We’ve wondered previously who was going to use MySpace News (if ever), and now we’ve found the traffic source: Google.
Framed pages of blogs and news sites, complete with MySpace News branding and MySpace URL, are being indexed by Google as original content, stealing search engine placement and direct links from content creators.
A search of Google found thousands of MySpace News pages presenting story headlines with a MySpace url that led directly to a framed page that uses content from other sites.
The legality of passing off content as your own is questionable. The case most frequently cited in content framing cases is Washington Post vs Total News where the Washington Post argued that this was unfair and harmful use of their trademark and there was a danger that the user would be confused concerning whose content was being displayed. Unfortunately that case was settled out of court; notably MySpace today is framing content from the Washington Post as well (example here). Some refer to the practice as stealing, and even Chilling Effects notes that the legality of serving framed content is questionable.
The practice may also be in breach of Google’s TOS; MySpace is leveraging its position of strength to promote your content branded as their content in the Google search results, a practice that looks like search engine manipulation from a distance.
No matter what the legalities and moral dimension, if you’re a publisher and MySpace is hijacking your search results and throwing up a frame with their branding around your content, it’s not a good thing. Given what little traffic MySpace News is doing on their main site, there is little new traffic benefits from the service, instead the traffic from the MySpace News pages on Google cannibalizes existing search traffic.
Here’s hoping the Washington Post and the other big media outlets who are having their content framed and presented as MySpace News content take the matter further.
This looks like a problem with Google & how they handle frames, not a problem with MySpace
It would take the Washington Post about 3 lines of JavaScript code to bust the frames and take over the browser window. I wonder why they don’t solve these so-called “copyright infringement” cases the easy way.
Sounds like TechCrunch is so desperate for news they are making stuff out of thin air, trying to create controversy when there is none. I’m a Digg user anyway.
So what is the issue here exactly? MySpace News is clearly an aggregation service. They are not trying to pass of content as their own. About.com also uses linkframes for outside content; no one complains about them. Ttargeting MySpace with irrelevant “news” like this has become a tired cliche.
Judith
how is MySpace News taking content from other people and using it to get better search results not news? And BTW: Digg doesn’t frame, it’s considered poor for by most people, and there is also a ton of content up today.
Mike
they are: check the screen shout out: they are pulling the title from the content provider and adding MySpace News to it at the top of the browser + the search results for the MySpace content show a MySpace URL: someone following the link will think they are visiting a MySpace page.
Duncan:
Do you really think this is a MySpace issue or could it be a Google issue? I doubt that the MySpace News team is trying to create some sort of search engine scheme. Also, what solutions do you think MySpace or Google could implement? Personally, I am not worried about this, as long as my blog is promoted, I don’t care if it’s through MySpace News or Digg or someone’s blogroll.
Neoseeker has been doing this for years too:
http://www.neoseeker.com/resou.....rid=144335
http://www.freemyspace.com
Mike S: MySpace issue because they could be blocking the spidering via robots.txt, without getting myself into too much trouble I think they want to be indexed. Flip side: Matt Cutts could fix it in about 5 mintues.
View source on the page….. look at the keyword stuffing at the bottom of the HTML.
It’s obvious they’re trying to steal SE traffic from the original site. Anyone with half a clue about SEO would recognise their intent when looking at the page source. They’ve copied the tag from the original article as well as using original content in the tag as SE bait. Tacky.
This attempt at doing Uncov image macro: FAILD
[title] and [noframes] tags were stripped out of above post.
rick
History of lolcats: FAILD 
it was meant to be lolcats….uncov didnt create the idea believe it or not
Kevin: I just looked and don’t see any keyword stuffing. Where?
Are they doing anything different than Netscape (until they shut Calcanis’s project down) or About.com?
It looks like TC is just trying to attack MySpace…
Sooooooooooooo what?
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
This is very, very frightening. You have exposed a huge concern here. There could be dozens upon dozens of lawsuits against MySpace News. I definitely see the ramifications of this. Thanks for exposing the truth about MySpace News: TechCrunch is absolutely correct in that this isn’t really a news aggregation source, it’s a con. No wonder the place is empty.
no Uncov didn’t, and they sort of drive it into the ground. I Can Has Cheezburger didn’t either. 4Chan did. But, you guys doing it shows not only that you look at Uncov but also that you’re trying to emulate them. And really, its a little late to be pulling out lolcat image macros or speaking in Chan. It gives all of us the impression that you just became privvy to it.
And in regards to iframing, all it does is help whatever site is being iframed. It’s almost the same as posting a link to another site and having the page Snap enabled. Not much difference really.
Web 2.0 must really be slowing down if this is a story. Anyone want to guess what will be D-Day for Web 2? I’m guessing around Christmas of this year web 2 companies will start dropping like flies.
this is why numerous times i have asked myspace news people to REMOVE my blog. if i had the money i would file a lawsuit against them.
Judith: techcrunch is reported the FACTS. pure and simple.
Davo: Good point.
Thomas: I agree.
I applaud the wonderful techcrunch staff or not being afraid to report the truth about organizations like myspace. myspace news is just an ad system nothing more. they want to SELL ADS, and they want to make money from the ads. that is why they are messing with the search engine. i’m glad myspace news isn’t getting any visitors!!!
MySpace has been sourcing our content in their news section. I haven’t seen much of an impact from it trafficwise, but it doesn’t seem to be affecting our search traffic from Google. Kind of difficult for me to assess at this point. In the mean time, we’ll continue to allow them to source our feeds.
Well I definitely won’t be visiting MySpace News now, after reading all these reports about it!!
