no reason why they should not have it;\r\n\tafter all, they could save the HTML to their hard drive and edit it for exactly\r\n\tthe same effect. (In fact, the user could do far more wilful damage to HTML\r\n\tthan the AutoLink feature does.)<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>Since the user has full control over the feature and must request it each\r\n\ttime, the user is aware that such modifications have taken place, but the question\r\n\tof whether or not the changes made are known to the user is much more valid.<\/p>\r\n<p>Many have compared the appearance of AutoLink with Smart Tags, noting that\r\n\tSmart Tags used a dotted purple underline. Google\u2019s answer to this problem\r\n\tis by providing a custom Google cursor and a descriptive title text, as <cite>Danny\r\n\tSullivan<\/cite> quoting <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.searchenginewatch.com\/blog\/050225-104317#alt-click\" title=\"Google Toolbar's AutoLink &#038; The Need For Opt-Out \u2013 Alt-Click Away!\"><cite>Marissa\r\nMayer<\/cite> explains<\/a>:<\/p>\r\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/blog.searchenginewatch.com\/blog\/050225-104317#alt-click\" title=\"\"><p> &quot;The links that we add do look different. We work hard to help the user\r\n\tunderstand that this was a link added by the Google Toolbar, that it wasn&#8217;t\r\n\ta native link. We do this through a mouse rollover that is visible when you\r\n\tmouse over the link.&quot;<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>However, Danny Sullivan questions this by asking whether that is really enough\r\n\tand suggests that using a different underline, colour or other distinction\r\n\tas well, may be an improvement. However, it\u2019s also important to point out that\r\n\tclicking the AutoLink button will sequentially highlight each recognised\r\n\tlink, however my tests using the <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.searchenginewatch.com\/blog\/050225-104317#works\" title=\"How AutoLink Works\">examples\r\n\tprovided<\/a> by Danny Sullivan seem\r\n\tto indicate it will highlight any match regardless of whether the link was\r\n\tadded by AutoLink or already present.<\/p>\r\n<p>I tend to agree that while Google have certainly taken some very good steps\r\n\tto make the user aware of which modifications have occurred, the feature could\r\n\tcertainly use some improvement in this regard. Perhaps, as Danny suggested,\r\n\tdifferent colours or underlines may be the way to go, but I think a special\r\n\tGoogle AutoLink icon inserted beside each link may be a better option, as it\r\n\tmay be difficult to select distinct colours and underlines given the wide range\r\n\tof such styles chosen by every author using stylesheets. Thus, if only colour\r\n\tor underline was used, it would be potentially possible that the colours chosen\r\n\tmay match or be very close to those already present in the document, as set\r\n\tby the author\u2019s stylesheet. While the chances of that are slim, I think to be\r\non the safe side an icon would be the better choice.<\/p>\r\n<p>I mentioned earlier that there are choices that are mostly out of the control\r\n\tof the user. These choices relate to which content is automatically linked (ie.\r\n\tThe user is restricted to ISBNs, US street addresses, several package tracking\r\n\tnumbers for selected couriers and Automobile VINs). The user is also restricted\r\n\tby the choices available for which sites in particular are linked to.<\/p>\r\n<h3 id=\"link-sites\">Linking to Sites and the Effect on Competition<\/h3>\r\n<p>The sites that are linked to are, at this stage, chosen by Google. While the\r\n\tuser has a limited choice for the map provider (<a href=\"http:\/\/maps.google.com\/\">Google\r\n\tMaps<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/maps.google.com\/\">Yahoo! Maps<\/a> or\r\n\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mapquest.com\/\">MapQuest<\/a>), <abbr title=\"International Standard Book Numbers\">ISBNs<\/abbr> link to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/\">Amazon<\/a>, Automobile <abbr title=\"Vehicle Identification Numbers\">VINs<\/abbr> to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.carfax.com\/\">Carfax.com<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/help\/features.html#number\" title=\"Google Search Features: Search by Number\">package\r\n\ttracking numbers<\/a> link to their respective courier websites.<\/p>\r\n<p>There is much concern over this issue with many pointing out that Google is\r\n\tessentially inserting advertisements for their and their partners\u2019 services\r\n\tinto other sites\u2019 content. The most common example for this issue, first <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.searchenginewatch.com\/blog\/050216-124431\" title=\"A New Version (Beta) of the Google Toolbar is Now Available, Still No Firefox\">described\r\n\tby Gary Price<\/a>, is that ISBN links to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/\">Amazon<\/a> are inserted into <a href=\"http:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/\">Barnes &amp; Noble\u2019s\r\n\tsite<\/a>. While, as discussed earlier, the user has the right to modify the content\r\n\tof the document if they so desire, the tool is effectively leading the user\r\n\tto a competitor\u2019s site of Google\u2019s choosing.