Brett_Tabke - 7:26 am on Jul 10, 2003 (gmt 0)

Google's "cached" pages are the most important thing that has built Google. Without the cache, Google is just another Teoma.

>If Google's wrong then so is just about every ISP

First, what google does is NOT caching and does not meet the definition of caching anywhere on the net. Placing a branding ad at the top of 3+ billion pages is not caching. Google has perverted the use of the word "cache".

We have looked at this issue indepth. Every net attorney I know I have asked about this issue. Atleast 1 dozen knowledgable internet and tech attorneys have told me flat out that Googles cache would not hold up in court. They have no legal legs to stand one. The "safe harbor" ISP exclusion exception of the DMCA is not applicable to Google since Google does not meet any definition of caching.

>What's wrong with meta "NOARCHIVE"?

Because it is Opt Out. You can't opt out on illegal matters. It's like saying if you don't have a sign on your front yard that says stealing is not ok, then any one can help themselves to your stuff.

>has a robots.txt

Is not an accepted web standard by any body. It has never been used in court nor even admisable evidence. Again, it is Opt out.

> not only do they make abundantly clear the location
> of the original, they also leave the
> copyright information intact

Yes, they put a black and white Google branding ad at the top of the page where the insinuation is that it is Googles content.

> cache issue has been discussed (here)
> time & again for at least three years.

Yep, first time I saw Google in 98 I asked Page **** on the page jacking.

"Many of us copyright lawyers have been waiting for this issue to come up: Google is making copies of all the Web sites they index and they're not asking permission," said Fred Lohman, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "From a strict copyright standpoint, it violates copyright."

In other words, Google has had 5 years to explain how they feel the cache is legal and why it is really used - they never have.

The Google cache is what built Google. No cached pages - no Google.