Live data from Hacker News

Google News is shutting down purchased magazine content, offering refunds

arstechnica.com

21–30 of 87 posts

Re: Google News is shutting down purchased magazine content, offering refunds

#22
post #8

I wonder if this is just due to something internal at Google or if there has been some more global change that has made them uninterested in continuing this? Normally I'd guess the former given Google's legendary propensity for getting rid of services, but a couple months ago Amazon did something similar [1] which makes me wonder if the two are connected somehow: > Effective September 4, 2023, Amazon is no longer sel…

It's worth noting that sales of this content were shut down in early 2020 and subscriptions were refunded then; this is just the shuttering of the hosting for a service that has not generated revenue in 3 years. The OP links to this article for context: https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/01/03/google-news-killing...

Now, there could be reasons other than cost/technical debt for them to shut this down - perhaps some kind of legal or reputational risk to continuing to host certain content. And perhaps it's the same risk that Amazon identified. But there could be simpler reasons as well.

Re: Google News is shutting down purchased magazine content, offering refunds

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody should be expecting accurate information on either conflict. Sometimes accurate information is hard to come by. I'm not sure the problem is that platforms are being "pressured to provide the public with accurate information", though. I would guess there's far more pressure to provide information that favors certain viewpoints, whether that information is accurate or not.

I think people should expect accurate information. Kinda the same as with justice. We know justice is served by people in nice togas and juries of peers who are really a nice name for your neighbours. And yet we still demand and hopefully will continue to demand justice, even if those people make mistakes or sometimes behave fraudulently. The problem with Israeli-Hamas conflict isn't that the accurate information isn…

> The problem with Israeli-Hamas conflict isn't that the accurate information isn't available.

> It is that both sides of the conflict decided to use misinformation to bolster their media presence and their right to defend themselves.

How can these two claims be compatible with each other? The first says that accurate information is available. The second says that it isn't.

Re: Google News is shutting down purchased magazine content, offering refunds

#24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people should expect accurate information. Kinda the same as with justice. We know justice is served by people in nice togas and juries of peers who are really a nice name for your neighbours. And yet we still demand and hopefully will continue to demand justice, even if those people make mistakes or sometimes behave fraudulently. The problem with Israeli-Hamas conflict isn't that the accurate information isn…

> The problem with Israeli-Hamas conflict isn't that the accurate information isn't available. > It is that both sides of the conflict decided to use misinformation to bolster their media presence and their right to defend themselves. How can these two claims be compatible with each other? The first says that accurate information is available. The second says that it isn't.

Strictly speaking, it says that inaccurate information is also available.

Re: Google News is shutting down purchased magazine content, offering refunds

#25
post #21
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm 99% sure that they won't come to collect my trusty Pixel 3a any time soon :)

Yeah, just EOL it and leave it so that its open to basic security exploits.

Thanks, that's a totally valid point!

Re: Google News is shutting down purchased magazine content, offering refunds

#30
post #26

Yet another reason to just pirate everything. That way, the company running things can't arbitrarily decide to delete your pirated content.

It's easier to list the reasons not to pirate.

1. Piracy is theft.
Post reply on HN