Google allows publishers to limit free content

[December 02, 2009]  LONDON (AP) -- Google Inc. is allowing publishers of paid content to limit the number of free news articles accessed by people using its Internet search engine.

The concession follows mounting criticism of Google's practices from media publishers -- most notably News Corp. chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch -- that argue the company is profiting from online news pages.

In an official blog posted late Tuesday, Josh Cohen, Google's senior business product manager, said the company had updated its so-called First Click Free program so publishers can limit users to viewing no more than five articles a day without registering or subscribing.

Previously, each click from a user of Google's search engine would be treated as free.

"If you're a Google user, this means that you may start to see a registration page after you've clicked through to more than five articles on the website of a publisher using First Click Free in a day ... while allowing publishers to focus on potential subscribers who are accessing a lot of their content on a regular basis," Cohen said in the post.

Murdoch on Tuesday told a Washington D.C. conference that media companies should charge for content and stop news aggregators like Google from "feeding off the hard-earned efforts and investments of others."

[Associated Press]

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