German lawmakers condemn
Google campaign against copyright law
By Madeline Chambers
BERLIN | Wed Nov 28, 2012
11:22am EST
(Reuters) - Senior German
politicians have denounced as propaganda a campaign by Google to mobilize
public opinion against proposed legislation to let publishers charge search
engines for displaying newspaper articles.
Internet lobbyists say
they are worried the German law will set a precedent for other countries such
as France and Italy that have shown an interest in having Google pay publishers
for the right to show their news snippets in its search results.
Lawmakers in Berlin will
debate the bill in the Bundestag (lower house) on Thursday. Google says the law
would make it harder for users to retrieve information via the Internet.
Google launched its
campaign against the bill on Tuesday with advertisements in German newspapers
and a web information site called "Defend your web".
"Such a law would hit
every Internet user in Germany," Stefan Tweraser, country manager for
Google Germany, said in a statement. "An ancillary copyright means less
information for consumers and higher costs for companies."
The campaign has caused
outrage among some members of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right
coalition.
"The campaign
initiated by Google is cheap propaganda," said conservative lawmakers
Guenter Krings and Ansgar Heveling.
"Under the guise of a
supposed project for the freedom of the Internet, an attempt is being made to
coopt its users for its own lobbying," the two said in a statement.
Supporters of the law
argue that newspaper publishers should be able to benefit from advertising
revenues earned by search engines using their content.
Under the plans,
publishers would get a bigger say over how their articles are used on the
Internet and could charge search engines for showing articles or extracts.
German Justice Minister Sabine
Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, a member of the Free Democrats (FDP) who share
power in Merkel's government, said she was astonished that Google was trying to
monopolize opinion-making. She is responsible for the law.
"PANIC
MONGERING"
Germany's newspaper
industry, suffering from economic slowdown and keen to get its hands on any
revenues it can, backs the plans and railed against Google's campaign.
"The panic mongering
from Google has no justification," Germany's BDZV newspaper association
said in a statement.
"The argument from
search engine companies that Internet searching and retrieval will be made more
difficult is not serious. Private use, reading, following links and quoting
will be possible, just as before."
Internet lobbyists in
Brussels fear the European Commission is sympathetic to publisher demands for a
piece of Google's profits online. Recent statements, they say, are proof.
"Consumers are not
the only ones facing difficulties," Michel Barnier, the EU's internal
market commissioner, said in a speech on November 7. "Think of newspaper
publishers who see the content they produce being used by others to attract
consumers on the net and generate advertising revenues."
French newspapers and
magazines want Google to pay them for linking to their articles on Google. The
French government has named a mediator to negotiate with the press and Google
to try to get a deal by the end of the year.
If no deal emerges,
President Francois Hollande's government will ask parliament to draft a law
modifying copyright laws to protect the press from appropriation of its content
online, according to a letter signed by two ministers on November 28.
(Additional reporting by
Harro ten Wolde in Frankfurt, Claire Davenbport in Brussels and Leila Abboud in
Paris; Writing by Madeline Chambers, Editing by Gareth Jones and)
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