Google is now educating German citizens and law makers on the potential dangers posed by a set of copyright changes that are being considered in the German parliament. These changes, if implemented, could require Google to start paying for news snippets that it aggregates on Google News from various publishers.
Verteidige Dein Netz, is the name of the campaign and it means "Defend Your Net". Google has set up a portal and it is designed to educate and win support from its users to help protect information that it picks up.
If the German Bundestag does implement these changes, Google will be forced not only to remove publisher content, but to also pay for the snippets that it displays in the search results. Some examples include items that appear on sites like Google News.
On the other hand, Google argues that these changes are not in the best interests of the German internet users, as it will get harder for them to find the information that they are looking for. It also adds that its News Service is ad-free and that publishers can opt out of the service if they want to. The company also claims that half the German outlets receive their traffic from Google's searches.
It should be noted that this isn't a first for Google. The French publishing industry has also demanded in the past that Google pay them for their content. Earlier this year, 90% of Brazilian newspapers removed their content form Google News after voicing similar complaints.
Apart from the German campaign, Google has previously warned its users around the world about the problems that could arise from the United Nations telecommunications conference. The company opened a similar portal and filled it with content that would enlighten users on its perceptions of the issue.
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