Google News RSS Feeds - What is the meaning of "Commercial Purpose"

[wordpresstrainingpackage]

Google TOS says that the Google News RSS feeds should not be used for commercial purpose. However, there are websites carring adsense ads and using the rss feeds.

In the other way round, some people say "commercial purpose" is when the rss feeds content are sold.

What can be defined as "commercial purpose" in the use of Google News?

[Brad Callen]

Google can't catch everything right away. In this case, I see a lot of different people using Google News for one form of monetization or another. It makes sense that they have it defined in their TOS though. My guess is not many people here will say they have ever been popped for using Google News for business.

[dburk]

Hi wordpresstrainingpackage,

It sounds as if you are trying to explore the gray areas of this issue. It should be obvious, in this context, that Google is referring to charging money for access or delivery of the content they are providing. There are probably numerous ways that you might exploit their feed commercially that is covered by that statement. If in doubt, contact an attorney for a legal opinion.

In my opinion you should not be concerned with placing AdSense on a website that happens to be using Google's RSS feeds as part of the content. However, it would be a violation of Google's terms if you were to use AdSense on a site that has Google's news feeds as the only content.

[wordpresstrainingpackage]

Originally Posted by Brad Callen

Google can't catch everything right away. In this case, I see a lot of different people using Google News for one form of monetization or another. It makes sense that they have it defined in their TOS though. My guess is not many people here will say they have ever been popped for using Google News for business.

Thanks, Brad, for your comment. Though I dont know the number, I am sure there are thousands of websites running adsense ads on sites carrying google news rss feeds. Does it mean Google does not even do random investigation of sites carrying their ads? Does it mean Google relies too much on automation to only detect adsense click fraud? Is click fraud the only concern of Google, notwithstanding if other areas of their TOS is being violated?