Everybody else and their grandmother is sounding off about this topic, so I guess I will toss my proverbial hat into the ring and sound off as well. Many more popular or more brilliant minds than my own have pretty much said everything I could say on the topic. The person I tend to agree with more often than not on the whole AutoLink problem is Robert Scoble.

I believe that anything that changes the linking behavior of the Web is evil. Anything that changes my content is evil. Particularly anything that messes with the integrity of the link system. And I do see this as a slippery slope. Today users have to jump through hoops to use this feature. What about tomorrow? Oh, and Google says they won’t be evil, but what about their competitors who haven’t taken such an anti-evil stance? (Hint: Microsoft isn’t the only Google competitor).

Steve Rubel has also had a stance on this that I very much agree with as well.

I agree with Scoble. This is a pivotal discussion that bloggers, journalists, PR professionals and marketers need to jump into. Do you really want Google, Microsoft, George W. Bush, God or anyone adding links to your content? You know my position here. If I were you, I wouldn’t want this – unless the site is intentionally part of the read/write web, such as a wiki or a blog that is open to comments. Your content is your content. If you care about the Web, I urge you to sign this petition that I created and spread the word. We need to send a message to Google and others that messing with content is just plain wrong.

Now that you have heard two opinions I agree with, it is my turn to take a stab at Google’s new AutoLink dilemma.

I have worn many hats in my twenty-two years on this Earth, but the one I am proudest of is writer. You see I earn my “bread and butter” from my own thoughts, articles, columns and input. I am a content creator. Every single word I write, I look at as my child. It is mine to do with as I wish, but I would not give that same right to just anybody. As a content creator, I am very picky about how my content is used. It came from my head, so why shouldn’t I be a little picky about how it is used once it leaves my brain and finds a home Online?

Nobody has the right to change my content but me. How is this any different than the fight by the music and movie industries looking to protect their own content? What is you were in the middle of listening to your favorite tunes, and all of the sudden they mention a soft drink. The song suddenly stops, then you are told where you can purchase this soft drink the cheapest.

You would say the song was ruined, wouldn’t you? Well that is the same thing I’d say if Google or anybody else decided, “Hey, I think that would be a good place for us to link to this Web site” and dumped it onto my Web site. It might not be that tricky yet, but you just wait and if this goes through without a problem, that will be what is coming up next.

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