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Search engines to be exempt from copyright laws?

A new proposal from a Tory peer could see the likes of Google and Bing exempt from copyright laws proposed in the Digital Economy Bill.

By Jennifer Scott, 12 Jan 2010 at 13:14

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A Conservative peer has proposed that search engines should be exempt from copyright infringement laws brought in with the new Digital Economy Bill.

A document posted on the official parliament website has shown a list of 299 proposed amendments to the bill including one from Lord Lucas stating:

“Every provider of a publicly accessible website shall be presumed to give a standing and non-exclusive license to providers of search engine services to make a copy of some or all of the content of that website, for the purpose only of providing said search engine services.”

He concludes that if this is adhered to there should be no copyright infringement claims made against search engine providers.

This proposal comes at a time when media mogul Rupert Murdoch is trying to stop Google from showing its news content for free. However were this to become part of the law, Google would be immune to the requests in the UK and News Corp would be in trouble for blocking any content.

This is not the first aspect of the bill to have caused controversy since its inception.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has been in the spotlight since he proposed contentious initiatives to cut off illegal file sharers from the internet.

Following the second reading of the bill in the House of Lords last month, both politicians and big players in the industry raised concerns over clause 17 which would allow the Government to speedily change copyright law through statutory instrument rather than the full legal process.

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Old Man

In the New York Post story, Rupert Murdoch, who publishes the Post, made a statement that Claudia Naylor, the producer of a show that is under contract with MTV, slept with two men in the band. Untrue and libelous. Apparently Mr. Murdoch is confusing Claudia Naylor with his wife, who t\sleeps with everybody. She offers herself for the taking to men and women. She has totally broken up Murdoch’s family and is despised by Murdoch’s mother and many of his children. It is said that he hesitates to divorce her because it is alleged that she knows too much about his business dealings, some of which are suspect. Many people don’t know that a lovely couple brought Zenya from Shanghai to this country only to have Zenya seduce the husband and break up the marriage. Zenya wants it all. Once a slut, always a slut. As for the information which she has, if indeed he has committed a crime, he could always plead not guilty on the grounds of drunkenness. Fighters for Justice In the New York Post story, Rupert Murdoch, who publishes the Post, made a statement that Claudia Naylor, the producer of a show that is under contract with MTV, slept with two men in the band. Untrue and libelous. Apparently Mr. Murdoch is confusing Claudia Naylor with his wife, who t\sleeps with everybody. She offers herself for the taking to men and women. She has totally broken up Murdoch’s family and is despised by Murdoch’s mother and many of his children. It is said that he hesitates to divorce her because it is alleged that she knows too much about his business dealings, some of which are suspect. Many people don’t know that a lovely couple brought Zenya from Shanghai to this country only to have Zenya seduce the husband and break up the marriage. Zenya wants it all. Once a slut, always a slut. As for the information which she has, if indeed he has committed a crime, he could always plead not guilty on the grounds of drunkenness. Fighters for Justice In the New York Post story, Rupert Murdoch, who publishes the Post, made a statement that Claudia Naylor, the producer of a show that is under contract with MTV, slept with two men in the band. Untrue and libelous. Apparently Mr. Murdoch is confusing Claudia Naylor with his wife, who sleeps with everybody. She offers herself for the taking to men and women. She has totally broken up Murdoch’s family and is despised by Murdoch’s mother and many of his children. It is said that he hesitates to divorce her because it is alleged that she knows too much about his business dealings, some of which are suspect. Many people don’t know that a lovely couple brought Zenya from Shanghai to this country only to have Zenya seduce the husband and break up the marriage. Zenya wants it all. Once a slut, always a slut. As for the information which she has, if indeed he has committed a crime, he could always plead not guilty on the grounds of drunkenness. Fighters for Justice

By bobbyricky on Thursday Jul 22