Google News Closes In Spain Thanks To New Copyright Law

[N.Broekhuijsen]

Thanks to a new copyright law in Spain, Google is packing up its Google News service in the Mediterranean country.

Google News Closes In Spain Thanks To New Copyright Law : Read more

 

[-Fran-]

Woah... Wait a second.

"It doesn't actually show any advertising on the site, meaning that it makes no money from Google News"

By mere logic, companies make money out of every possible service they provide. Google is no holy grail or saint company here. They DO make a profit out of that service. Let me re-phrase it, maybe it will be better understood: they MONETIZE you being there in some other way we don't know about.

We can debate all day long about how much they make and what not, but they DO make money out of that service.

I won't say it doesn't suck they pulled GNews from there because of this law, but let's not paint this as something "evil" towards the internet and/or whatever from Spain's part.

I do feel that content creators deserve money for what they create, and Newspaper sites are, like it or not, content creators just like any blogger out there (even if they copy/steal information from other sites at times -> interesting catch of the law). They just have the resources to fight Google (and win in this case).

TL;DR: let's not pain Google as a saint, cause they're just another Company.

Cheers!

 

[kenjitamura]

Woah... Wait a second.

"It doesn't actually show any advertising on the site, meaning that it makes no money from Google News"

By mere logic, companies make money out of every possible service they provide. Google is no holy grail or saint company here. They DO make a profit out of that service. Let me re-phrase it, maybe it will be better understood: they MONETIZE you being there in some other way we don't know about.

We can debate all day long about how much they make and what not, but they DO make money out of that service.

I won't say it doesn't suck they pulled GNews from there because of this law, but let's not paint this as something "evil" towards the internet and/or whatever from Spain's part.

I do feel that content creators deserve money for what they create, and Newspaper sites are, like it or not, content creators just like any blogger out there (even if they copy/steal information from other sites at times -> interesting catch of the law). They just have the resources to fight Google (and win in this case).

TL;DR: let's not pain Google as a saint, cause they're just another Company.

Cheers!

Way to not read the article at all. All your points become completely invalid with this quote from the article:

If it mattered that much to them, they could have just decided to opt-out from Google News – the company does offer that option.

Google may be another company, but they might as well be using the slogan: "Not completely evil" because they're one of the only companies to actually show some scruples with their services.

Bottom line: this is a ridiculous law and Spain are the bad guys here, not Google.

 

[TheSpeedFire]

Im from Canary Islands, and Im really embarraced about my nationality.. the "politic class" is full of retarded peolple, the worst ever seen so far. One facepalm maker fact: our president does NOT speak any other languaje than spanish... just saying...

 

[-Fran-]

Woah... Wait a second.

"It doesn't actually show any advertising on the site, meaning that it makes no money from Google News"

By mere logic, companies make money out of every possible service they provide. Google is no holy grail or saint company here. They DO make a profit out of that service. Let me re-phrase it, maybe it will be better understood: they MONETIZE you being there in some other way we don't know about.

We can debate all day long about how much they make and what not, but they DO make money out of that service.

I won't say it doesn't suck they pulled GNews from there because of this law, but let's not paint this as something "evil" towards the internet and/or whatever from Spain's part.

I do feel that content creators deserve money for what they create, and Newspaper sites are, like it or not, content creators just like any blogger out there (even if they copy/steal information from other sites at times -> interesting catch of the law). They just have the resources to fight Google (and win in this case).

TL;DR: let's not pain Google as a saint, cause they're just another Company.

Cheers!

Way to not read the article at all. All your points become completely invalid with this quote from the article:

If it mattered that much to them, they could have just decided to opt-out from Google News – the company does offer that option.

Google may be another company, but they might as well be using the slogan: "Not completely evil" because they're one of the only companies to actually show some scruples with their services.

Bottom line: this is a ridiculous law and Spain are the bad guys here, not Google.

I did read it. I just twisted (a little) what Google does and we don't say much (because we don't see money eveywhere like they do): why do they need to do an "opt out" from it? Why didn't they approach the sites asking if they wanted to be involved in GNews?

From the way the News-sites reacted, I'm sure Google didn't approach them asking if they wanted to get their web pages crawled.

I know I'm pushing the argument, but I'm not trying to say Google is on the wrong. Internet is "the land to take over" and companies are pushing the boundaries until the Governments put rules for the harvest.

The best analogy here is "gold rush". This is the 21st century version of the old Wild West.

Cheers!

 

[Solandri]

From the way the News-sites reacted, I'm sure Google didn't approach them asking if they wanted to get their web pages crawled.

By definition, if you put something on the web, you are giving the world permission to visit/crawl it. What are you thinking - that I should have to send Toms Hardware an email to get permission every time I wish to visit their website?

 

[Morbus]

I'm in Portugal, which is just next door, and I can only laugh at my miserable neighbors. Poor, poor Spanish news sites. I'm sure our own politicians are way WAY worse than theirs, but at least they don't come up with crap like this that kills their own businesses and cripples their intellectual property.

Still, no reason to feel ashamed of being Spanish. It's a proud and great country. You should be ashamed if you voted for clowns like these though...

