back to article Hold the front page: Spain's anti-Google lobbyists lobby for Google News return

Anti-Google lobby group the AEDE, which represents publishers in Spain, has asked the country's government to prevent the ad giant from shuttering its news-scraping service. The volte-face comes after Mountain View threatened on Thursday to kill Google News in Spain, because it argued that a clumsy, new intellectual property …

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  1. James O'Shea

    oops

    One wonders exactly how the Spanish government could possibly go about forcing Google to stay and be taxed. One really does.

    I've got out a bowl of popcorn. This should be quite entertaining.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: oops

      You had me until popcorn...

      1. Fluffy Bunny

        Re: oops

        "You had me until popcorn..."

        Cheezels then.

    2. big_D Silver badge

      Re: oops

      Axel Springer tried the same in Germany earlier this year. They got a bill passed and Google would have to pay to show news scrapes of German press - many who didn't want the law signed a waiver straight away.

      Google stopped scraping the Axel Springer and other sites that were involved in the lobby.

      Then Axel Springer and Co. noticed that their traffic plummeted by something like 2/3 and went crawling back to Google, asking them to add them back to their news scraping service and they would waive the fees.

      1. frank ly

        Re: oops

        If Axel Springer asked me to do something for their benefit, I'd start a discussion about how much they'd pay me.

      2. This post has been deleted by its author

      3. Rikkeh

        Re: oops

        "Then Axel Springer and Co. noticed that their traffic plummeted by something like 2/3 and went crawling back to Google, asking them to add them back to their news scraping service and they would waive the fees."

        Prediction for next year in the War on Google- the accusation that Google News has become an essential facility and that an unreasonable refusal to grant access (not limited to refusing to grant access to those who do not sign a waiver) is an abuse of dominance.

        (FWIW, I'm very cynical about this argument succeeding, I'm just saying that it will be raised).

    3. theblackhand

      Re: oops

      Popcorn?

      Surely it should be cake as AEDE appears to want to have their cake and eat it too....

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: oops

        Sorry I have always thought that this is a non-sensical proverb ... What else would you do with cake other than eat it ??

        I guess you could give it away to someone else to eat I suppose, but that's not the point of the proverb.

        1. Dragget

          Re: oops

          " What else would you do with cake other than eat it ??"

          You misunderstand the saying. Have=keep. Thus, you can either keep your cake for later OR eat it now. But you can't do both. That's all it means.

    4. leexgx

      g

      all google will do is pull the google news site down and then de rank all news sites and probably ignore any paid google ads they have paid for

      and if they did not want google to use there PUBLIC web pages they should've used the robots.txt file if they did not want to be listed on google search

  2. John Sanders
    Paris Hilton

    Does anybody outside IT

    Understand how the World Wide Web, or (in a high-user-level) understand how the Internet works?

    Do they realize that we're supposed to link to one another, that it is a good thing (Driving traffic to your site)

    In the Spanish case, I can understand the Spaniards (Expert on the subject here after all ;-) They see Google; large corporation making money "Big USA style" and hey get handed some in the form of adwords.

    Like good old government-privileged prehistoric lobbies from another times (GOPPLFATS) they can smell the billions Google makes and like the good greedy (mentally) peasants they are they reason:

    "Hey, Google is makin billions and billions, and they do so cos our content, cos Google makes no goddamn content, we do, we need to ask the government to pull money from Google, cos they're stealing our content"

    And Le Google like a good'old USA corp full of billions and with no patience for irrelevant peasantries from the GOPPLFATS, do what a Google would do: "We do not negotiate with stinking terrorist", we're pulling the lights and taking the party elsewhere.

    I wish something like this could happen more often on other areas of Spanish political life, a direct big slap in the face with a yelled: "Wake up you idiot".

    And do not worry, the Spaniard politicians will go back to their usual stupid shenanigans in no time.

    This is the Americans fault, due to the American nuclear bombs that fell into Palomares in the 70. The country its been trapped on a vortex ever since (Radiation has hits things) and it is trapped permanently at the end of the 60's, time passes, but people's minds don't realize its not 1966.

    Merry Christmas to everybody!

    1. BristolBachelor Gold badge

      Re: Does anybody outside IT

      Be careful what you say! Remember the other new law that you are a terroristand can be fines/jailed if you demonstrate against the government, OR say anything that shows Spain for what it is in a bad light.

    2. Version 1.0 Silver badge

      Re: Does anybody outside IT

      "This is exactly how the World Wide Web works: the HTML files are the pithy descriptions on paper tape, and your Web browser is Ronald Reagan."

      -- N Stephenson, "In the Beginning was the Command Line"

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Dirty, two faced...

    bastards.

    Want their cake and eat it too?

    They can go choke.

  4. Mephistro
    Pint

    ROFLMAO

    Dear Spanish Government:

    Nice shitstorm! Can I take a video? And you still have plenty of time between now and January to screw up things even more! I have lots of confidence in your ability to turn the most menial tasks into fuckfests, and I know we will be enjoying.

    Yours truly: A. Spaniard

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Dear members of AEDE:

    PLS FOAD AND BURN ASAP, TY!. OTHRWSE WLL DOIT FOR YOU!!!