<\/p>\r\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/zeldman.com\/daily\/0205f.shtml\" title=\"Protect your site from Google\u2019s new toolbar\"><cite>Zeldman<\/cite> noted an objection<\/a> to this, as it related to Microsoft\u2019s earlier attempt\r\n\twith Smart Tags.<\/p>\r\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/zeldman.com\/daily\/0205f.shtml\"><p> They extended Microsoft\u2019s monopoly power into new markets, giving the Redmond\r\n\tgiant the power to decide which non-Operating System companies would live and\r\n\twhich would die. (Companies Microsoft\u2019s Smart Tags division partnered with would\r\nlive; their competitors would eat worms.)<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p> If Google only includes features that make use of only their or their partners\u2019\r\n\tservices, it may indeed unfairly harm the competition, and (in the worst\r\n\tcase scenario) create a monopoly for those organisations. <cite>Danny Sullivan<\/cite> explained\r\n\tthe <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.searchenginewatch.com\/blog\/050225-104317#monopoly\">Monopoly &amp; Monetary\r\n\tfears<\/a> of\r\n\tthis issue; however, he also expressed the intention for <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.searchenginewatch.com\/blog\/050225-104317#future\" title=\"Future Development of AutoLink\">Google\r\n\tto include more options<\/a> (including Barnes &amp; Noble) in the near future.<\/p>\r\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/blog.searchenginewatch.com\/blog\/050225-104317#future\"><p>Don&#8217;t like that choice? When the tool emerges from beta in the near future,\r\n\tit is definitely planned for people to choose some of the content providers\r\n\tthey want to tap into. If you want links to Barnes &amp; Noble for ISBNs rather\r\n\tthan Amazon, you&#8217;ll almost certainly be able to do that or pick from others.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p> If true, that will certainly be a huge improvement. Personally I feel that\r\n\tthere should be some way for any online book store, map service, courier\r\n\tor whatever to include their services, perhaps by means of some kind of additional\r\n\tplugin or setting.<\/p>\r\n<p> For example, I would like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.whereis.com.au\/\">whereis.com.au<\/a> as\r\n\tan option for my map service and a local book store like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.angusrobertson.com.au\/\">Angus &amp; Robertson<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dymocks.com.au\/\">Dymocks<\/a>,\r\n\tand I\u2019m sure others would like localised services too. However, the feasibility\r\n\tfor Google to include each and every online book store, map service, courier\r\n\tand vehicle information service by default may not be feasible, which is why\r\n\tsuch providers and their users should be able to further configure the toolbar\r\n\tfor their needs.<\/p>\r\n<h3 id=\"opt-in-out\">Opt-in and Opt-out<\/h3>\r\n<p>A user agent is a tool used by a user to access and perform certain tasks\r\n\twith resources. As such, a user agent should perform these tasks in a way that\r\n\tbenefits the user, provide choices to the user where appropriate and provide\r\n\tfeedback to the user about the tasks performed. Basically, the user agent must\r\n\t<strong>act on behalf of the user<\/strong> at all times.<\/p>\r\n<p>However, a popular request from those against AutoLink is the ability for\r\n\tthe publisher to temporarily disable the feature while users are viewing their\r\n\tsite, with several suggested variations in the implementation details. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thetwowayweb.com\/2005\/02\/22#a272\"><cite>Dave\r\n\tWiner<\/cite>\u2019s preference<\/a> is clearly for opt-in:<\/p>\r\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/www.thetwowayweb.com\/2005\/02\/22#a272\"><p>\u2026we really want AutoLink to be opt-in\u2026 I might enable it to learn how it works\r\n\tto decide if I want to use it for other pages and other sites\u2026<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>However, as <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.searchenginewatch.com\/blog\/050225-104317#opt-out\" title=\"Provide An Opt-Out!\"><cite>Danny\r\n\t\tSullivan<\/cite> correctly points out<\/a>, opt-in is taking it too far,\r\n\tand indeed harmful to the usability of the feature.<\/p>\r\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/blog.searchenginewatch.com\/blog\/050225-104317#opt-out\">\r\n\t<p>I think that&#8217;s too far. Users do have rights. They have installed this software.