Google News shutting down in Spain

[Blackjack200]

So this is a fairly big story. Spain passed a pretty ridiculous law that requires content providers to charge a fee to news aggrigators, and Google is pulling out of Spain entirely as a result.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/spanish-news-vanish-google-news-globally-27523920

This WaPo editorial points out that there is a pattern of European Union butthurt over US tech companies dominating in Europe (Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. etc.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/12/11/google-news-to-move-out-of-spain/

Pretty amazing, the only European tech companies I can even think of are SAP and Spotify. I guess we'll keep trading our iPads for their BMWs and Bordeaux.

 

[PokerGuy]

What a completely stupid law, Google made the right move in just shutting it down. We'll see what impact that in the Spanish news market online, but something tells me the spanish content providers (like El Pais) are going to regret this move.

 

[Jaskalas]

Sounds like a move to effectively segregate the internet. Any other countries want to participate in blocking links?

 

[PokerGuy]

I understand that the government wants to protect the interests of their content providers, but what's so absurdly stupid about the Spanish law is that content providers have to require payment from aggregators whether they want it or not. Even if a service is thrilled to have google include it in the news because they get way more traffic and thus make more money, they have to still charge google. Idiotic.

Typical government approach: misdiagnose the problem, and come up with a 'solution' that makes even less sense.

 

[Caravaggio]

So this is a fairly big story.

Actually, it is piddlesome.
Given that very few Spaniards trust google as their primary or main news source and that this whole storm in a teacup is because Spain is short of tax revenue and Google pays very little tax in Spain, anyone with an IQ over 90 can join up the dots.
Pay no tax= piss off.
They would rather trust the BBC, apparently. It is free and without advertising.
No brainer, really.

 

[Blackjack200]

Actually, it is piddlesome.
Given that very few Spaniards trust google as their primary or main news source and that this whole storm in a teacup is because Spain is short of tax revenue and Google pays very little tax in Spain, anyone with an IQ over 90 can join up the dots.
Pay no tax= piss off.
They would rather trust the BBC, apparently. It is free and without advertising.
No brainer, really.

A government that takes revenge through targeted legislation is not a big story?

I have no idea how much traffic google gets in Spain, but obviously it was substantial enough for the government to take action.

 

[piasabird]

This is what happens when business and the government get together. The people suffer under Tyranny. I guessed they failed to learn anything from being under the heels of the British Royal Crown!

 

[IronWing]

This is what happens when business and the government get together. The people suffer under Tyranny. I guessed they failed to learn anything from being under the heels of the British Royal Crown!

I'm game. When was Spain under the heel of the British Royal Crown?

 

[Exterous]

They would rather trust the BBC, apparently. It is free and without advertising.

As opposed to Google News? Not saying there may not be reasons to prefer one over the other (I am not familiar) but cost and advertising do not seem to be part of them

"As Google News itself makes no money (we do not show any advertising on the site) this new approach is simply not sustainable."

 

[Blackjack200]

I'm game. When was Spain under the heel of the British Royal Crown?

Right after the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.

 

[Moonbeam]

I don't know enough about this to have an opinion.

 

[PokerGuy]

Actually, it is piddlesome.
Given that very few Spaniards trust google as their primary or main news source and that this whole storm in a teacup is because Spain is short of tax revenue and Google pays very little tax in Spain, anyone with an IQ over 90 can join up the dots.
Pay no tax= piss off.
They would rather trust the BBC, apparently. It is free and without advertising.
No brainer, really.

Not sure what you're talking about, BBC is one of the news / content providers, google is an aggregator. Google simply groups links to other sources, it doesn't create news , so there's nothing to do with "trusting" google as their news source.

 

[Victorian Gray]

This is what happens when business and the government get together. The people suffer under Tyranny. I guessed they failed to learn anything from being under the heels of the British Royal Crown!

When was Spain subject to the British Crown?

 

[Caravaggio]

Not sure what you're talking about, BBC is one of the news / content providers, google is an aggregator. Google simply groups links to other sources, it doesn't create news , so there's nothing to do with "trusting" google as their news source.

Google does not merely act as an 'aggregator'. It also rank-orders results and a company's place in the ranking is obviously non-random. Try it out to check for your local garage, say. How do imagine they create their revenue?

 

[Caravaggio]

The people suffer under Tyranny. I guessed they failed to learn anything from being under the heels of the British Royal Crown!

Do you have any specific period in mind?
Are you possibly confusing the Duke of Marlborough's campaign in the war of the Spanish Succession, which was settled outside Spain, at the Battle of Blenheim (1704), with Viscount Wellington's campaign in Spain between 1808 and 1812/13?.
If you are thinking of the latter you might be surprised to learn that the 'awful British' were actually allies of the Spanish in their fight against Napoleon, who wanted his brother Joseph to rule Spain. The Brits were the good guys, Napoleon, was by then, the tyrant.
Or were you merely letting off an anal burp in my general direction?

Oh, one other thing. The two most trusted news providers in the USA (all political groups combined) are the BBC and the Economist magazine. Both are British. (Data, Pew survey, 2014). They do better than Fox, Google, CNN or ABC.
BBC World News service has consistently been the world's most trusted news provider since its inception.

 

[Blackjack200]

BBC World News service has consistently been the world's most trusted news provider since its inception.

Who fucking cares? The British also have tons of shitty tabloids. The US has some excellent news organizations including the New York Times, the LA Times, and the Washington Post. Tons of great investigative journalism comes from American periodicals like The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, etc.

Yes, BBC is probably better than any of them individually, but what point are you trying to make?

 

[Ryan]

HAHAHAHHHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA - they want Google back now!

http://www.engadget.com/2014/12/14/spanish-publishers-want-google-news-back/

Spain's old-school media clearly has a more complicated relationship with the internet than it first thought. Mere hours after Google shut down its News service in the country ahead of a law that makes it pay for article results, the Spanish Newspaper Publishers' Association (AEDE) is asking for the government to make Google come back. They claim that Google is too "dominant" in the market to simply leave, and that its absence will "undoubtedly have a negative impact" on both businesses and the public. AEDE insists that it's willing to negotiate to keep News around, but it believes that Google refuses to take a "neutral stance."

The request might be optimistic. Effectively, the publishers hope to have their cake and eat it too -- they want Google News to return and bring them visitors, but they also want Google to stay under terms it doesn't like. As it stands, AEDE acknowledges that Google is "free" to close shop without intervention. Unless newspapers get the support they're looking for, they may have to either walk away from the legislation they like or accept the new status quo.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Google called their bluff it seems. Geez Spain seems like a mess. Maybe they need to be "under the heels of the British royal crown"....

 

[positivedoppler]

Google is badass, now they are taking on the entire MPAA and the AG

 

[KMFJD]

I'm game. When was Spain under the heel of the British Royal Crown?

Gibraltar and Malvinas!!!!!

/s