    Yours truly: Th. E. Blackhand

    1. Dazed and Confused

      Re: ROFLMAO

      In the comments to last weeks article on this Dan55 posted a nice piece on how this law is supposed to work. Publishers can't opt out, because opting out would mean that a Spanish QANGO called CEDRO wouldn't make any money.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: ROFLMAO

        "Publishers can't opt out, because opting out would mean that a Spanish QANGO called CEDRO wouldn't make any money."

        Wow. The Spanish lobbyists, politicians and civil servants have cooked up a corker here. With intellects like this running the place you can understand why the country's near bankrupt and has recently celebrated an unemployment rate of one in four (because that's a three year low).

        1. BristolBachelor Gold badge

          Re: ROFLMAO

          "celebrated an unemployment rate of one in four"

          Well I have a theory about that. It's not strictly true. As much as the man in the street complain about the corrupt politicians, they are the same. There is little regard for the law (just look at the driving/parking). Almost everyone would pay in cash to avoid IVA (VAT). Paying in cash also helps because of the rampant black economy of people being self-employed/running companies but not declaring it; and not passing the cash through bank accounts makes it easier to not declare it. I'll admit that it takes a special type of person (politician) to forget that you have 40M€ stuffed in Switzerland/Andorra.

          On the other hand it's almost impossible to become self-employed. Imagine having to pay 280€ a month every month despite having no income. Plus you have to be VAT registered from 0€, so you can have an extra outgoing to pay a gestor to manage all the complexities for you. You alao pay the VAT on all your invoices the instant that you think about charging someone; even if you are still waiting to be paid 2 years later (and by Madrid city council just to add insult to injury).

          The combination of not wanting to declare employmrnt to avoid taxes, and not being able to afford to do it properly, means that the step can be missed out.

          1. Alan Brown Silver badge

            Re: ROFLMAO

            " even if you are still waiting to be paid 2 years later (and by Madrid city council just to add insult to injury)."

            Small claims court, bailiff with instructions to target and seize of the most critical piece of IT equipment in the building? (It works wonders against banks when the bailiff pulls out a branch data links...)

    2. Alan Brown Silver badge

      Re: ROFLMAO

      The real way to make AEDE hurt thoroughly is to encourage a consumer boycott of spanish print media and those who advertise with them.

      What hurts the newspapers even more than losing views is having the people who pay them (no, not the people who buy newspapers) take their money and put it in more effective marketplaces.

      (Disclosure: In a previous life and business I used media advertising. Several weeks of newspaper ads cost a hell of a lot more than 2 radio adverts - and the radio adverts picked up several hundred times more business. TV ads picked up even more, but the cost:benefit ratio didn't favour it.)

  5. A Non e-mouse Silver badge

    Money

    If Google makes no money from their Google News service, why do they run it? They're not a charity are they?

    Unless, of course, Google don't make explicit money from adverts, but use the service to increase their knowledge of you.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Money

      Google provides services to keep you doing the things that allow them to sell targeted advertising. It's like commercial television; programs are a necessary cost centre, without them nobody watches the ads.

      1. Gannon (J.) Dick

        Re: Money

        Exactly ...

        Spam, paid for in advance, makes currency (with serial numbers on the bills) for the spammer. It does not increase the pool of profit, which is anonymous value forms - coins, without serial numbers.

        Eventually you will be able to melt down your grandmother and use the silver in her hair to buy advertising, to users who dream of having a grandmother like the one you just melted.

      2. This post has been deleted by its author

        1. M Gale

          Re: Money

          "Has anyone *not* skipped the ads when watching a video on YouTube?"

          Well, there are the unskippable ones. Now if there's one way to burn your brand image into my memory as something to avoid, it's making me sit through a full advert whether I'm interested or not. If your product is that brilliant, 5 seconds is more than enough to sell it to me or at least tell me where I can find out more.

          Of course it'd be great if a few of the more prominent youtubers decided "text ads only until the unskippable ones fuck off", but the chances of that happening are about the same as the likelihood of Satan ice-skating to work.

          1. LaeMing

            Re: Money

            Ironically, I once saw an interesting add, but it took me so long to realise I wanted to see it, I missed most of it. Coundn't re-watch it as the controls were locked.

          2. Alan Brown Silver badge

            Re: Money

            > "Has anyone *not* skipped the ads when watching a video on YouTube?"

            > Well, there are the unskippable ones.

            There are also browser plugins which skip them.

        2. WylieCoyoteUK
          Childcatcher

          Re: Money

          I always pre-record TV, or on LiveTV, pause it by about 15 mins.

          That way I can skip the ads when they come on.

          One thing that I prefer about broadcast TV, you can skip the ads.

          Too many streamed services have unskippable ones.

          I rarely see any ads, and I expect much of my shopping is unadvertised, but I can't be sure, except when I am shopping from my local grocer or butcher.

  6. ratfox
    Alert

    Weird

    I would have thought they would be happy. Large media companies probably win from Google News disappearing. As long as Google News is there, they are forced to compete on it with small websites, losing more and more control because there is a real risk that not letting Google act as it wants would lose them traffic.

