Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

France moves to shield its book industry from Amazon

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 301 posts

Re: France moves to shield its book industry from Amazon

#11

Post by bduerst »

woodruffw wrote: post #9
caslon wrote: post #3

Is there a word for laws that disproportionately affect people in rural areas so that a government can play protectionist for urban companies? I hate Amazon as much as anyone, but in this case they're definitely not wrong , even if they're probably lying about their reasoning.

I can't read the full article thanks to the paywall so maybe I'm missing it, but: where is the urban protectionism here? More generally, my limited understanding of French politics is that they have a very strong agricultural interest that's disproportionate to the populace, similar to the US. The limited news I read about French domestic politics indicates that their government generally accommodates and subsidizes…

Reuters doesn't use paywalls. Is it blocked in other countries?

Re: France moves to shield its book industry from Amazon

#12

Post by jsnell »

woodruffw wrote: post #9
caslon wrote: post #3

Is there a word for laws that disproportionately affect people in rural areas so that a government can play protectionist for urban companies? I hate Amazon as much as anyone, but in this case they're definitely not wrong , even if they're probably lying about their reasoning.

I can't read the full article thanks to the paywall so maybe I'm missing it, but: where is the urban protectionism here? More generally, my limited understanding of French politics is that they have a very strong agricultural interest that's disproportionate to the populace, similar to the US. The limited news I read about French domestic politics indicates that their government generally accommodates and subsidizes…

People living in the cities will now be able to buy a book significantly cheaper than someone living in a rural area. And a bookstore in a city will be able to outcompete a rural one, since they'll have more local sales but the rural bookstore will not be able compete on price for the mail orders.

Re: France moves to shield its book industry from Amazon

#13

Post by woodruffw »

bduerst wrote: post #11
woodruffw wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't read the full article thanks to the paywall so maybe I'm missing it, but: where is the urban protectionism here? More generally, my limited understanding of French politics is that they have a very strong agricultural interest that's disproportionate to the populace, similar to the US. The limited news I read about French domestic politics indicates that their government generally accommodates and subsidizes…

Reuters doesn't use paywalls. Is it blocked in other countries?

Oh, this was my mistake. It's not a paywall, it's just asking me to register to continue to read for free. Says something about my advertising blindness.

(I'm in the US, visiting from a US IP address.)

Re: France moves to shield its book industry from Amazon

#14

Post by [deleted] »

bduerst wrote: post #11
woodruffw wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't read the full article thanks to the paywall so maybe I'm missing it, but: where is the urban protectionism here? More generally, my limited understanding of French politics is that they have a very strong agricultural interest that's disproportionate to the populace, similar to the US. The limited news I read about French domestic politics indicates that their government generally accommodates and subsidizes…

Reuters doesn't use paywalls. Is it blocked in other countries?

[deleted]

Re: France moves to shield its book industry from Amazon

#17

Post by WalterBright »

caslon wrote: post #3

Is there a word for laws that disproportionately affect people in rural areas so that a government can play protectionist for urban companies? I hate Amazon as much as anyone, but in this case they're definitely not wrong , even if they're probably lying about their reasoning.

> I hate Amazon as much as anyone

The fashionable thing to say, indeed!

Yet the anyones are all covertly buying from Amazon, working for Amazon, and investing in Amazon.

Re: France moves to shield its book industry from Amazon

#19

Post by TeMPOraL »

woodruffw wrote: post #13
bduerst wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reuters doesn't use paywalls. Is it blocked in other countries?

Oh, this was my mistake. It's not a paywall, it's just asking me to register to continue to read for free. Says something about my advertising blindness. (I'm in the US, visiting from a US IP address.)

Perhaps we need a new term for this, encompassing both paywalls and "registration walls".

"Dating wall" perhaps? Whether it's asking you to pay up, or just to register an account, it's still asking you to enter into a relationship with the content provider, and you bounce off because you'd rather not have that relationship.

Relationships are a burden, there's only so many one can keep track of.

Re: France moves to shield its book industry from Amazon

#20

Post by TrainedMonkey »

caslon wrote: post #3

Is there a word for laws that disproportionately affect people in rural areas so that a government can play protectionist for urban companies? I hate Amazon as much as anyone, but in this case they're definitely not wrong , even if they're probably lying about their reasoning.

Specific quote is: > Imposing a minimum shipping cost for books would weigh on the purchasing power of consumers.

The other side is a bit more complex, but Amazon is definitely subsidizing shipping costs from their yearly subscription and seller fees. The argument is that this is unfair to smaller companies which don't have capital to burn... and that is kind of true? I think there are valid points on both sides.

Post reply on HN