The way Aussies search every day on Google is at risk from new regulation

[mr moose]

6 minutes ago, RorzNZ said:

You can have Auckland.

[edit]
 

Please.

why do I get the feeling I'm being fleeced?

[Mark Kaine]

4 hours ago, Orangeator said:

This would likely be much more harmful to the people of Australia than you think. Imagine overnight, as an android user, losing access to all Google services. It would render millions of devices virtually useless, including the lack of services such as Google docs, Google Photos, and others. People are more dependent on these services then you probably think. 

Tbh I know some people who use their "services"  might  not have been born yet back then,  but when Google started out it was written on the wall what their "end game"  would be,  so either way you slice it relying on one company to hold all your data (for the most part at least)  while also allowing them to use it as it as they see fit,  was never a good idea or end well.

 

 

[mr moose]

39 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

Tbh I know some people who use their "services"  might  not have been born yet back then,  but when Google started out it was written on the wall what their "end game"  would be,  so either way you slice it relying on one company to hold all your data (for the most part at least)  while also allowing them to use it as it as they see fit,  was never a good idea or end well.

 

 

This is why I try to avoid google like the plague,  I will pay ms for cloud services (because that is a product protected by our laws and the revenue stream for them) before I use google docs.

 

 

[Bombastinator]

7 hours ago, mr moose said:

I just want to see more Australian films, it seems the 80's was the last time we had anything really decent come out of the industry.

 

 

Moved to New Zealand.  “Hobbit” came out of there.  Also a pile of low grade TV shows.  Probably a reason. 

[leadeater]

34 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Also a pile of low grade TV shows

You are too kind to our TV shows 

[Bombastinator]

Just now, leadeater said:

You are too kind to our TV shows 

I dunno.  I kind of liked “the new adventures of monkey”.  It’s not “House of cards” but it’s kind of fun.  It’s not the worst. Solid “b” roll.

[mr moose]

55 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

I dunno.  I kind of liked “the new adventures of monkey”.  It’s not “House of cards” but it’s kind of fun.  It’s not the worst. Solid “b” roll.

I did start watching that a little while a go, I got hooked then the service I was watching it on pulled it.  Not switching services just to watch a tv show.  So I only saw 4 episodes.

[Vishera]

10 hours ago, it_dont_work said:

I mean I understand, that data mining is what pays for the 'free service' we use.

Ads are what makes them money,

But to make Ads more profitable Google introduced in 2007 the idea of "personalized" ads.

By personalized they mean collecting data about you and your browsing habits in order to display ads that would appeal to you and have higher chance of you clicking that ad.

And then,since they have your browsing habit - came the idea of using that to tweak their services based on that data in order to keep you engaged with their services so that they will get more money from advertisers.

 

[GeeKayK]

Google should just leave Australia, and Australia will find a way to bring em back without any of this nonsense...

 

Also, thanks for all the input, ive been extremely busy with work this past week I haven't been able to read or even create my own opinion about this, this whole thread is a good read. 

[Sandro Linux]

If they do this people will go insane about it

[Bombastinator]

1 hour ago, GeeKayK said:

Google should just leave Australia, and Australia will find a way to bring em back without any of this nonsense...

 

Also, thanks for all the input, ive been extremely busy with work this past week I haven't been able to read or even create my own opinion about this, this whole thread is a good read. 

Google will do what it feels it is to its advantage to do.  I doubt google feels it is to its advantage to leave Australia. Doing so would create a vacuum that would be filled by another engine and make more problems for google down the line.  They were already banned from China which caused this to happen once. 

[Soppro]

Traditional news media companies haven't done well on the internet, so now they're begging for government help to force Google to bargain with them. With the web, people have realised there are so many better sources of news and information than the whatever the hell you get on free-to-air television.

 

I agree with Google's stance on this, these honest to good, truthful, faithful news companies totally won't abuse the special information about how they will be affected by the search algorithm, will they? While news is important as a public service, these companies are for profit and will no doubt use the powers under this legislation to their advantage, beyond "core news content".

 

What irks me more though is the ability to disable or filter user comments under 52S. What a joke, so much for "engaging citizens in public debate". Now, I understand the inclusion of this section shouldn't come at a surprise considering every single media organisation already disables comments on their YouTube videos, but doesn't lessen what a jackass move it is. It's Google's platform, moderation should be up to their discretion, not at the direction of some organisation.

 

[Bombastinator]

23 minutes ago, Soppro said:

Traditional news media companies haven't done well on the internet, so now they're begging for government help to force Google to bargain with them. With the web, people have realised there are so many better sources of news and information than the whatever the hell you get on free-to-air television.

 

I agree with Google's stance on this, these honest to good, truthful, faithful news companies totally won't abuse the special information about how they will be affected by the search algorithm, will they? While news is important as a public service, these companies are for profit and will no doubt use the powers under this legislation to their advantage, beyond "core news content".

 

What irks me more though is the ability to disable or filter user comments under 52S. What a joke, so much for "engaging citizens in public debate". Now, I understand the inclusion of this section shouldn't come at a surprise considering every single media organisation already disables comments on their YouTube videos, but doesn't lessen what a jackass move it is. It's Google's platform, moderation should be up to their discretion, not at the direction of some organisation.

 

I would substitute “more convenient” for better.  One of the problems with internet “news” is that it’s fundamentally even less accurate than news.  It’s frequently just propaganda or marketing.  “Alternative” news has become synonymous with political propaganda for example.

[Papa_dragon]

My thing is, this is all very interesting to read about and concerning to think about, but what is it exactly that Google expects us to do about it?

[Soppro]

22 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

I would substitute “more convenient” for better.  One of the problems with internet “news” is that it’s fundamentally even less accurate than news.  It’s frequently just propaganda or marketing.  “Alternative” news has become synonymous with political propaganda for example.

Perhaps, but I like to think the web has also enabled better news sources to be found more easily

[Bombastinator]

39 minutes ago, Soppro said:

Perhaps, but I like to think the web has also enabled better news sources to be found more easily

It’s also enabled much much worse ones to be found just as easily.   Having seen both, It’s a pretty strong net negative imho.  The BS level has risen dramatically, and the crackpot asshat level is absolutely through the roof. 

[Soppro]

I think some people mentioned why don't Facebook or Google simply stop publishing Australian news content—well looks like Facebook has just taken that step: 

https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/facebook-threatens-to-remove-news-from-platforms-in-australia-20200901-p55r6n.html

 

Quote

"Assuming this draft code becomes law, we will reluctantly stop allowing publishers and people in Australia from sharing local and international news on Facebook and Instagram. This is not our first choice – it is our last."

 

[Vode]

On 8/17/2020 at 3:30 AM, TetraSky said:

I find it strange how countries can somehow dictate how a company does business with their own products.

Like how they dislike Google for having a monopoly on searches... Even though there's plenty of competitors... they just suck. It's not Google's fault if Yahoo, Bing and whichever craptastic search engine out there suck donkey balls compared to Google Search. They aren't forcing anyone to use their search platform either... It's not even the default search engine of most browsers these days (other than chrome).

 

To me, this is just more government overreach, trying to get something out of Google because they don't even want to try and compete.

 

(Also, none of the links work, OP)

Duckduckgo is good, actually better