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Playing devil’s advocate: What if the link tax will replace advertising as the main source or revenue for publishers? Wouldn’t that be a Good Thing (TM)?

by scribu 8y ago

greglindahl 8y ago
Coming up next: European publishers discover that search engines preferentially link non-European publishers due to the link tax. Coming up after that: More unexpected effects.
- Silhouette 8y ago
  Coming up after that: More unexpected effects. Which presumably most of us in Europe won't hear about, if all the sites with a link/discussion format like HN and Reddit will be faced with paying huge fees or stopping/geoblocking/etc...
  - joejerryronnie 8y ago
    Does anyone know if the transatlantic telegraph cables are still operational? We'll do our best to keep you in the loop!
  - IanCal 8y ago
    I'm not sure why HN would be affected, there's no link previews or anything pulled from the article. Links themselves do not seem to be a problem if I understand right: > This protection does not extend to acts of hyperlinking which do not constitute communication to the public. section 33, page 19. http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/1/2016/EN/1-2016-593-EN-F1-1.PDF http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/1/2016/EN/1-2016...
    - Silhouette 8y ago
      I'm not sure why HN would be affected It's not the link's address that is the problem under the questionable proposals, but rather the text that describes it. HN's normal custom is to use the original title/headline for that description, and HN's own mods actively change submissions that don't follow that policy. It looks like that could easily get them caught in the same trap as a site like Google that offers accompanying snippets. Maybe YC would be willing to accept the risk of publishers trying to extract money from them, just as running HN itself is a favour to the community, but I see no good reason they should be expected to put up with that risk and any actual costs incurred just to continue providing a useful service that they already generously provide for free.
- yuhong 8y ago
  Yea, I don't like the current debt-based economy in the first place that treats people as consumers to be extracted from.

Playing devil’s advocate: What if the link tax will replace advertising as the main source or revenue for publishers? Wouldn’t that be a Good Thing (TM)?

by scribu 8y ago

Playing devil’s advocate: What if the link tax will replace advertising as the main source or revenue for publishers? Wouldn’t that be a Good Thing (TM)?

greglindahl 8y ago

Coming up next: European publishers discover that search engines preferentially link non-European publishers due to the link tax. Coming up after that: More unexpected effects.

Silhouette 8y ago
Coming up after that: More unexpected effects. Which presumably most of us in Europe won't hear about, if all the sites with a link/discussion format like HN and Reddit will be faced with paying huge fees or stopping/geoblocking/etc...
- joejerryronnie 8y ago
  Does anyone know if the transatlantic telegraph cables are still operational? We'll do our best to keep you in the loop!
- IanCal 8y ago
  I'm not sure why HN would be affected, there's no link previews or anything pulled from the article. Links themselves do not seem to be a problem if I understand right: > This protection does not extend to acts of hyperlinking which do not constitute communication to the public. section 33, page 19. http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/1/2016/EN/1-2016-593-EN-F1-1.PDF http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/1/2016/EN/1-2016...
  - Silhouette 8y ago
    I'm not sure why HN would be affected It's not the link's address that is the problem under the questionable proposals, but rather the text that describes it. HN's normal custom is to use the original title/headline for that description, and HN's own mods actively change submissions that don't follow that policy. It looks like that could easily get them caught in the same trap as a site like Google that offers accompanying snippets. Maybe YC would be willing to accept the risk of publishers trying to extract money from them, just as running HN itself is a favour to the community, but I see no good reason they should be expected to put up with that risk and any actual costs incurred just to continue providing a useful service that they already generously provide for free.
yuhong 8y ago
Yea, I don't like the current debt-based economy in the first place that treats people as consumers to be extracted from.