Hasta La Gadget!

Google said last month it would require German publishers to opt-in if they wanted to continue to be featured on Google News. The AP is now reporting that several have decided to remain on the service, including Spiegel Online, Zeit Online and Springer AG. Publishers have long been pushing for the government to change the law so news aggregators would have to pay for the content they scrape. A new copyright law does come into effect today limiting how much info aggregators are allowed to borrow for their feeds, and to avoid any legal scuffles, Google decided an opt-in policy was safest. This may not be the end of the company’s troubles with publishers in the country, however, as Springer AG has said “it still expects to receive money from Google eventually.”

Filed under: Internet, Google

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Source: AP

Remember when the German government was thinking about making search engines either remove news excerpts from results, or pay royalties for including them? Well, these changes could soon be enforced, and Google has launched the “Defend Your Net” initiative to urge the German people to stop that happening. On the campaign’s pages, the search giant voices its opinions on what such a decision would do: harm the German media and, by extension, the country’s economy. It also points out that its news service is ad-free, publishers can opt out of listings, and that some German outlets receive roughly half their traffic from Google searches. Anyone who wants to receive information on the bill’s progress can register for email updates, and a tool is available to find the contact details of your local official if you’re feeling proactive. Need firing up? Then check out Google’s motivational video below.

Continue reading Google’s ‘Defend your Net’ campaign asks Germans to resist copyright changes

Filed under: Internet, Google

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Via: The Next Web

Source: Google Defend Your Net campaign (German)