Pcharles, I'm sure Pinterest has plans for their business model.  I was just thinking about the primary content: images, many of them clearly stolen, and comments about them.  Google, and even Facebook, have much broader functionality.

They proably will soon. I have seen many marketers taking full advantage of the system for rankings and link juice.

Yes, arguably more culpable in the case of Pinterest than Google, because Pinterest really doesn't have much claim to be doing anything else.

I think the same. Look at what Pinterest & Instagram has done with images. They themselves are creating marketplaces and dricing traffic with images alone.

I'm looking out for my own images on Google. Then I can sue and retire.  Maybe.

I'm inclined to agree with you PCharles, and I think part of the problem people have with this is that they instinctively don't see images as being as valuable as text.  Interesting.

Google - stealing -> NOOO way

Maybe the publishers can relish in the fact that not only do they have little say in the matter. But Google is going to be making millions+ by using their content to push ads in front of readers. And the best part is.... they don't get a cent.

Good points, SLFisher, but I think the question is whether Google itself is stealing content.  When it did the same thing with books, publishers and authors said yes--and the case is still in court.

I certainly hear you about the advantages to creative artists of getting their product into the digital domain--in the current environment, they're well advised to do so.  But should it be their choice, or should the choice be taken out of their hands by a company, just because it's big and powerful?

I'm a "creative." I see my work, or the work of people I'm responsible for, available on the Internet in an unauthorized way. I have friends who are musicians. I have afriends who are artists and photographers. So I'm totally sympathetic to the problems of getting work stolen.

At the same time, spreading knowledge is good, whether it's written knowledge or sung knowledge or photographed knowledge or whatever. As a writer, it's a lot easier for me to write articles than it was twenty years ago, because I can search for information -- which, of course, I properly cite. And Google is a very important tool for that. 

It's not like Google was designed to help people steal content, even if some people choose to use it that way. 

As long as we maintain a sense of fairness & transparanecy, that's all it matters in the end....