Canadian lawmakers are locked in a dispute with internet technology companies over a law that would compel them to pay news publishers for content, years after a similar regulatory saga played out in Australia.
Some reflections on the Australian experience and what they might mean for Canada.
After Google’s move on Thursday, Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez sent a written statement calling the companies’ moves “deeply irresponsible and out of touch … especially when they make billions of dollars off of Canadian users” with advertising.
Australia’s regulatory experiment – the first of its kind in the world – also got off to a rocky start, but it has since seen tech companies, news publishers and the government reach a middle ground.
This whole situation is really showing me how weak Canada and Canadians are. Yes, this is a dumb law, and Google and Facebook are right to be angry about it. But the hyperbole about how Canadians just won’t be able to find any news afterward is embarrassing. It just comes off as lazy, entitled people whining about how their spoonfeeder has weaned them off and now expects them to spoonfeed themselves. Are we really a nation of children? Cmon.
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This whole situation is really showing me how weak Canada and Canadians are. Yes, this is a dumb law, and Google and Facebook are right to be angry about it. But the hyperbole about how Canadians just won’t be able to find any news afterward is embarrassing. It just comes off as lazy, entitled people whining about how their spoonfeeder has weaned them off and now expects them to spoonfeed themselves. Are we really a nation of children? Cmon.