Google Pulls Out The Nuclear Option: Shuts Down Google News In Spain Over Ridiculous Copyright Law
from the bad-copyright-policy dept
Back in October, we noted that Spain had passed a ridiculously bad Google News tax, in which it required any news aggregator to pay for snippets and actually went so far as to make it an "inalienable right" to be paid for snippets -- meaning that no one could choose to let any aggregator post snippets for free. Publishers have to charge any aggregator. This is ridiculous and dangerous on many levels. As we noted, it would be deathly for digital commons projects or any sort of open access project, which thrive on making content reusable and encouraging the widespread sharing of such content.Apparently, it's also deathly for Google News in Spain. A few hours ago, Google announced that due to this law, it was shutting down Google News in Spain, and further that it would be removing all Spanish publications from the rest of Google News. In short, Google went for the nuclear option in the face of a ridiculously bad law:
But sadly, as a result of a new Spanish law, we’ll shortly have to close Google News in Spain. Let me explain why. This new legislation requires every Spanish publication to charge services like Google News for showing even the smallest snippet from their publications, whether they want to or not. As Google News itself makes no money (we do not show any advertising on the site) this new approach is simply not sustainable. So it’s with real sadness that on 16 December (before the new law comes into effect in January) we’ll remove Spanish publishers from Google News, and close Google News in Spain.Every time there have been attempts to get Google to cough up some money to publishers in this or that country, people (often in our comments) suggest that Google should just "turn off" Google News in those countries. Google has always resisted such calls. Even in the most extreme circumstances, it's just done things like removing complaining publications from Google News, or posting the articles without snippets. In both cases, publishers quickly realized how useful Google News was in driving traffic and capitulated. In this case, though, it's not up to the publishers. It's entirely up to the law.
The reason the law made it an "inalienable right" was to prevent Google from just removing those publishers. Instead, the end result is it got Google to shut down the whole thing, and deprive every Spanish publication not of money, but of traffic -- which may be much more important.
For centuries publishers were limited in how widely they could distribute the printed page. The Internet changed all that -- creating tremendous opportunities but also real challenges for publishers as competition both for readers’ attention and for advertising Euros increased. We’re committed to helping the news industry meet that challenge and look forward to continuing to work with our thousands of partners globally, as well as in Spain, to help them increase their online readership and revenues.And the really stupid thing in all this is that, as Google notes, it wasn't even placing ads on Google News in Spain. So it's not even that publishers could claim that Google was "profiting" from driving such traffic to their sites.
So, nice going Spanish politicians. Your new copyright law not only makes you a laughingstock for pushing a ridiculous industry-driven legislation, but you've made life worse off for everyone. Citizens lose an important way to find relevant news. Publishers lose a big traffic driver. Open access and digital commons are now effectively dead in Spain as well. Who has won here?
Even if you're a Google hater who is happy to see a country pass a clearly anti-Google law, there are much bigger issues here, as pointed out by the EFF, which highlights how this law is an attack on the basic right to link:
Hopefully politicians in the rest of Europe take notice, before pushing forward with similarly short-sighted attacks on linking and aggregating.What concerns EFF more is that these ancillary copyright laws form part of a broader trend of derogation from the right to link. This can be seen when you examine the other parts of the Spanish copyright amendments that take effect in January (here in PDF)—notably placing criminal liability on website operators who refuse to remove mere links to copyright-infringing material.
This year's European Court of Justice ruling against Google Spain on the so-called Right to be Forgotten, is part of the same larger trend, in requiring search engines to remove links to content judged to be “irrelevant”, even if the content is true. We are also disturbed by comments made by new European Digital Commissioner Günther Oettinger who has foreshadowed [German] a broader roll-out of ancillary copyright rules throughout the EU.
Online intermediaries may be a convenient scapegoat for the fading fortunes of European newspaper publishers, but banning the use of text snippets alongside website links is a misguided and—now self-evidently
—counter-productive approach. Once it becomes illegal for aggregators to freely link news summaries to publicly-available websites, it becomes that much easier for those who want to prohibit other sorts of links, such as links to political YouTube videos, to make their case.
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Filed Under: aggregation, ancillary copyright, copyright, google news, linking, open access, spain
Companies: google
Reader Comments
The First Word
“And thus we see ...
The entire country of Spain taking advantage of their "right to be forgotten". Nice knowing you...Subscribe: RSS
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Spain? Never heard of it. Is that T-pain's son?
