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EU censorship machines and link tax laws are nearing the finish line

juliareda.eu

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Re: EU censorship machines and link tax laws are nearing the finish line

#11

Post by nickpp »

As public regulators all over the world are busy pushing regulations (what else? that is their sole job after all) maybe it is time to stop and ask: are we losing more than we are gaining?

Everything has a price and free markets are the only mechanism for determining that price. But regulations overwrite that price with one determined by politics and lobby and populism. This new price is paid by all no matter if we want to or not.

So the question is: is it worth it? I make this kind of cost analysis in my life every day. But is it anybody doing them at the society level? As the costs of regulations add up so does the cost of the product. Can, we, as a society, afford it? Or maybe we are pawning our future to pay for these imposed costs today?

Re: EU censorship machines and link tax laws are nearing the finish line

#12

Post by jsnell »

I had not realized that this insane bit with an inalienable right to monetary remuneration had made it to the drafts. We already know from the past cases that if given the choices between paying for the privilege of linking vs. not linking at all, search engines and social networks will do the latter. The economic value of e.g. news searches must be miniscule.

But maybe there is a little bit of value there, even if not a ton. So one can maybe imagine a Google or a Facebook signing a deal with a couple of publishers per country. It's just that the marginal utility of additional publications will go down very quickly. Most publications will a) not get paid for the links, since they're not linked to b) not get any traffic, and lose a large chunk of their ad revenue as well.

It absolutely boggles the mind that anyone would think this is a good idea. Unless they're a top 2 media conglomerate of an European country, and would like for all their weaker competitors to be killed off.

Re: EU censorship machines and link tax laws are nearing the finish line

#13

Post by bo1024 »

Ignoring what the laws are actually about, GDPR and copyright are similar in this: one entity gets legal control over others' use of certain information. But while the privacy law is aimed at allowing individuals to assert some control over companies, the expansion of copyright is used by companies to assert control over individuals.

Re: EU censorship machines and link tax laws are nearing the finish line

#14

Post by pjc50 »

greglindahl wrote: post #9
fairpx wrote: post #6

It would be great if all these new regulations only applied to companies of X size. Scrappy startups with no access to good lawyers and understanding of these regulations are more likely to suffer vs the big guys who were the cause of all of these changes in the first place.

I'm an advisor to several startup European search engines which are likely to be annihilated by the combination of these changes and the GDPR.

Who would start a new search engine in this day and age? You'd need some really unique features which Google can't duplicate, and the only one which seems to have made it is DDG with their privacy promise.

Re: EU censorship machines and link tax laws are nearing the finish line

#16

Post by Cyph0n »

pjc50 wrote: post #14
greglindahl wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an advisor to several startup European search engines which are likely to be annihilated by the combination of these changes and the GDPR.

Who would start a new search engine in this day and age? You'd need some really unique features which Google can't duplicate, and the only one which seems to have made it is DDG with their privacy promise.

That doesn't make it alright for the EU to kill new entrants through regulation...

Re: EU censorship machines and link tax laws are nearing the finish line

#17

Post by merinowool »

jsnell wrote: post #12

I had not realized that this insane bit with an inalienable right to monetary remuneration had made it to the drafts. We already know from the past cases that if given the choices between paying for the privilege of linking vs. not linking at all, search engines and social networks will do the latter. The economic value of e.g. news searches must be miniscule. But maybe there is a little bit of value there, even if n…

[flagged]

Re: EU censorship machines and link tax laws are nearing the finish line

#18

Post by fairpx »

pjc50 wrote: post #14
greglindahl wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an advisor to several startup European search engines which are likely to be annihilated by the combination of these changes and the GDPR.

Who would start a new search engine in this day and age? You'd need some really unique features which Google can't duplicate, and the only one which seems to have made it is DDG with their privacy promise.

Just as a side note: not every search engine is a direct competitor to Google. You can have vertical search engines serving a specific purpose. These can do very well by executing on a narrow use case. Something the Googles can’t do.

Re: EU censorship machines and link tax laws are nearing the finish line

#19

Post by merinowool »

pjc50 wrote: post #14
greglindahl wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an advisor to several startup European search engines which are likely to be annihilated by the combination of these changes and the GDPR.

Who would start a new search engine in this day and age? You'd need some really unique features which Google can't duplicate, and the only one which seems to have made it is DDG with their privacy promise.

So that the access to information is more democratic? What stops Google from suppressing certain information at the request of bureaucrats or corporations? When you have a choice you are more likely to see information from different sides. Of course most people won't bother, but suppressing choice can only end up sad.

Re: EU censorship machines and link tax laws are nearing the finish line

#20

Post by PhasmaFelis »

downandout wrote: post #5
anoncow wrote: post #4

GDPR and the proposed copyright laws will break the internet irrecoverably. The start-up industry will be a long forgotten dream. These old b@$%%%s will turn the internet into cable television. Scumbags would want to go back to a world of slavery, colonisation and wealth locked up as gold in personal treasuries. I hope all the other countries follow suit and then the only thing we will be able to aim for is a job in…

GDPR and the proposed copyright laws will break the internet irrecoverably. Yeah but there's nothing wrong with that per se. It's the EU's choice to return to the stone age. There are Amish communities in the US where nobody has computers and their primary form of transportation is horses and buggies [1]. The rest of the world will simply move on, and like Amish communities, those in the EU that wish to participate i…

You actually think that censoring the internet causes technological collapse? Have you heard of China?
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