Australia – Page 10 – Blazingcatfur

‘They don’t want to lose control’: Australia’s competition chief on his country’s efforts to regulate big tech

Australia has become a test case for addressing the market dominance of big tech, one closely watched by Canada and the world

Rod Sims, the serious and sometimes feisty head of Australia’s competition and consumer authority, takes a liking to a comparison offered up to describe the battle playing out in his country between news publishers and big tech platforms controlled by Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc.

News is like toothpaste: Consumers want and need it and would clearly suffer if the dominant distributors squeezed suppliers so much that it could no longer be made.

by Blazingcatfur•January 27, 2021January 27, 2021•0•"Big Tech Oligopoly", Australia

Australia Hits Back At Google, Facebook: It’s “Inevitable” You’ll Soon Pay For Hosting Australian News

Neither side is backing down after weeks of standoff between the Australian government and Google over proposed legislation aimed at better compensating and rewarding local news publishers, while bringing greater transparency to the way algorithms employed by Google, Facebook, and YouTube work.

Canberra is now finalizing the bill which will require Google to obtained licenses for all content published by Australian news companies. Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc. oversees an estimated at least 94% of all search traffic in Australia, similar to many other countries globally, at a time it’s coming under increased accusations of using its monopoly power to bully content providers and smaller competitors.

I hope Google gets smashed.

by Blazingcatfur•January 25, 2021January 25, 2021•0•Australia, Google, Google is Evil

Google Threatens Shut Down In Australia Over Bill Designed To Better Compensate Content Providers

A huge controversy erupted last summer between major US social media platforms and the Australian government over a bill designed to better compensate and reward local news publishers, while bringing greater transparency to the way algorithms employed by Google, Facebook, and YouTube work.

Months after failed attempts to come to an agreement with the government of Australia, Google is now threatening the dramatic step of shutting down its search engine in the country altogether.

Is that really such a bad thing?

by Blazingcatfur•January 23, 2021January 23, 2021•0•Australia, Google, Google is Evil

Spanker Knob, Bullshit Hill and Guys Dirty Hole are all real places in Australia

The North Pole is located a short distance from Marble Bar, the hottest place in inland Australia. Siberia is near Kalgoorlie, with an average summer temperature of 35C. Australian humour is not complicated. And when you colonise a land that is almost the size of Europe, it’s easy to run out of names.

Which is possibly why there are so many bottoms in Tasmania.

by Blazingcatfur•December 26, 2020December 26, 2020•0•Australia

Australia Calls For Mass Murdering Communist Chinese Regime To Remove Afghan Atrocity Poster

Beijing has rejected calls for an apology after a Chinese official shared a doctored poster of an Australian soldier attacking an Afghan girl, urging Canberra to instead seek forgiveness for its alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison demanded an official apology from Beijing after Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian posted a tweet calling for justice over a recent war-crimes report released in Australia – with an illustration of an Aussie soldier holding a knife to a child’s throat.

by Blazingcatfur•November 30, 2020November 30, 2020•0•"China - Communist Slave State", Afghanistan, Australia, WTF?