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Re: Spain? Never heard of it. Is that T-pain's son?
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Re: Re: Spain? Never heard of it. Is that T-pain's son?
unless someone physically mails them a newspaper snippet
but, Google will not be able to prepare...because it is now costly to share information originating in Spain
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Re: Spain? Never heard of it. Is that T-pain's son?
anyway - the older generation is now - really - stuck in the dark ages
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Regular results?
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And besides: I'm not trolling. "Intellectual property" is an oxymoron: it's the fatuous conceit of inferior people who can't grasp the rather rudimentary idea that ideas are not and can not be property. In their ignorance, in their greed, in their self-centered and entirely myopic world view, they have the audacity to believe that ideas are not the shared property of everyone, but merely their own.
And they are so fixated on this, so sure of it, so doggedly determined to adhere to it, that they are willing to hold back science, kill millions (one of the effects of IP laws on drugs), retard progress, inhibit education, and stymie justice. All because they think ideas can be property.
These people are enemies of humanity -- as much as any mass-murdering dictator or freedom-destroying tyrant. They do damage on an enormous scale and justify it -- at least to themselves and those like them -- by claiming that their non-existent "property" rights trump all.
They are despicable.
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on balance, be BETTER OFF with ZERO copyright laws...
will repeat what i saw on a comment elsewhere: okay, bigshot korporate copy maximalists, let us adopt YOUR VALUES/MEANINGS, and make 'intellectual property' a real thing...
NOW, let us TAX IP at some reasonable rate and find out how loud you squeal that 'intellectual property' isn't 'property' after all...
slime balls, all of them...
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I would say...
But I suspect they'll never find this article or this comment...
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Re: I would say...
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Those that were pushing for payment for everything and counting their money before it came in are in for a rude shock when their citizens have to go to other countries to find out what is going on in their own.
Heaven help that the people of Spain get pissed and refuse to buy magazines and newspapers.
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What makes you think this is short-sighted by the politicians, as an ignorant population is much more easily ruled.
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And thus we see ...
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How long ...
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And the "hot news" will come from Twitter.
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No one expects the Spanish Requisition!!!
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Just a battle, not the war
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Re: Just a battle, not the war
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Re: Re: Just a battle, not the war
The rich and powerful, they buy the government.
A large company like Google 'pushes around' the government by refusing to go comply with a law designed to screw them over and instead removing the aspects of their business that would have been affected.
Only one of those puts money in political pockets, and is therefor acceptable, the other doesn't, and is therefor a heinous abuse of power.
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Re: Just a battle, not the war
I don't agree that search needs to be separated from every other service. I just hope for the advertisement part being split from search in all the large search engines. In that way the valuation of the services provided by a search company will be closer to a free market valuation.
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Typical GOOG apology-- you don't get something for nothing
So I say, "Good riddance to Google News, Leeches All."
And quit quoting the EFF, another group funded by GOOG for moments just like this. They're just lapdogs who do what their master says.
This has nothing to do with linking. It has to do with quoting and repurposing facts without adding to the dialog.
I have no problem with the way that this blog uses extensive quotes from hard working reporters because it usually adds something to the debate. (Yes, it adds the wrong headed, muddled opinion, but that's your right.) GOOG adds nothing.
And why does GOOG continue to maintain that it makes nothing off of news. That's not what Marissa Mayer claimed.
http://fortune.com/2008/07/22/whats-google-news-worth-100-million/
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Re: Typical GOOG apology-- you don't get something for nothing
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Re: Re: Typical GOOG apology-- you don't get something for nothing
Why do you even bother creating an account when you're just going to whine about how you don't use it?
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Re: Typical GOOG apology-- you don't get something for nothing
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Re: Typical GOOG apology-- you don't get something for nothing
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Re: Typical GOOG apology-- you don't get something for nothing
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Re: Typical GOOG apology-- you don't get something for nothing
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Re: Re: Typical GOOG apology-- you don't get something for nothing
Sure they will run back to google screaming for them to turn it back up... but the spanish govt has pretty much forced google into the position with no alternative way out.
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Re: Typical GOOG apology-- you don't get something for nothing
"So I say, "Good riddance to Google News, Leeches All.""
Who are you referring to when you say that? The site that provides a useful service, the people who use that service for free to find news stories or the news sites that depend on the traffic sent via said service without paying them for the traffic? You have to be clearer as to who you're lying about.
