I’d like to speak on the consequences of this Bill. The Treasury Laws Amendment (News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code) Bill 2020 Submitter: Ersu Yuceturk

My view is on what we can expect from Google if this Bill passes. A) Sharing of Google Search Algorithm; This bill authors clearly do not understand the Software Development Cycle especially for a global company. Regardless of hindering the development of updates, please note that this Algorithm is fundamental to Google Search as the Secret herbs and Spices are to KFC. However this recipe was never patented should reflect how much google need to protect their Algorithm. If I were google I would drop services in Australia before releasing code on how precisely the algorithm works. As with KFC we can guess to the basics of the spices and maybe guess some quantities but we will never be told the ratios and exact types of spices and for good reason as this is a trade secret. As people try to guess the algorithm google will need to change it at the drop of a hat to ensure their Intellectual Property is protected and their search results are not corrupted. This Algorithm is their way of creating billions in profit, and the returns they gain from Australia would be a drop compared to loss of having their algorithm being discovered. If I were them I would either drop news as service in Australia, create a new basic algorithm or just simply drop Australia as a . (Precedence exists ie China) B) Payment for news links; This is akin to paying a librarian for helping you find a book, however unlike that metaphor, the books have the option to not be found. Any website can instruct google to not index them and to not ever list them. The process is honoured and very simple to do. Process can even be layered to allow limitation on what is searched, what abstract data is returned if any. Any news service can block google with very little effort. This Bill is superfluous as websites can block Google and Bing and any other website or search engine with very little effort. If however a website wanted enforce this, they could simply block that server from access to their website with a single entry in their configuration or simply asking their ISP to do it on their behalf, generally at no cost.

If this Bill went ahead though, and was limited to just google and not the other search engines, I would consider this to be undue bias by government on a single business. However it would be very easy to bypass by Google. There would be many options depending on the level this Bill’s details went into. Possible Conditions; a) Google banned from indexing news snippets directly without payment, but not banned from showing snippets or links to Australian News Media i) Have a 3rd party crawl the websites, and convert into Googles indexing method. This would have almost no delay and be a minor inconvenience. b) Googled banned from searching AND indexing Australian News Media directly without payment but not banned from showing snippets or links to Australian News Media i) Have a 3rd party mirror a copy of Australian News Media outlets, and then Google can search and index this 3rd party website, but do a translation of web addresses back to the Australian Media website, OR not even link back to the news media websites. This could be created in a day or less and this cost would be almost insignificant. c) Googled was banned from showing snippets or links from Australian News Media outlets. i) Google can index Australian content from Global news sources the like Mirror UK which had a news section regarding Australia. ii)They could redirect news search data to Bing or other non-named search engine. They way they don’t show data or even deal with it iii)They could use a new aggregate website such as , news360, , Alltop, Techmeme, Panda, Pocket, Reddit, SmartNews, Mix.com, , Designer News, Popurls, Curator, Tweetdeck, WPNews Desk Bing News, News Republic, Fark, Hacker News, The Web List, Webdesigner news, Apple News. NewsBlur, Reeder 4. These are just the free websites, there are more paid websites. iv) Stop showing the Australian news and just show foreign news v) Redirect the news link to another company which may or may be owned by Google vi) Pay for and host news directly from Bloomberg News Services and Reuters News Services vii) Index uploaded news on youtube. The news is uploaded to youtube via the news services like ABC News. If all websites /search engines were banned from Australian News Services without payment we could start to see bias search results based on private deals between search sites and news conglomerates. Deals allowing free content for prime position in search results. Access to big media outlets with conditions that limited competitors results, and even if you could prove collusion or anti-competitive behaviour there is not watchdog to prevent such actions.

In my opinion, having worked as a Computer and Information Science programmer for 20 years, I can however point out that this Bill only serves to help large media. They have failed to move forward with technology and are only in business due to the older generation not having discovered or wanted to discover internet. They have failed to innovate or replicate successful businesses such as and Google. Due to the global news subscription services, media outlets need to provide more services to encourage readers. Currently as it stands the large media outlets don’t distinguish between online news and paper based news. Online news would have links to websites and links to references and video and audio clips however the Australian media rarely use this.

The large media have major faults in of themselves and do not try to correct them. • The news is biased towards a single political party which would exclude half the Australian population. The reports do not have strong opinions and disguise their bias in carefully chosen words. • The reporters ignore their readers when they have technology to engage with them. Facebook is heavily used by foreign media to engage their audience. They not only allow commenting but also answer those comments and acknowledge well written commentators. • The letters to the editor section is the same size as it was in the 1970’s and earlier, however we have more people who actively want to discuss the merits of a story but have no choice but to use 3rd party websites such as Facebook and Reddit. • The traditional media have editors and owners who live in a time preinternet. This clearly shows by the areas of common interest missing from current news papers. E-gaming, Streaming TV Services, Internet Website entertainment, Latest software, Technology, Mobiles Cryptocurrency. These are some area that should be a regular features but instead occasional stories. The Traditional media only report on traditional news and have not expanded to other areas of interest. We spend hours on the internet, but have no mention of any website in traditional media, and they wonder why the average person does not read the news paper anymore.

Then there is the Hypocrisy. Were the traditional media create stories from websites like Facebook, and link back to them (https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/inventions/aussie-spa- using-inflatable-pool-and-outboard-motor-a-recipe-for-disaster/news-story/ 63f3de417529d295df5aa4fe3ee44448) This article was based on a video posted on Facebook. Should Facebook have the rights to charge the news media for linking to the video? This is the same every night on “The Project”, were they play funny clips taken from a website called http://www.reddit.com or http://www.youtube.com ?

The Australian media can only blame themselves for lost revenue and if Liberals want to support them, then it shows how inept parliament is when trying to understand Information technology (IT) and the Internet. Due to bad judgement by parliament, Australian IT has lost a large number of jobs, this Bill will only increase the job losses and job shifting to overseas. (We lost major web hosting potential due to 100x over pricing of internet traffic by Telstra, it was at one point cheaper to host 100 websites in USA then 1 website in Australia and the distance made no impact. We lost the gambling hosting deals as parliament thought it was wrong to be hosted in Australia, this is independent of gambling by Australians, same again for the pornography industry which all moved overseas and cost us 100’s to 1000’s of IT jobs in hosting and programming. Please don’t exacerbate the lack of IT jobs in Australia, by crippling us even further, because traditional media can’t attract readers.

Ersu Yuceturk BCIS