Google Toolbar AutoLink stirs debate
A Google Inc. tool bar feature introduced this week is rekindling a debate over who should control what appears on a Web page—the site's creator or the software used to view it.
Google introduced a feature called AutoLink in a beta of its next tool bar version. AutoLink inserts links into Web pages where an address, package tracking number, publication ISBN (International Standard Book Number) or VIN (vehicle identification number) appears in the content.
In the case of the address, the links connect by default to the recently unveiled Google Maps service. The others take users to third-party sites.
While Google billed the feature as an easier way to gather related information, some Web publishers and technology analysts were quick to criticize AutoLink. They compared it to Microsoft Corp.'s Smart Tags technology that unraveled amid widespread criticism in 2001, saying AutoLink similarly changes Web content to the potential benefit of Google.
Microsoft backtracked on its original Smart Tags plans for Windows XP after critics slammed the technology for directing Internet Explorer users to sites of Microsoft's choosing with the addition of links into Web content. Microsoft later introduced Smart Tags, mainly for its Office suite.
