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Google News May Shut in Some Countries Over EU Plans To Charge Tax For Links (theguardian.com)
Google's top news executive has refused to rule out shutting down Google News in EU countries, as the search engine faces a battle with Brussels over plans to charge a "link tax" for using news stories. The Guardian reports: Richard Gingras, the search engine's vice-president of news, said while "it's not desirable to shut down services" the company was deeply concerned about the current proposals, which are designed to compensate struggling news publishers if snippets of their articles appear in search results. He told the Guardian that the future of Google News could depend on whether the EU was willing to alter the phrasing of the legislation. "We can't make a decision until we see the final language," he said. He pointed out the last time a government attempted to charge Google for links, in 2014 in Spain, the company responded by shutting down Google News in the country. Spain passed a law requiring aggregation sites to pay for news links, in a bid to prop up struggling print news outlets. Google responded by closing the service for Spanish consumers, which he said prompted a fall in traffic to Spanish news websites. "We would not like to see that happen in Europe," said Gingras. "Right now what we want to do is work with stakeholders."
And nothing of value was lost.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
The EU wants to charge a tax for links? Jesus. I'm glad I opted not to move there a few years back. The EU has gone batshit crazy already.
If I lived in the EU right now I would tell my boss to suck it and take the first flight out of there.
If you read the proposal, there's no link tax.
The original problem was the Google News would show enough of the story that people didn't go to the originating site to read it. When asked to reduce it to the headline and a link they pulled the "we're Google and we can do what we want" card. Which is why Spain started charging
Is the eu requiring google to run news, and also requiring them to pay shitty euro publishers for it.
All they'd have to do is charge the news outlets for listing their articles. Problem solved. Lol.
Spain passed a law requiring aggregation sites to pay for news links, in a bid to prop up struggling print news outlets. Google responded by closing the service for Spanish consumers, which he said prompted a fall in traffic to Spanish news websites.
And there it is, same as usual. Google is directing traffic to these site, helping them generate ad revenue, but somehow still owes them. Don't misunderstand me here, I'm no Google cheerleader and the EU does sometimes make good points regarding some issues (like privacy), but I know a shakedown when I see one. As usual, the EU is just trying to skim money off the American companies to make up for their own lack of homegrown innovation. Notice how they'll never target Ecosia or Qwant for any of their ridiculous stuff.
will set up servers inside the USA and/or other nations outside the EU because they will lose a lot of web traffic when google pulls the plug...
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
The original problem was the Google News would show enough of the story that people didn't go to the originating site to read it. When asked to reduce it to the headline and a link...
On the other hand, headlnes are often bogus attention-grabbers, serving as both eye- and click-bait. Allowing aggregators to post only headline plus link encourages news sites to accelerate this trend.
The user needs enough context beyond the headline to determine whether the article is about something he actually wants to read. Of course, giving him this means he doesn't follow some links, which might be what is producing the signal that the EU legislators are concerned about.
There's a (thick) line between giving enough context to let the user skip the uninteresting and irrelevant chaff (good) and enough more that he gets the valuable reporting without following the link (I.P. appropriation).
Allowing aggregators to occupy some patch on that line is an application of "fair use". Legislation to define that region needs to take this into account. "Just headline plus link" is clearly outside that patch.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Will Slashdot be next to be taxed for linking? More to come at 11.
The modern EU nation state takes the fun and freedom of the innovative US internet and adds a new EU link tax.
Only EU bureaucrats could take something as amazing and free as the internet and work hard to add a link tax.
Publish behind a paywall and take the paper readers to a paying digital version if the EU publication has value.
Don't tax the internet for the inability to keep a media empire in profit.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Every time I hear about Europe and the internet/tech its about how EU wants to tax/fine/punish/legislate/regulate something. Never about the latest thing, or the cool new invention, or whatever. Always taxes-fines-punish-etc.
