I believe that once you publish data (particularly data, but even other kinds of information) on a public, indexed web page, you automatically relinquish control over how it will be used.
That's just reality, and it's also the most profitable way to view online published data, from a global perspective. It is better for all of us if the act of publishing data on the web grants an automatic licence to the downloader to mash it up any way he sees fit. The alternative scenario, where you have to ask for permission for every bit of data, is frightening.
Just because it's "big Google" who is doing the mash-up doesn't make it less ethical than if it was some start-up coming out with a new product (or, say, Wolfram Alpha).
I would submit that just because it's 'big Google' who is doing the mash-up doesn't make it MORE ethical, either.
Mash-ups are ethical only as long as they provide more money in the pockets of the people you are stealing content from. If they do that, fine. If they aren't, your mash-ups are not ethical, and neither are Google's..
No, you're missing my point completely. I'm saying that it doesn't matter whether or not you line the pockets of the people who produced and published the initial data on the web. If it's published on the web on a public site, it is available for anyone to use.
Particularly when it's factual data, rather than, say, an article. You might recall that the copyright acts do not protect factual data.
But there is what's legal, and there is what's ethical. If I traveled around the country, measuring the heights of roller coasters for my website rollercoasterheights.com, I did it to get people to come to my site. If that information is harvested from my site and displayed elsewhere, I've done a lot of work for nothing.
I believe that once you publish data (particularly data, but even other kinds of information) on a public, indexed web page, you automatically relinquish control over how it will be used.
That's just reality, and it's also the most profitable way to view online published data, from a global perspective. It is better for all of us if the act of publishing data on the web grants an automatic licence to the downloader to mash it up any way he sees fit. The alternative scenario, where you have to ask for permission for every bit of data, is frightening.
Just because it's "big Google" who is doing the mash-up doesn't make it less ethical than if it was some start-up coming out with a new product (or, say, Wolfram Alpha).