Countdown to new open standard for publishers, search engines

Components of the ACAP standard are currently being implemented and tested on a pilot basis by several publishers and by Exalead (www.exalead.com), allegedly the world's fourth largest search engine. The results of these tests will be publicly presented for the first time at the November conference.

From December 2007, publishers will be encouraged to implement ACAP which will allow publishers, broadcasters and indeed any other publisher of content on the network to express their individual access and use policies in a language that search engine robots and similar automated tools can read and understand. The ACAP draft technical framework papers for pilot testing are now available at www.the-acap.org.

Gavin O'Reilly, president of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN), said: “This conference will demonstrate beyond all doubt, the need for ACAP and the potential disaster for the global publishing industry should it fail to embrace new technology to protect its future.”

ACAP project manager Mark Bide of Rightscom said: “This project has received unprecedented industry support and commitment. Key players in the publishing and online industry have been quick to appreciate the need for ACAP and have responded by lending their corporate support and technical expertise. Our challenge now will be to communicate to the widest possible audience how ACAP can be implemented.”

Pilot participants

ACAP pilot participants are: Agence France-Presse, De Persgroep, Impresa, Independent News & Media Plc, John Wiley & Sons, Macmillan/Holtzbrinck, Media24, Reed Elsevier, Sanoma Corporation, British Library and Exalead.

Current ACAP members include: Access Copyright, Associated Press, Association of American Publishers, Associazione Italiana Editori, Australian Publishers Association, Authors Licensing & Collecting Society, Copyright Agency Limited, Copyright Clearance Center, Copyright Licensing Agency, Dapper, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, EDItEUR, European Alliance of News Agencies, Express Newspapers, European Newspaper Publishers Association, Fairfax Business Media, Federation of European Publishers, Forlæggerforeningen, Gazette Communications, International Association of STM Publishers, International DOI Foundation, International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations, International Press Telecommunications Council, Mediargus, Motion Picture Association, Nederlands Uitgeversverbond, News International, News Limited Australia, Newspaper Association of America, Newspaper Licensing Agency, Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI), Ovid Technologies, PLUS Coalition, Publishers Licensing Society, Random House Group, Recording Industry Association of America, Reuters, Scholastic, Vlaamse Dagbladpers and World Blind Union.

Speakers at the conference will include Tom Curley, CEO of Associated Press; Alain Heurtebise, CEO, Exalead; and WAN president Gavin O'Reilly. Delegates will leave the conference fully briefed on how to implement this new and potentially universal standard.

Delegates can register by contacting Tessa Thier at .