This all the stranger because there's a lot of Europeans per se who've done all kinds of things for the internet. Lee invented the web, Guido invented Python, Linus invented all kinds of stuff. And they all work in the US now for US companies. Nokia gone. Ericsson hurting. Phillips now cheap Wal Mart TV's. Thompson...who's that? lol. ARM is "European" in sense of a street address for corporate HQ and nothing else.
Poor Europe.
they literally embrace authoritarianism, and are setting themselves up for tyranny. Brexit cant come soon enough.
Many of the fake news problems have (IMO) been caused by publishers relying on the numbers coming to their pages instead of the quality of their news. As an alternative, look at the Economist Group (Owners of the Economist). They rely on subscriptions and seem to be doing just fine in the face of the Internet.
I reserve the write to mangle english.
While in general I really don't like Trump, it would be satisfying in a primal way if he told their news orgs, "Get with the times you loser luddites and stop interfering with US companies!". He scratches the itch of the inner caveman.
Table-ized A.I.
... shut down free advertising for them. Everyone else tries to get google to provide lots of links to their site.
They may have smaller houses; but on average they are healthier, live longer, have longer vacations, and better safety nets.
Maybe their trickle-down via regulation/taxes has something going for it. To them, there's more important things in life than "big toys".
Table-ized A.I.
Except for the south and the east.
Except for the south and the east.
Shh! Two thirds of nations on the continent are Schrodinger's Europe.
When someone wants to talk about how much better Europe is they are conveniently left out. When someone wants to talk about how important, populous, and diverse Europe is they are back in again.
Always remember kids: 15k innocent Americans killed by somebody else with a gun is barbaric and backwards, but 285k Europeans drinking themselves to death and countless fetal alcohol syndrome sufferers are wonderful celebrations of culture and advancement!
Why is the EU trying to prop up broken business models, thats a 'merkin thing.
Envy and resentment. They're all tied up in knots that the Americans are kicking their asses, and instead of replying with competition, they instead attempt to regulate. You have to realize how humiliating it is for them to be forced to follow the Americans when everyone knows Europe is clearly superior. A good way to restore their damaged psychological state is to lash out against those Americans who make them feel bad. They want so desperately to be seen as the best and to humiliate the Americans instead, and this is the only way they know. The idea that they need to change is a non starter. Humans hate changing themselves and only do it as an utter last resort when all else has failed.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
This has more to do with European culture than anything else. You can take away all those regulations and taxes, it would still rise higher. ie. You can look at central Europe like Hungary, Czech, Slovakia and Poland who usually don't have all the same social benefits, yet still making record strides in their living standards.
The EU is a collection of countries that at one point could lay claim to 'ruling the world'.
And now they don't.
They keep trying to invent ways to make themselves relevant to the world again. From tech shit like this to crap like the world court.
But fear not. I equally detest your main opponent over here, Mr. DÃpfner, who's playing the "wah, wah, they're bad monopoliez" card while deep in bed with you.
I wish *both of you broke*, honestly.
The countries you mentioned have recently seceded from the Soviet Union and are still getting their democracy sea legs. It's premature to characterize them in a general way.
Table-ized A.I.
The reason you only hear that us because that type of news sells better.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Huh?
Every time I hear about Europe and the internet/tech its about how EU wants to tax/fine/punish/legislate/regulate something. Never about the latest thing, or the cool new invention, or whatever. Always taxes-fines-punish-etc. This all the stranger because there's a lot of Europeans per se who've done all kinds of things for the internet.
You are literally contradicting yourself there.
Unless in pragraph 1 you are referring ot the "EU" as "Europe" and in paragraph 2 not. That's the only way it makes sense. And even then, barely. The EU is a legislative body. That's literally its job.
ARM is "European" in sense of a street address for corporate
That and it was founded here and most of the designers still work in the ARM HQ in Cambridge.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
At least, the right to kill yourself with alcohol is really considered a concern around here, and not written in the Cobstitution and fiercely defended "cause freedum".
Hey, in Europe we respect the right to kill yourself before you get to kill others.
