It's funny that the biggest content thief on the internet is.... Google. Without stealing everyone's content, Google would have been gone eons ago. Without stolen content Google would have no Google News, no search, no weather, likely nothing. Heck even Google Maps is "licensed" content (aside from whatever content we the taxpayers have freely donated to Google to use).
Google stole author's books, fueled music piracy, later enabled video pirates and continues to freely provide links and traffic to illegal downloads. Search Google for content that is illegal in your country and it's in Google. China said comply with our laws and Google took their shrinking ball and ran to Hong Kong and cried foul.
What original content does Google produce? They can't even provide customer support via email to folks pumping money into their ad money making engine. Google has produced mostly just lousy text ads which fuel their entire enterprise. Oh yeah, they once created a search engine that was promising.
We have an abundance of dumb nerd bloggers sitting around (elsewhere on the Intertubes) yammering about this update and pointing to sites being ad heavy or being tables based or other diversions as the reason for their decline. Fact is, content online isn't typically of published book author quality, it's mostly at terribly low fifth grade reading level (much of it seems to be even lower) and ever more brief for the ADD audience ala Twitter. There isn't much "quality" to that type of content. Meanwhile, as usual, those who are writing witty, longer truly informative materials go massively unread now and in the past in Google's search schema.
Syndication has been push by Google and their brethren, so long as they aren't being asked to pay a redistribution license, that is unless you are the Associated Press or a select few other huge lousy traditional monopolies, which Google has non-public disclosed deals with, while being a public company.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2368493,00.asp
Content online is very often about the ads, at least having ads to generate revenue to continue many sites. Google orchestrated that feat, by undermining traditional entrenched media via the lure of their low cost penny ads. At the same time, they encouraged the rise of blogging (they bought Blogger.com) and did much to promote individual content creation.
I have a nagging hunch that the traditional big media, Fortune whatever companies, and Google's preferred partners made out handsomely with this "algorithm change". This change was to attack and disarm the alternative media and the voices who have developed followings independently, but who are not desired for acquisition.
Google's Don't Be Evil motto is officially now a transparent line of cr@p. It was always a concern to many smart folks. Google in many ways has become to independent web publishers what Walmart coming to town is to mom and pop businesses --- an inevitable death march that kills not just a business, but often a big piece of a community.
I find Eric Schmidt's upcoming departure to be troubling and suspect it has something to do with this change, politics and some other forces directing Google.
I think, Eric was telling us something back in 2010:
"I want to be clear what we mean by Net neutrality: What we mean is if you have one data type like video, you don't discriminate against one person's video in favor of another. But it's okay to discriminate across different types, so you could prioritize voice over video".
Of course, everyone knows Google atypically promotes their YouTube videos above publisher content, which is discriminating one person's content in favor of another controlled by Google.
I can see it coming, Matt Cutts will be out this week with one line zingers. His finger pointing in the wrong direction again and diverting attention from what this update truly is about.
Google had a C- rating from the Better Business Bureau just last fall. But now somehow with their non existent customer support and same old business practices manages to have an A rating (talk about fiddling with an algorithm), see:
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2010/10/07/google-better-business-bureau-ratings/
Here's my protest: Google isn't my search engine of choice any longer. Google Docs, gone to another company. There's a big long list of Google properties that I will boycott and I will make sure every user I have today and in the future knows exactly what Google is just another EVIL MONOPOLY.
Google can keep cutting my search originated traffic inappropriately. I'll tally up the massive resources their ignorant backwater spider from hell consumes on a daily basis and in return, my newly created spider will make the same number of requests to their properties to harvest content. Consider it a missile races. Of course, I'll encourage others to do the same.
Anyone old enough to remember AT&T being broken up in the 1980's? Maybe it's Google's turn.