Links are back on FB thanks to some backroom out of the spotlight negotiations that basically amount to the Australian solution: the politicians get to brag about bringing the big evil tech companies to their knees and protecting our values and the tech companies get an exemption from the law because of their pre-existing contributions.
I'm surprised Tim didn't just punt this down to the legal department.
Seriously, there are so many Messengers to choose from and so many solutions to the group messaging and encryption issues that if this really was about that then we could easily all be using WhatsApp or Signal or whatever.
We have big tech using open protocols, like XMPP, and defacto standards, like Signal, and they used to allow third parties to access their servers (see GTalk back in the day) but they don't any more.
The fact we're having this discussion at all answers the question.
The only ones victorious in Canada, or Australia, or any of the other countries that have attempted this (a few in Europe did, and there was a lull before Australia popped up on the scene) has been Google and Facebook!
Like you said, Google now pays less than they did before and via an organization that will most likely take a cut leaving even less for Canadian news - ultimately guaranteeing only the biggest newspaper's shareholders will see any of this money.
In Australia Google and FB both got exemptions from the law so if anyone there caved it was the government. And with the two biggest players having exemptions there really isn't anyone else to apply the law to!
I still don't understand why these companies can't just pay their taxes in each country where they operate and the local citizens can decide how it's spent - whether that's journalism, healthcare, education, social services, etc.
FB blocked news in Autralia before the law was passed so the gov negociated and gave them an exemption for existing agreements. Also, in Australia the law requires designation by the treasury, no automatic inclusion like in Canada, but no one has ever been designated!!!
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Dealt with behind the scenes
Links are back on FB thanks to some backroom out of the spotlight negotiations that basically amount to the Australian solution: the politicians get to brag about bringing the big evil tech companies to their knees and protecting our values and the tech companies get an exemption from the law because of their pre-existing contributions.
This is silly
I'm surprised Tim didn't just punt this down to the legal department. Seriously, there are so many Messengers to choose from and so many solutions to the group messaging and encryption issues that if this really was about that then we could easily all be using WhatsApp or Signal or whatever. We have big tech using open protocols, like XMPP, and defacto standards, like Signal, and they used to allow third parties to access their servers (see GTalk back in the day) but they don't any more. The fact we're having this discussion at all answers the question.
"victory" "caved"
The only ones victorious in Canada, or Australia, or any of the other countries that have attempted this (a few in Europe did, and there was a lull before Australia popped up on the scene) has been Google and Facebook! Like you said, Google now pays less than they did before and via an organization that will most likely take a cut leaving even less for Canadian news - ultimately guaranteeing only the biggest newspaper's shareholders will see any of this money. In Australia Google and FB both got exemptions from the law so if anyone there caved it was the government. And with the two biggest players having exemptions there really isn't anyone else to apply the law to! I still don't understand why these companies can't just pay their taxes in each country where they operate and the local citizens can decide how it's spent - whether that's journalism, healthcare, education, social services, etc.
Actually it's the government that caved
FB blocked news in Autralia before the law was passed so the gov negociated and gave them an exemption for existing agreements. Also, in Australia the law requires designation by the treasury, no automatic inclusion like in Canada, but no one has ever been designated!!!