\r\n\tOpt-out gives any publisher seriously concerned with the tool the ability\r\n\t\tto control it on their site. Many won&#8217;t be concerned, so requiring an opt-in\r\n\t\tis overkill that does hurt the user experience.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cheerleader.yoz.com\/archives\/001928.html\" title=\"A response to Dave Winer about Google AutoLink\"><cite>Yoz Graham<\/cite> agrees<\/a> stating such features would never work if they required\r\n\tan opt-in.<\/p>\r\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/cheerleader.yoz.com\/archives\/001928.html\"><p>Content creators should not have to provide specific opt-in permission; if\r\n\tthey had to do this for every such feature out there, most of them would never\r\n\twork.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>Others tend to agree also, yet still request the slightly less harmful opt-out\r\n\tfeature through various methods such as: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thetwowayweb.com\/2005\/02\/22#a272\" title=\"Google's toolbar and content modification\">robots.txt\r\n\textensions<\/a>  suggested\r\n\tby Dave Winer; or a meta tag similar to that provided by Microsoft for Smart\r\n\tTags, as <a href=\"http:\/\/zeldman.com\/daily\/0205f.shtml\" title=\"Protect your site from Google\u2019s new toolbar\">mentioned by Jeffrey\r\n\tZeldman<\/a> in response to the performance limitations\r\nof the various script solutions.<\/p>\r\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/zeldman.com\/daily\/0205f.shtml\">\r\n\t<p>Client-side wear and tear could go away like a bad dream if Google would\r\n\t\tdo what Microsoft did with Smart Tags: namely, provide a meta tag that\r\n\t\tdisables them.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/allinthehead.com\/\">Drew McLellan<\/a> (<a href=\"http:\/\/zeldman.com\/daily\/0205f.shtml\"  title=\"Protect your site from Google\u2019s new toolbar\">via Zeldman<\/a>) explains how the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.threadwatch.org\/node\/1562\" title=\"Code for Killing Google AutoLink\">script\r\n\t\tsolutions<\/a>, initially created\r\n\tby <a href=\"http:\/\/www.searchguild.com\/\">Chris Ridings<\/a> and modified by others, work by cycling through the links in\r\n\tthe page and removing those that are found to have been inserted by the Google\r\n\ttoolbar.<\/p>\r\n<p>Both the opt-in and opt-out requests have been met with <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.searchenginewatch.com\/blog\/050225-104317#opt-out\">opposition\r\nfrom Google\u2019s <cite>Marissa Mayer<\/cite><\/a>, as quoted by <cite>Danny Sullivan<\/cite>:<\/p>\r\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/blog.searchenginewatch.com\/blog\/050225-104317#opt-out\">\r\n\t<p>&quot;If you had opt-in or opt-out, that&#8217;s overall a lot less useful,&quot; Mayer\r\n\tsaid. &quot;If the links sometimes won&#8217;t show because there&#8217;s a publisher opting-out,\r\n\tthat&#8217;s bad for the user experience.&quot;<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\t<p>It is also noted that the toolbar will not modify any existing links, thus\r\n\tbeing a form of opt out \u2013 an option which has been taken up by Barnes &amp; Noble\r\n\tby making all ISBNs on their site links to their own resources. However Danny\r\n\treplies by stating that doing so for every link just to block AutoLink is just\r\n\tnot an effective nor feasible solution for everyone. However, in such cases,\r\n\tI question the publisher\u2019s right to prevent the user obtaining more information\r\n\twhere the publisher had failed to do so.<\/p>\r\n\t<p>In response to the script solutions, <a href=\"http:\/\/philringnalda.com\/\">Phil\r\n\t\t\tRingnalda<\/a> has reminded us of exactly\r\n\t\t    <a href=\"http:\/\/philringnalda.com\/blog\/2005\/02\/protect_your_browser_from_protect_your_site_from_googles_new_toolbar.php\" title=\"Protect your browser from &quot;Protect your site from Google's new toolbar&quot;\">who\u2019s\r\n\t\t    user agent it is<\/a> and provided a work around to bypass Chris Riding\u2019s\r\n\t\toriginal <a href=\"http:\/\/www.searchguild.com\/autoblink.js\">checklinks() function<\/a>.\r\n\t\tHowever, this solution will fail (without modification) on the site of\r\n\t\tany publisher that alters the name of the function; and as <cite>Danny Sullivan<\/cite>\t\tpoints\r\n\t\tout, <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.searchenginewatch.com\/blog\/050225-104317#opt-out-way\">this\r\n\t\tis getting absurd<\/a>. <\/p>\r\n<blockquote cite=\"http:\/\/blog.searchenginewatch.com\/blog\/050225-104317#opt-out-way\"><p>\u2026it highlights how quickly things have become absurd. You have third-parties\r\n    \tworking to prevent AutoLink and potentially others working to prevent preventing\r\n    \tAutoLink. It&#8217;s a mess.