Google Accused of Stealing Lyrics Posting Them directly in Search Results

The website Genius used a clever tactic to catch Google stealing lyrics from their website and posting those lyrics directly on their search engine results page, keeping searchers on Google's site and eliminating the need for them to visit the Genius website.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Quote

“…62% of mobile searches on Google didn’t result in a user clicking through to another website, according to the web-analytics firm Jumpshot Inc.”

This is because Google posts answers to users' queries directly on the search engine results page, eliminating the need for searchers to visit the underlying sites that compiled the information. Google claims this provides users with a "better experience."  Of course this provides users with a better experience. But this is like me going into Walmart stealing their Electronics, setting up a table directly in front of the store and selling the stolen products at 90% off, then claiming I'm providing the customer with a "better experience."

I've been arguing for years that Google has actually made the WWW a less rich place because of their greed.  There are far fewer indie books websites, and those that remain are less well off, because of Google puts their own bookstore (and book related content copied from Wikipedia) directly on the search results page -- eliminating the need for readers to visit the underlying book websites.

The problem with Google doing this is that, besides being wrong, they are killing the sites that that compile and add value to this content.  Adding value to content is something that Google simply does not do. Books sites publish book reviews, interview authors, make personalized recommendation (algorithmically generated recommendations are purely profit driven), and more. 

Our dysfunctional government has shown little indication that they will attempt to reign in the multiple monopolies Google holds.  The WWW is coalescing into the ownership of three websites Google, Amazon, and Facebook. 

Wealth inequality is worse than it has been in the last century in the United States. Monopolies like Google, being allowed to run buckwild over the internet, is one of the reasons wealth is increasingly concentrated into the hands of a few. As always, Black folks are disproportionately harmed.