Google, aggregators slammed as 'parasites' of the internet

Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. A WSJ boss has slammed news aggregation sites like Google as 'tech tapeworms'. Photo / AP

The managing editor of the Wall Street Journal has slammed news aggregation sites as "parasites or tech tapeworms in the intestines of the internet."

WSJ bigwig Robert Thompson told media in Australia last week that news sites are unhappy at having to finance content which is taken, without payment, by aggregators like Google.

"There is a collective consciousness among content creators that they are bearing the costs and that others are reaping some of the revenues - inevitably that profound contradiction will be a catalyst for action and the moment is nigh," he told The Australian.

"There is no doubt that certain websites are best described as parasites or tech tapeworms in the intestines of the internet."

He said that internet users were used to getting much of what they wanted on the internet for nothing.

"And there is no doubt that's in the interest of aggregators like Google who have profited from that mistaken perception. And they have little incentive to recognise the value they are trading on that's created by others."

"Google argues they drive traffic to sites, but the whole Google sensibility is inimical to traditional brand loyalty," he said.

"Google encourages promiscuity - and shamelessly so - and therefore a significant proportion of their users don't necessarily associate that content with the creator. "

- NZ HERALD STAFF