"And why does GOOG continue to maintain that it makes nothing off of news. That's not what Marissa Mayer claimed. "
Oh dear, your reading comprehension is sending you into fictional wonderlands again? From the header of the article you linked:
"Google News might not make money on its own, but it drives $100 million worth of search."
She doesn't say they make money, she says that news makes no money directly, but generates other revenue. You know, like the article you attacking clearly says.
So, still too stupid to understand the difference between direct revenue and leveraging free services to generate revenue elsewhere? You know, like everyone keeps saying your failing heroes should do instead of obsessing over how much they could make if only they could outlaw competition?
You'd have thought you'd at least have stumbled across reality once or twice in all the time you've spent bullshitting here.
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Re: Typical GOOG apology-- you don't get something for nothing
Actually they are adding traffic.
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Re: Typical GOOG apology-- you don't get something for nothing
If anything google and other search engines are helping drive traffic to the originating sites. I mean no one is going to go to 3 sources individually and search a topic... aggregation just makes sense.
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Re: Typical GOOG apology-- you don't get something for nothing
That must be why nobody uses it. Oh wait.
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Re: Typical GOOG apology-- you don't get something for nothing
So, sending a ton of traffic to the newspaper's websites where they can be monetized is "nothing" now?
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Re: Spying
It's like saying your bank or phone company is "spying" on you because they have all this personal data. If you want to use their product then there's no way for them not to have your data.
In both cases no humans will ever see your data. In theory they could, but personally I trust Google's internal data security a lot more than BigBankInc or EvilPhoneCompany.
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Re: Re: Spying
That's why I used it.
"One of those services happens to be "ads for things you actually care about"."
Which isn't actually a service from my point of view. That's how you're paying.
"It's like saying your bank or phone company is "spying" on you because they have all this personal data."
You misunderstand. Data collected that is relevant to and used exclusively for providing me with goods and services is not what I'm talking about.
But Google collects far more than that. Google collects everything it can (whether its relevant to providing me services I asked for or not)in order to build as complete of a profile on me as a consumer that they can. They do this not to facilitate the services they provide me with, but so they can sell ad space for more money.
"In both cases no humans will ever see your data."
That couldn't be less relevant.
"In theory they could, but personally I trust Google's internal data security a lot more than BigBankInc or EvilPhoneCompany."
Internal security also doesn't enter into it. Internal security is an effort to stop the data from being used in ways the company doesn't want it to be used. My concern is about the activities the company does engage in.
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Let's see how much Google "steal" from Spanish sites by linking to them :)
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This new copyright law is going to do the same thing but this time around, it isn't going to be an easy fix because this is a law that has been passed in Spain. Not only is web traffic going to drop for all of those media organizations in Spain, but Google News is being shut down in Spain and all references to those media organizations is being wiped from Google News all across the spectrum.
Nicely done, Spain has killed web traffic for Spain news organizations in their own country.
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AEDE might have royally screwed their publishers over this law. I just love irony. Good luck, Spain news organizations, I hope you can generate web traffic by yourself, because Google isn't going to help you on that front.
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Really?
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Re: Really?
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Re: Really?
Trying throwing in a "Mike Masnick" adhom now and again and make sure to bring up Google even when they have nothing to do with the article.
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Re: Really?
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Re: Yes, Really.
The Spanish legislators apparently care enough to pass a law specifically targeting the company.
Also: News.google.es has received an estimated 159,783,000 visits over the last 30 days.
Mostly bots, I'm sure.
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No wonder Spain has such a high unemployment rate, when they pass moronic laws such as this copyright law.
I expect a short time before Spanish news media starts bitching about Google News shutting down and the resulting media backlash over the new law.
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More proof that European legislators are idiots...
Google links to information on people's sites. For google news, it includes small snippets that whet the appetites of readers making them want to visit the news sites.
Readers / Users pick Google search and Google news because they've come to know and trust Google's results.
All of these idiotic European legislators that are believing greedy corporations over their own constituents wants (remember, it's their constituents that use Google) just shows who's really in charge in Europe (America isn't any different with our corporate overlords ruling Congress and the White House).
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Re: More proof that European legislators are idiots...
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It doesn't?
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http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Salaries-E9079.htm
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Re: More proof that European legislators are idiots...
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Please send my sink to the Spanish legislature.
