It is widely believed that the Indian MEDIA has scant respect for copyrights. Although it is unfair to generalize, I’ve starting to believe that it is indeed true.
We’re a niche online media portal covering events & stories in Bangalore city. Time and again I’ve noticed that mainstream media uses OUR content (photos, research data, etc.) in their stories and never gives us credit (forget about taking permission!)
Let me provide a recent instance:
Bangalore Mirror issue of February 24th 2010, Page 7, which bore the story ” Tweeting to Save Carlton Towers”.
Bangalore Mirror has used 3 of MyBangalore.com Copyright images in the above mentioned story .
Images in context
1.A shocked survivor
2.A Fireman in Action
3.A victim being brought out of the building.
These images have been very prominently featured in our story which have been captured by our Staff Photographer Manish Gunjan.
As anybody can tell, this is a case of blatant rip-off and copyright violation. Can you believe that the honorable Bangalore Mirror belongs to the Times of India Group?
It is extremely unfair to pass off somebody’s work as your own. I have no idea, how many images/stories are being used on a daily basis – they could be anyone’s, but I do know that this nefarious practice is increasing and there is nothing we can do about it.
Ever since Microsoft’s search engine Bing.com made its debut, it seems to be getting a lot of press and apparently sizable traction.
There are some who believe that Bing will be a real challenger to Google’s dominance in the SEARCH ENGINE world. There is speculation that Google is beginning to loose market share to Bing (link)
My view on the Bing Vs Google battle:
The only market share Bing is capable of eating into is Yahoo’s
Google offers a better user-experience, has great “mindshare” and a gigantic marketshare. Bing might do *some* things better but thats not enough to make users switch.
You dont displace a market leader (like Google) by being incrementally better… You have a chance if you are exponentially better.
All this percentage talk, is essentially Microsoft’s hype machine at work. Bing’s traffic will spiral downwards once the marketing budget is exhausted!
Also, Google has been around for a long time. They are not a company that rests on past laurels… they are only going to get better.
As for Microsoft’s strategy: first there was MSN search, then LIVE and now Bing. I guess their biggest strength is not search technology related, it is in fact “Re-Branding”