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>In my opinion, the valid issues against AutoLink seem to relate to the monopolistic\r\n\teffect of the links; yet the requested opt-in or -out solution does not seem\r\n\tto address this problem directly. Rather it gives authors control over how a\r\n\tuser agent processes their document in order to completely prevent document\r\n\tmodifications; particularly by implementation specific user agent features.\r\n\tPublishers that take such action to interfere with user agent behaviour can\r\n\tbe seen very <a href=\"http:\/\/www.useit.com\/\">user-hostile<\/a>; and user agents that obey such directives are acting\r\non behalf of the publisher rather than the user.<\/p>\r\n<p>Also, in order to opt-in or -out of such user agent features, it requires\r\n\tthe use of proprietary extensions; regardless of whether they validate or not.\r\n\tThis was, and is, true of <a href=\"http:\/\/lachy.id.au\/log\/2005\/01\/link-relationships-revisited-part-1\" title=\"Link Relationships Revisited, Part 1\">the\r\n\tnofollow relationship<\/a>, and will always be true\r\n\tfor AutoLink and other similar features.<\/p>\r\n<p>For example, Microsoft have introduced various proprietary extensions in order\r\n\tto disable user agent features including the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.html-reference.com\/META_name_MSSmartTagsPreventParsing.htm\">Smart\r\n\tTags <code>meta<\/code> tag<\/a>, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/windows\/ie\/using\/howto\/customizing\/imgtoolbar.mspx#EAAA\">image\r\n\ttoolbar <code>meta<\/code> tag and attribute<\/a> and other (though more widely implemented) features\r\n\tlike <code><a href=\"http:\/\/msdn.microsoft.com\/workshop\/author\/dhtml\/reference\/properties\/autocomplete.asp\">autocomplete<\/a><\/code>. Some of those validate and others don\u2019t, but that doesn\u2019t\r\n\tchange the fact that they are proprietary extensions intended for use by a single\r\n\tuser agent to perform a very user hostile act \u2013 namely, to disable a user agent\r\n\tfeature against the user\u2019s request. Thus any opt-in or opt-out functionality\r\n\tintroduced by Google would be quite harmful, just as the script solutions have\r\n\talready proven to be.<\/p>\r\n<p>As discussed, the document modifications performed by AutoLink are done so\r\n\tat the user\u2019s request, and the publisher has no right to interfere. While\r\n\tsome publishers may feel that the user is violating their rights, the fact\r\n\tis that once a user has received your document, they have the right to perform\r\n\twhatever functions they like with it, so long as the results are\r\n\tlimited to the user that performed them.<\/p>\r\n<p>While Google, in an effort to provide a tool for performing useful functions\r\n\tfor the user, have certainly shown some desire to put the feature under the\r\n\tuser\u2019s control by allowing them to decide where and when such functions are\r\n\tperformed and attempted to provide some (although limited) indication of\r\n\tthe results, Google\u2019s role in the process is not impartial. It is Google\r\n\tthat chooses the possible link destinations with little ability for user\r\n\talterations and as such, has received much criticism over the potential effects\r\n\ton competition.<\/p>\r\n<p>It is for these reasons that publishers and authors are requesting the ability\r\n\tfor their sites to be exempt from this functionality; however, any attempt to\r\n\toverride an implementation specific user agent feature is a user hostile act\r\n\twhich only serves to interfere with the user\u2019s choices provided by the tool.<\/p>\r\n<p>In my opinion, AutoLink is nothing more than a very advanced favelet (or bookmarklet)\r\n\tthat may prove very useful to many end users in the long run; however much more\r\n\tcontrol needs to be given to the user, particularly in regard to the service\r\n\tproviders chosen for the link destinations. Beyond that, I only hope that someone\r\n\twill port this functionality as an extension to <a href=\"http:\/\/getfirefox.com\/\">Firefox<\/a> and content publishers\r\n\tand authors cease their attempts to control a user\u2019s system.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019m going to take an objective look at the debate so far including all the major arguments I\u2019ve found, both for and against, giving the perspective of each affected group: content authors and publishers, users, and Google; and examine the desire for author control by means of an opt-in or opt-out mechanism.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lachy.id.au\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lachy.id.au\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lachy.id.au\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lachy.id.au\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lachy.id.au\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lachy.id.au\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lachy.id.au\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lachy.id.au\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lachy.id.au\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}