>The problem is that they were going beyond indexing: they were lifting content from the article wholesale and embedding it into search results (without permiss

>The problem is that they were going beyond indexing: they were lifting content from the article wholesale and embedding it into search results (without permission). Yes, but your full quoted text further explains that even just linking the headlines _without_ the snippets was still not in compliance. We have 30+ years of the world wide web being built on referred url links (no snippets) without monetary payment but now French news organizations want compensation for it. I don't understand that logic. They get extra visibility + traffic clicks from Google but also want to be paid for it?!? If after a Apple WWDC event, the front page of HN is filled with url links to Apple press releases and announcements, it doesn't mean HN should pay money to Apple Inc to send eyeballs to "apple.com". Linking to other urls (for free) is how the web works. IMO, removing the embedded snippets should have been enough.