willybfriendly - 9:19 pm on Feb 7, 2009 (gmt 0)

I don't work for Google, I'm not an attorney, and I'm not defending Google's right to do anything. (A lawyer might point out that Google Image Search has previewed entire works for quite some time, though.)

Yet, in another thread that you started on the possibility of G providing the functionality to preview pages in detail you made comments such as:

Actually, it's all about the search experience--which translates into a better search product... On the whole, it could be a good development... if the Google Search team can improve the user experience through more informative SERPs... As a user and as a publisher, I think the idea holds great promise...

As far as image search, I seem to remember that the argument was that a thumbnail was "fair use" in as much as the visual information was the only way to effectively identify and index the image.

I might also point out that image search does not carry ads - i.e. it is not commercialized (yet).