I noticed a few days ago that the Myspace profiles popped up for highly competitive keywords:
http://www.webanalyticsbook.com/archives/988
This deserves a front page article on the business section of New York Times, to be quite honest. After reading all this negative coverage of MySpace News, I have become suspicious, frankly it doesn’t sound very useful if they are going to take over Google search results!
Duncan, this brings up several interesting concerns on many levels. I encourage you to delve deeper into the issue. Something fishy is going on. I believe you may have nailed it when you said that they could be blocking the spidering via robots.txt. I expect a follow-up on this matter soon, especially since they are sourcing several of my feeds.
Chris Crocker is out there somewhere, crying “Leave MySpace alone!!” LOL
I don’t know why Fox acquired MySpace News in the first place. it is just a digg copycat, no? waste. of. money.
Lawsuits are just waiting to happen here.
I am surprised that TechCrunch hasn’t brought up this issue before, as it is relevant for all news media outlets.
i feel bad for myspace. they keep getting a bad rap. poor tom.
mark zuckerberg is celebrating about this article somewhere out there…haha
TechCrunch rules, woo hoo! You guys are like the Michael Moore of silicon valley, reporting the truth about big corporations like myspace. myspace news is a money machine, period. nuff said. done deal.
This is alarming. I wonder if MySpace is mad mad mad at TechCrunch…lol. no but seriously folks, who cars? MySpace News never lived up to its promises. Murdoch should demand a refund…lol
Wow. No one has anything nice to say about this at all. I do see one benefit: If you are the blog owner, you will get LOTS of traffic to your site. I am indifferent to it all.
Funny, just a few months ago you guys touted this as the digg killer. Ironic. The only thing MySpace News is killing is…Myspace News.
I can’t believe MySpace News is stealing from me……I’m going to ask them to remove my website immediately…..this is an absolute shock. No wonder I haven’t been coming up in search results in Google……I was wondering about that!……I am in absolute shock…..stealing is a crime, doesn’t MySpace know that……….?
MYSPACE R TEH SUX!!1! KTHXBAI
Solution: A frame breaker javascript:
http://seoblackhat.com/2005/11.....ript-ever/
As the guy MySpace is stealing from in the screenshots above, a link would have been nice
Paul Colligan
http://www.PaulColligan.com
Get some lawyers. I think we have a case.
But wait, isn’t this Web 2.0 where “private property is theft!”…or is it “theft is private property!”
In this case I’d agree it’s clear that Paul’s stuff is unfairly used by Myspace, though calling framed content “theft” is questionable even in this case.
it’s always intriguing to me how everybody seems to think that *they* have discovered the virtuous blend of content aquisition and general behavior. If content in frames is “theft” then let’s also re-define the following clearly because they all are technically considered “illegal”:
* CD Copies to give to friends
* MP3 copies for friends
* Showing a DVD to a large group of friends who all chip in for the movie big party
* Driving 56 mph in a 55 zone on your way to pick up a CD mix tape from a friend.
The fact is that the medium has outgrown many IP rules. It’s time to rewrite the IP rules and have congress pass new ones rather than just rant about how everybody is stealing from everybody else. IMO the key is to make sure profit flows to content creators while info otherwise flows very freely, and erring on the side of information freedom rather than information profiting.
Paul Colligan: What, exactly, is the case? MySpace News is trying to provide a useful service to users, and we’re complaining. They are helping you get some traffic, dude. Where is the crime in that?
MySpace is a joke and now their also thieves. What happened to honesty? Other people spend their time and energy making something–the rest of us should respect that.
Karim Baz
Did TechCrunch contact MySpace for a comment on this?
Let’s hear their view on this. I think we’re being a little unfair to MySpace.
I agree that this is a very sleazy practice. However, MySpace does provide a form to remove your site:
http://news.myspace.com/forms/removesite
Seems like they should allow site owners to opt in, rather than forcing them to opt out, but at least there’s an option.
Sleazy. Sleazy indeed… what else can you expect from MySpace?
So it seems like the consensus is that MySpace sucks? Maybe everyone who has posted here works for Facebook!! I’ve never even heard of MySpace News until now. What is it exactly? I visited the page and didn’t understand what I was looking at? What is “voting.” Why vote for news? Makes no sense. P.S. I don’t work for Facebook…I promise.
I think you do work for facebook, Norman.
questions:
1. what does google have to say about this?
2. what does myspace have to say about this?
3. what do site owners have to say about this?
It is still in the beta; are we being too harsh? Problems are expected at this stage. Perhaps the linkframe issue is something they have overlooked. This seems to be blown out of proportion. I agree that this is a serious and legitimate legal issue but it is too early to tell how this will affect the web at large.
does anyone know if there is a thread for this discussion in the techcrunch forums? seems like there should be……….
it’s unanimously agreed upon that this warrants further discussion. however, myspace in no way has claimed that these feeds are their own. i am not defending myspace, but greg dirkin (above comment) is correct that this could be overblown.
as a blog owner myself, i would be flattered to be featured on myspace. visibility is what any blogger desires. this is why i believe that it sounds like many of you are overreacting. myspace has committed no sin at this point. they seem to be misunderstood.
it is a product quite similar to Digg, that is for certain. Digg does not use linkframes, that is the only difference. perhaps myspace will remove these linkframes in the future once they realize that they could be sued to death.
one question we must ponder: are these feeds that myspace is sourcing really considered “private property”? i would say no. it is like walking down a public park. if your picture is taken, you can’t sue. you are in a public area. if the photographs are used improperly, say, if you publish them in a manner similar to the ones presented in the oscar de la hoya controversy, then you may have a problem. myspace however isn’t taking content and destroying it; it is using it as a way to allow users to receive news in a unique way.
so no, ultimately i don’t believe that myspace has committed any crimes against website owners.
Does Facebook News use linkframes, or is it only MySpace?