5 ms·

> "the link tax" (users are banned from linking to news stories unless the site they're linking to has sold a "linking license" to the platform the users are on

by bootsz 8y ago

> "the link tax" (users are banned from linking to news stories unless the site they're linking to has sold a "linking license" to the platform the users are on What the actual f...? Is this real life or an Onion article? Does anyone have any sense of how likely it is that this would actually pass? Do EU lawmakers know what a hyperlink actually is? To think, in my day the measure of success on the web was getting more people to link to your content...

romwell 8y ago
Yup, and that measure determined your position in Google search results. I'll just get some popcorn.
srtjstjsj 8y ago
The "link tax" appears to be a myth invented by the opposition to stoke the emotions of readers like you. The actual proposal is copyright over the content of articles, so that search engines and blogs couldn't (without a license) post content snippets that circumvent the publisher's website and monetize their own sites in its place. There are valid criticisms (chilling effects around needing a license before repeating or summarizing content), but they aren't the ones boingboing and friends are crowing about.
- bootsz 8y ago
  That sounds much more plausible. Had a feeling this source was probably an exaggeration of the truth
  - j16sdiz 8y ago
    Imagine how less useful Google will be if it only show page titles? Lots of website have misleading title. Without a snippet in search result, I need to open each and every links on the search page.
    - rixed 8y ago
      If there were no snippet in Google search result page, then quickly it would become a feature of all web browser to display such snippet of each link on hover, though.
    - King-Aaron 8y ago
      meta name=”description” content=”why not just go back to how it used to be"
- paulddraper 8y ago
  Is there not an EU equivalent of US "fair use" law? It's hard to imagine a world in which you cannot quote short amounts of copyrighted material. For review, discussion, brief reference, etc.
  - rbehrends 8y ago
    Yes, it is actually written into the Berne Convention as the right to quote [1]. And this is not going away at all. You will still be able to quote from articles in other articles, in blog posts, or in online discussions. The problem is that the right to quote does not cover a mere mechanical aggregation of quotes; the resulting work must still be an original work. This affects primarily news aggregators and search engines (insofar as they quote from press publications). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_quote https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_quote
    - raverbashing 8y ago
      Still, videos on youtube get routinely taken down for using smaller snippets of works.
      - rbehrends 8y ago
        That's completely unrelated to ancillary copyright (the Article 11 stuff), however. That's the DMCA. You still have the right to quote, but Youtube is not required to host your content for pretty much whatever reason they like, including just taking whatever causes the least trouble for them in case of a DMCA takedown notice. Your right to quote exists vis-à-vis the copyright holder, not third parties. A frivolous DMCA notice may hypothetically get the copyright holder in hot water, but does not affect your contractual relationship with Youtube. And Youtube does not have to defend your rights for you, they just have to comply with the notification, takedown, and counter-notification requirements.
        raverbashing 8y ago
        Well, currently it's related to DMCA, but that would become mandatory with Article 13 and for other categories of work (like text/images, etc) - if not explicitly mandatory, implicitly mandatory with the new amendments Article 11 is the "link tax"
- stickfigure 8y ago
  This isn't quite an accurate description either. Publishers can already prevent search engines from posting snippets of their websites; they can block search engines with robots.txt. This is an attempt to "have your cake and eat it too" by forcing search engines to display content in a specific format that publishers prefer. Right now Google can say "if you want to be listed, you must allow us to show a snippet"; this law tries to change that. It's dumb.
  - that_lurker 8y ago
    As for the google requiring a snippet, you can always change what it is or disable it. https://support.google.com/gsa/answer/2672315?hl=en https://support.google.com/gsa/answer/2672315?hl=en
    - Fnoord 8y ago
      Opt-out instead of opt-in?

by bootsz 8y ago

romwell 8y ago

Yup, and that measure determined your position in Google search results. I'll just get some popcorn.

srtjstjsj 8y ago

The "link tax" appears to be a myth invented by the opposition to stoke the emotions of readers like you. The actual proposal is copyright over the content of articles, so that search engines and blogs couldn't (without a license) post content snippets that circumvent the publisher's website and monetize their own sites in its place. There are valid criticisms (chilling effects around needing a license before repeating or summarizing content), but they aren't the ones boingboing and friends are crowing about.

bootsz 8y ago
That sounds much more plausible. Had a feeling this source was probably an exaggeration of the truth
- j16sdiz 8y ago
  Imagine how less useful Google will be if it only show page titles? Lots of website have misleading title. Without a snippet in search result, I need to open each and every links on the search page.
  - rixed 8y ago
    If there were no snippet in Google search result page, then quickly it would become a feature of all web browser to display such snippet of each link on hover, though.
  - King-Aaron 8y ago
    meta name=”description” content=”why not just go back to how it used to be"
paulddraper 8y ago
Is there not an EU equivalent of US "fair use" law? It's hard to imagine a world in which you cannot quote short amounts of copyrighted material. For review, discussion, brief reference, etc.
- rbehrends 8y ago
  Yes, it is actually written into the Berne Convention as the right to quote [1]. And this is not going away at all. You will still be able to quote from articles in other articles, in blog posts, or in online discussions. The problem is that the right to quote does not cover a mere mechanical aggregation of quotes; the resulting work must still be an original work. This affects primarily news aggregators and search engines (insofar as they quote from press publications). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_quote https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_quote
  - raverbashing 8y ago
    Still, videos on youtube get routinely taken down for using smaller snippets of works.
    - rbehrends 8y ago
      That's completely unrelated to ancillary copyright (the Article 11 stuff), however. That's the DMCA. You still have the right to quote, but Youtube is not required to host your content for pretty much whatever reason they like, including just taking whatever causes the least trouble for them in case of a DMCA takedown notice. Your right to quote exists vis-à-vis the copyright holder, not third parties. A frivolous DMCA notice may hypothetically get the copyright holder in hot water, but does not affect your contractual relationship with Youtube. And Youtube does not have to defend your rights for you, they just have to comply with the notification, takedown, and counter-notification requirements.
      - raverbashing 8y ago
        Well, currently it's related to DMCA, but that would become mandatory with Article 13 and for other categories of work (like text/images, etc) - if not explicitly mandatory, implicitly mandatory with the new amendments Article 11 is the "link tax"
stickfigure 8y ago
This isn't quite an accurate description either. Publishers can already prevent search engines from posting snippets of their websites; they can block search engines with robots.txt. This is an attempt to "have your cake and eat it too" by forcing search engines to display content in a specific format that publishers prefer. Right now Google can say "if you want to be listed, you must allow us to show a snippet"; this law tries to change that. It's dumb.
- that_lurker 8y ago
  As for the google requiring a snippet, you can always change what it is or disable it. https://support.google.com/gsa/answer/2672315?hl=en https://support.google.com/gsa/answer/2672315?hl=en
  - Fnoord 8y ago
    Opt-out instead of opt-in?