That's why you get to drink when you're 16 and drive a car or operate a gun when you're 18. With a hint of luck, those 2 years is enough to weed out the worst.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Poe's Law is strong in this one. Really can't tell whether it's sarcasm or ignorance.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Dude, kicking donkeys is animal abuse!
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
Every time I hear about Europe and the internet/tech its about how EU wants to tax/fine/punish/legislate/regulate something. Never about the latest thing, or the cool new invention, or whatever. Always taxes-fines-punish-etc.
Congradulations on becoming self-aware enough to realise that you live in an echo chamber.
Mind you it depends on how you define the latest thing. Some of the arguably most valuable things to come out of the USA have been Facebook and Uber. If you limit your view of innovation to IT related unicorns then there's no doubt that the USA holds an absolute monopoly on that, there is however a doubt whether that is a worthy claim to fame.
In terms of innovation the Global Innovation Index however shows parts of Europe well ahead of the USA. Though we can't claim that as a complete EU success since the number one country is European but not in the Union. In order:
Switzerland
The Netherlands
Sweden
United Kingdom
Singapore
United States of America
Finland
Denmark
Germany
Ireland
But while you're in your echo chamber let's look at your examples: ... TVs? I didn't know they still made those. I only recognise them as the company that provided an alternative to incadescent lighting which doesn't suck, industrial sensors, although they divested NXP into a separate company they are a powerhouse in semiconductors, but you ignore their biggest market, medical. My last CT scan was in a Philips machine. But if you want to limit new innovation then start with their most recent development, every tried to recusistate a baby? More often than not it results in death due to damage to lungs and airways. Well Philips only anounced last month a cheap system designed to ensure that infant recusitation can be done by any first aider, not just experts.
Nokia: Yep, gone. Destroyed by an American company.
Ericsson: Developed and demonstrated the first viable 5G technology, and brought it to market with the help of the ghost of Nokia.
Phillips:
I am still amazed you mentioned ARM but not NXP. Your echo chamber is pretty damn good, probably controlled by an NXP Kinetis ARM Cortex-M series processor. ;-)
Poor Europe.
In what way? The USA Poverty rate is worse than the worst EU country, and about double the average EU country. Don't cry for us. We're doing fine.
All tech companies should stop doing business inside EU countries. All software vendors should pull all licenses from users in EU countries. Then start suing people who refuse to uninstall the software.
Block access from those EU countries to outside resources (google, yahoo, etc, etc, etc)
Let the EU slowly start to become like China.
Google is far from perfect or even great but the reality is that EU economic policy has always been based on EU protectionism. Continental Europe just flat out has a different view of democracy than the Anglosphere. They always prioritize equality over individual liberty.
Most Europeans are not properly educated on how much they depend on the US. The US is almost exclusively depicted in a negative way and blamed for stuff, while the US is almost never depicted in a positive way and given its due credit. A lot of Europeans directly link their view of their own individual countries and the EU/Europe as a whole to their view of the US as a point of contrast. Because they see things along those lines, and because they want to depict themselves as being superior to the US, they must as a matter of necessity see the US in an unrealistically negative way. Acknowledging that the EU is dependent on the US doesn't help the cause. There are definitely leaders in Europe who are aware of how much Europe depends on the US for defense, but this fact is not in anyway conducive to the larger political agenda and geopolitical outlook in Europe which is all about integration and European unity. In fact, support for the EU is very closely related to anti-Americanism. On reddit you'll see a lot of Europeans admit very openly that they support the EU because they see it as a rival to the US.
A lot of hate Europeans have for the US is not only a product of their ignorance of their dependence on the US, it's also *because of* their dependence on the US. Europeans take the US for granted and many of those that are aware of their dependence on the US still hate the US because playing second fiddle to the US stings their pride.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
you hear only those things because you're reading US news sites, but don't worry, on EU sites we read how great the EU is and about the many fails of US/Asia. I'm sure on other continent news sites it's the same story (we are great, the rest is fail).
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.