 

[-Fran-]

From the way the News-sites reacted, I'm sure Google didn't approach them asking if they wanted to get their web pages crawled.

By definition, if you put something on the web, you are giving the world permission to visit/crawl it. What are you thinking - that I should have to send Toms Hardware an email to get permission every time I wish to visit their website?

That's an interesting counterpoint and I concede. Still, just remember now all the content you put in the WWW is not "public" per sé. That's why banks try, you know, to keep things safe.

I won't get into what Google crawls or not, but I'm sure this is about "content creation" and not about "rights to crawl". In this case, the idea is to protect "content creators", I'd say. I haven't read the actual law and, like you and most here, I'm just assuming a lot of things from the little information the Article lets know.

Cheers!

 

[Vorador2]

Rumors say that this was a freebie by the current government, in order to get the traditional newspapers (which are the main promoters of the law) and media on their side since elections are due next year. It wouldn't surprise me, since the newspapers and TV were reporting their corruption cases and making TV specials, and since the law was approved updates on those ongoing cases are surprisingly scarce. Plus those same media are fiercely bashing "Podemos", the newly formed party of left-wing ideology that has a chance on getting a big slice of the electoral pie in the upcoming elections.

The latest news is now the AEDE (the organization that was pushing for the new law, and the one that would collect the revenue) has put forward a beyond shameless communication complaining about Google's decision and invoking both "european and spanish authorities" to involve themselves in order to "protect companies and individuals rights".

At this point, i don't know how to apologize for the idiocy of my own government. Hopefully next year's election will put them in their place.

 

[JamesSneed]

The Spanish media should be careful what they ask for. I'm not sure if they realized they just taxed the main thing that gives them free(as in they don't pay for it) publicity all over the web. Something tells me in 2015 the law will get changed.

 

[-Fran-]

Erm, Google only offers headlines and a small synopsis of a story, and redirects all traffic to the news source. Have you actually used Google News? This only hurts the news stations.

It's just like any other RSS feed out there: grabs partial content and displays the title. In this case, I think the sites don't provide the RSS, but Google seems to be getting it by themselves (I'm not 100% sure).

And Vorador2's theory is very interesting.

Cheers!

 

[serendipiti]

Hi,
I am from Spain also, and I must publicly apologize for my political class, Spaniards are like sisters of merci with its politicians:
Hi ha d'haver de tot a la vinya del Senyor: must have everything in the vineyard of the Lord)

One of the key points is that content creators can not resign to get paid for content aggregation...
And we still remember some corruption cases with SGAE, the entity which collected copyright taxes...

Although it's embarrassing, probably this is an experiment (like they did in Germany) and US could be the next to follow suit. (I am just joking)

Cheers and nice weekend!!!!!

 

[serendipiti]

myselfie Shut up and come to see what British sluts do on Magalluf...

Only spaniards can say what you said... Are you willing to give us lessons ? You better not, retarded are universal, and UK is no exception.

 

[wintermute83]

Its not just google, its any blogger on the web, any news site and there are plenty.
This will surely get rid of many annoying sites that tell the news otherwise. It's not only a matter of intellectual property but a matter of media control. Consider that less thn a year ago spanish goverment passed a law that forces you to pay a fee to electricity companies if you want to gather energy on your own, bypassing them ( lets say solar harvesting ). Doesnt make sense, should be illegal and yet is clear sign of political corruption.

Sure spanish newspapers didnt know how to adapt to the internet era and they want their profit back.

Myselfie, while I agree with you on a UK/Spain separation think that all those bails are not more that just big loans that the UK hopes to charge interests on.

Morbus I coudnt agree more. Feel ashamed of what u took part on, and dont extend what a minority does to a whole nation.

Cheers!

 

[mjcazalla]

I am spanish, and most of you don't get the main idea. If we don't have google news, or links to news (facebook or twitter will be next), we can only get news from traditional newspaper online (most people don't know about other sites or blog), that are actually controlled (paid) by the goverment. It's all about controlling the information. IT'S ALL ABOUT FREEDOM OF PRESS.

 

[klrman]

If I remember well, a leading German online newspaper demanded that google pay them for linking to their news. Long story short, the newspaper came back begging Google to link them again and the CEO admitted openly that it was the biggest disaster decision they ever made, totally crashing the sites hits. I seriously doubt the Spanish newspapers are aware just how much traffic they are about to lose.

 

[Razvan Chioaru]

Spain = losers .
Period.

 

[klrman]

Spanish Newspapers want Google News back lol, article below.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/14/spanish-newspapers-want-google-news-back/

 

[JamesSneed]

Spanish Newspapers want Google News back lol, article below.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/14/spanish-newspapers-want-google-news-back/

To funny I called it earlier in the post. Albeit I thought it would take a few more weeks of pain.

 

[klrman]

Spanish Newspapers want Google News back lol, article below.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/14/spanish-newspapers-want-google-news-back/

To funny I called it earlier in the post. Albeit I thought it would take a few more weeks of pain.

Yeah, I had a good chuckle with that one and didn't see it coming just that soon either. Thought at least a few weeks of suffering before they start to cry.