Times Online implements ACAP

SVP of intellectual property for Yahoo! Joe Siino spoke out in support of ACAP at the launch, saying, “We are not members of ACAP but we are involved informally as are our competitors. We appreciate ACAP's effort to make more content available on the web. We appreciate the concerns of our publisher partners that they should feel confident to make content available to the world. We also appreciate ACAP's really open and collaborative approach. We look forward to working together in the future.”

Stated O'Reilly, “We can overcome this obstacle to development thanks to ACAP. ACAP will give the content industry worldwide the incentive to innovate, create and disseminate. Newspapers, magazines, books, journals, directory publishers: anyone involved in digital publishing can now adopt a standard that will protect their interests and will make them masters of their own content.

Close collaboration

ACAP has been developed at the initiative of the World Association of Newspapers, the International Publishers Association and the European Publishers Council in close collaboration with search engines to protect the intellectual property of anyone wishing to make content available on the worldwide web and is set to become a universal standard.

It is the result of an intense 12-month pilot project which has resulted in a communications tool that will open the door to more and more high level content, giving all content owners the confidence to make their content available on the worldwide web.

Publishers globally are being encouraged to implement ACAP version 1, 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. For instructions on how to implement ACAP, go to www.the-acap.org/implement-acap.php.

Support for ACAP

Politicians and business leaders have lent support to ACAP. EU commissioner Reding spoke via video to the conference, saying: “Media companies have not yet fully adapted their business models to new distribution technologies, which cut across national borders and traditionally separated sectors. The uncertainties associated with the shift to digital technologies inhibit the development of many potential online services.

The commission is following the ACAP project closely, since it offers possibilities for a win-win situation for all stakeholders.

O'Reilly continued: “ACAP has been the huge beneficiary of input, technical know-how and quiet wisdom of all of the major search engines, albeit in an “informal way. So some five months on, I want to recognise this publicly, with our sincere thanks. And to demonstrate how collaborative, open and inclusive ACAP is, I am delighted to be able to welcome the very large number of representatives from Yahoo!, Microsoft and Google who have joined us here today.

Next phase

Further use cases for different business models, including for the audiovisual sector, will be considered during the next phase of ACAP's development.

ACAP project manager Mark Bide of Rightscom said: “Unprecedented industry support and commitment to the ACAP pilot must now be followed by a huge effort to roll ACAP out to the widest possible audience in the shortest possible time so that the digital publishing sector can reap the benefits of all the hard work to date.

For more information on ACAP, go to www.the-acap.org.