If everyone here asks the same, Mr. Ozio will bury the Spanish legislature in kitchen sinks.
Problem solved??
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Some things never change
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Re: Some things never change
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Spain needs to form an Inquisition
Furthermore Spain can simply pass a law requiring Google to forever operate Google News in Spain, according to the laws of Spain.
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Re: Spain needs to form an Inquisition
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Re: Re: Spain needs to form an Inquisition
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Why? Because this wasn't just a simple demand for licensing fees, this is now a law that goes into effect in two weeks. What would happen is that Spain's legislature would have to draft a new bill to repeal the draconian copyright law they passed in the first place and with many legislatures preparing to go on holiday break, that's unlikely to happen.
Google News shuts down on Tuesday. It would take weeks before a new bill is drafted to release the law and even longer to get an approved vote to repeal the law. They can't just automatically repeal the law. They actually need to vote to repeal the law and even then, it's no guarantee that Google would restore the service.
If Google were smart, they would avoid Spain because Spain and Germany keep trying to come up with new ways to squeeze money out of Google to get them to pay licensing fees. It's only been about one thing, getting free money from Google.
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If those larger news publishers don't think that Google News shutting down won't affect them, they are more deluded than they think. In the end, they'll also see their traffic drop slightly but that the backlash against publishers represented by AEDE may see them biting off more than they thought.
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When this new law gets killed........
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What next, charging Facebook for snippets posted by its users, and Twitter for links posted by its users?
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Good for Google
But the bigger question is whether other search and news sites have to follow the same rule? Was this a "Google only" tax or will Bing follow? And if the tax applies to everyone, what will happen to all the Spanish publications if NO search engine will list them?
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Corporate Sovereignty
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What about using a VPN to get the news?
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Re: What about using a VPN to get the news?
You'd be surprised what nonsense happens when you combine 'Want more money' and 'from google'. And even more if you add 'on the internet' somewhere in there like a patent application.
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The law is working as intended.
Google News was most useful when you were looking for something not covered timely by the mainstream. It was making people aware of good small news sites giving a different picture.
Without working search engines, the Spanish populace will mostly look for its news on sites covered by household news providers.
The purpose of pushing for these laws was not getting money from Google. It was killing the competition.
For that reason, the competition is not allowed to grant Google royalty-free access to even the smallest bit of their news and thus gather attention.
The parties having pushed for this law are the parties for which the dark ages of information were the golden times, and they got them back.
They got what they greased the politicians for, and they want it. The losers are the small publishers who now slip under the radar of the public, and the public which is kept dumb by the government-coddling large publishers.
Or in other words: the free market and democracy were kneed in the groin and dialed back a big notch.
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Re: The law is working as intended.
Sounds like it's the other way around.
The purpose of pushing for these laws was not getting money from Google. It was killing the competition.
Very good insight, thanks.
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Re: The law is working as intended.
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Re: The law is working as intended.
Meanwhile, every effort to get their claws out of our backs (we've always been taxed to subsidize them one way or another) gets characterized as socialism or govt. interference and therefore evil.
True democracy demands government by the people for the people that protects the weak from the strong. That means we sometimes need government interference in business when it's in the public interest. This is a case in point; the interference in this instance was in the alleged interests of the Spanish publishers. We'll soon see whether or not it was in their actual interests. As for the public, corporations are people, my friend. Human beings, not so much.
Please can we all agree that if we're going to be governed by any system, it's got to be in our best interests as human beings, not to put money in some overfed CEO's offshore bank account? They're not using that extra income to create the jobs we were promised.
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...it's the John Galt option.
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More like: other news sources exist. People will use them instead of the ones they used to be linked to through Google. They will use Google to search for everything else non-news related.
"There's still an internet in Spain."
Along with a bunch of people who haven't worked out how to use it profitably yet.
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How?
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Re: Re: Who is John Galt?
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Is this anything like coitus interruptus?
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The Phone Book Should Pay Me Too!!
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Re: The Phone Book Should Pay Me Too!!
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https://metro.co.uk/2014/12/12/sorry-spain-youll-no-longer-be-getting-any-news-from-google-498417 9/
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attaboy google!
I think this will go a long way towards showing exactly how stupid such laws and such lawmakers are and hopefully, will warn off other nations who allow morons and idiots to make laws.
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The Last Word
“Re: And thus we see ...
I think it more that Google is granting them the Right To Never Even Be Known