Google threatens to disable search in Australia if media code becomes law
1–10 of 14 posts
Re: Google threatens to disable search in Australia if media code becomes law
#2I think this would be a huge win for growing clout and usage of alternative search engines. Not sure if Google knows what it's asking for.
Now if Facebook follows suit, even so much better. It'd be a huge win for privacy.
Re: Google threatens to disable search in Australia if media code becomes law
#3I kind of wish for a future where Google withdraws from Australia, but it's highly unlikely.
Also, they never threatened to withdraw search altogether. I watched the parliamentary hearing live and from what I heard, they insinuated they may not continue "some services or features" if the laws are passed as-is.
Honestly though, the idea that Google should pay just for showing article links in results is absurd. Snippets is at best slightly more of an argument, but honestly they're making use of the og meta tags that these news sites have put in their website themselves.
It sets a horrible precedent if you have to pay others for the crime of linking to their content.
Re: Google threatens to disable search in Australia if media code becomes law
#4[deleted]
Re: Google threatens to disable search in Australia if media code becomes law
#5I think this would be a huge win for growing clout and usage of alternative search engines. Not sure if Google knows what it's asking for. Now if Facebook follows suit, even so much better. It'd be a huge win for privacy.
I think they know the risk; they are confident competing search engines can’t, well, compete.
Re: Google threatens to disable search in Australia if media code becomes law
#6I think this would be a huge win for growing clout and usage of alternative search engines. Not sure if Google knows what it's asking for. Now if Facebook follows suit, even so much better. It'd be a huge win for privacy.
> I think this would be a huge win for growing clout and usage of alternative search engines
Would other search engines not be subject to the same rules? Not much detail in the article but if there's a rule that you have to pay to link to the news sites and you have to include them in results, I don't think many alternative search engines would want to participate either
Re: Google threatens to disable search in Australia if media code becomes law
#7Good. Australia is woefully out of its league when it comes to all things tech, with the strong encryption ban being a recent example. Send them back to the stone ages where the media industry is stuck. This bill is nothing but a cash grab.
Re: Google threatens to disable search in Australia if media code becomes law
#8I think this would be a huge win for growing clout and usage of alternative search engines. Not sure if Google knows what it's asking for. Now if Facebook follows suit, even so much better. It'd be a huge win for privacy.
> I think this would be a huge win for growing clout and usage of alternative search engines Would other search engines not be subject to the same rules? Not much detail in the article but if there's a rule that you have to pay to link to the news sites and you have to include them in results, I don't think many alternative search engines would want to participate either
They wouldn't be subject to the same rules. The proposed law only applies to companies which the government designates as having "a significant bargaining imbalance between Australian news providers and the group". (I believe this is the current text: https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/legislation/bi...)
Re: Google threatens to disable search in Australia if media code becomes law
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I think this would be a huge win for growing clout and usage of alternative search engines Would other search engines not be subject to the same rules? Not much detail in the article but if there's a rule that you have to pay to link to the news sites and you have to include them in results, I don't think many alternative search engines would want to participate either
They wouldn't be subject to the same rules. The proposed law only applies to companies which the government designates as having "a significant bargaining imbalance between Australian news providers and the group". (I believe this is the current text: https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/legislation/bi... )
Interesting thanks. I don't think the idea makes any sense but as just a random weapon for going after big tech it would be effective for gm's comment. They could make it so it's just not worth it for Google to do search in Australia giving room for others
Re: Google threatens to disable search in Australia if media code becomes law
#10I think this would be a huge win for growing clout and usage of alternative search engines. Not sure if Google knows what it's asking for. Now if Facebook follows suit, even so much better. It'd be a huge win for privacy.
I think they know the risk; they are confident competing search engines can’t, well, compete .
Other search engines can't compete mostly because they don't have enough click data to build good ranking models.
If Google shut down for just a few days, competing engines would quickly gather click data, and would rapidly be able to close the gap.
Add that to the fact users will change their default search engines away during any Google shutdown, and very negative Google press, and you have a recipe for Google losing the entire market.