    But if Google News disappears, users are forced to rely on the names of big newspapers they can remember. The traffic from Google News they would lose might well be replaced by more traffic of people going straight to their websites. After all, I understand Google News only represents something like 10-20% of their traffic in the first place, unlike small websites for which it should be more like 75%.

    I mean, it's not like users are going to stop surfing the web for news when Google News disappears. They are just going to surf in a different way, and some web sites are going to end up winning. It seems a fair assumption to me that those will be the bigger ones. If I was this AEDE thingy, I would wait and see for the results.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Weird

      The problem is that this law doesn't just cover the paragraph-length extracts that Google News specialises in, but any length of extract. Who's going to bother following a Google Search result that has no description?

      1. ratfox

        Re: Weird

        Well okay, but people would still be looking for news. (Even without Google showing them the way!)

        I assume the users would just Google for the name of one of the big newspapers, find their website, and get their news from there. If you're a big newspaper, this is a good thing — possibly much better than whatever traffic they received from Google News or Google results.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Weird

          For very local news only carried by the Spanish publishers, and not mirrored/reproduced/blogged about elsewhere, you may well be right. But the German experience suggests that in practice traffic does drop dramatically if publishers shut the major search engine(s) out. If the Spanish carry on playing this game then I guess we'll find out!

        2. billse10

          Re: Weird

          "I assume the users would just Google for the name of one of the big newspapers, find their website, and get their news from there."

          Not if it ends up that the most cost-effective way for Google to ensure no mistakes is simply to block all access of elpais.es (and just to be safe 91.216.63.0/24 ?)

          1. HinD

            Re: Weird

            you're forgetting ipv6... BTW, how do you subnet ipv6 anyway?

            1. swansonc

              Re: Weird

              It's not a subnet, it's a CIDR prefix (for both v4 and v6). You have no idea if it is a subnet, part of a subnet, or multiple subnets. It's just a prefix. IPv6 is done the same way...

              2001:db8:1001::/48, for example.

  7. codejunky Silver badge

    Ha

    And of course all of those who argued that if a big business leaves a replacement will just pop up will stand by their argument (as said here)-

    http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2014/12/10/companies_will_have_diverted_profits_under_new_google_tax/

    Crazy people with crazy laws thinking they have no effect but for the greater good and unicorns.

    1. Nick Kew

      Re: Ha

      Hmm, don't think I posted in that thread.

      But you are putting up a strawman. If Google were to allow its search in general to become corrupted, they wouldn't hold their top position. But this is much more limited: an action concerning specific contents in one country, and provoked by specific legislation. Is the market for spanish news big enough for a rival to step in? They won't make enough to rival Google's R&D efforts, even without paying royalties on those links.

      1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

        Re: Ha

        "Is the market for spanish news big enough for a rival to step in?"

        Yes, but not big enough that a rival is willing to pay extortion to the government/news sites in order to run a fucking index. This law damns everyone, not just Google.

  8. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    Prospect of death concentrates the mind

    Isn't it amazing that they never manage to think "What if?" until "if" hails into sight?

    1. cortland

      Re: Prospect of death concentrates the mind

      Be careful what you ask for, etc.

      http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Literature

      1. billse10

        Re: Prospect of death concentrates the mind

        do you want a carrot? I might have some turnips / OK i'll have a carrot - hey, that's a turnip, etc

  9. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

    I'm still puzzling...

    ...over the huge image at the top of the story. Is it a drowning man maybe? Not sure what that signifies about the story. Maybe the graphics editor couldn't find a photo of a hanging petard?

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: I'm still puzzling...

      Or a slow motion train wreck?

    2. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Re: I'm still puzzling...

      I can't help you there. I've just blocked all pics from elReg. The downside is that even relevant pics are blocked but overall the S/N ratio is improved.

      1. Steve 114

        Re: I'm still puzzling...

        Can you remind us how? (especially if it closes up the wasted space). I'd like to do the same on the new-fangled 'BBC News' home page.

  10. Dan 55 Silver badge
    Coat

    New law brought out on 31st of December - you heard it here first

    All search engines with Spanish web results must also have a Spanish news scraper 'in the public interest' or be fined €600,000.

    "We have always been open to negotiations with Google," said a spokesmouth. "As the law stands, news scrapers must pay us fair compensation as defined by us or get fined. This new amendment, which is something completely different, ensures that all those who profit off indexing content on the Spanish web must also present Spanish news content in an accessible form in the public interest or get fined. It's only fair."

    Job done, brown envelope handed over (into the coat pocket).

  11. Vociferous

    Google should make an example of Spain.

    They've asked for it, so let them have it: remove all *.es links from Google.

    Not just the newspapers; after all, citing a line from any spanish website is piracy according to this idiotic law, so grant the entire country's Right To Be Forgotten(tm).

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: Google should make an example of Spain.

      An exception is made for search engines, a link from any other kind of site (Twitter, Facebook, RSS, Reddit, Digg, etc...) is unclear.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What does Lester think?

    See above.

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