Plans by the Australian government to force digital firms to compensate news providers have pushed Facebook to ban news content in the country, as part of a fight that could have a global impact on media regulation Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2268431-facebooks-australian-news-ban-is-a-fight-the-whole-world-should-watch/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Tag: Australian
Following Facebook’s News Ban in Australia, Posts Disappear From Pages of Some Government Agencies, Also Some Restaurant and Humor Sites
Facebook has restricted access to news in Australia, and so far the tech giant seems to have taken a pretty broad definition of news. From a report: Some pages that don’t fit the traditional news genre have been stripped out as part of the stoush between Facebook and the federal government over whether the social media company should pay for Australian…
Facebook Blocks All News In and From Australia
Facebook said Wednesday that it would no longer allow Australian publishers to share news on Facebook or allow Australian people to view or share international news sources. From a report: The change comes as Australia prepares to pass a law that would require companies like Facebook and Google to pay news publishers to carry their stories. “The proposed law fundamentally misunderstands…
Microsoft Urges America to Force Google and Facebook to Pay for News
“Microsoft has said the USA should copy Australia’s plan to force Google and Facebook to pay for links to news content,” reports The Register, “and suggested that doing so will help improve social cohesion and strengthen democracy.” But Google has fired back with a statement asserting that Microsoft’s motives are impure. “Of course they’d be eager to impose an unworkable levy…
Google Launches News Showcase In Australia Amid Dispute Over Proposed Law
Google has launched a limited version of its News Showcase in Australia despite threatening to pull Search from the nation a fortnight ago. ZDNet reports: News Showcase, Google claims, provides an “enhanced view” of articles, and aims to give participating news publishers more ways to share important news to readers while having “more direct control of presentation and branding.” The product…
Australian government may use herpes virus to control invasive carp
New figures show just how abundant ecologically destructive carp are in Australia’s waterways – now the government is considering using a herpes virus to reduce the population Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2266336-australian-government-may-use-herpes-virus-to-control-invasive-carp/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Australian lungfish has largest genome of any animal sequenced so far
The Australian lungfish’s genome is around 14 times larger than the human one, and its DNA confirms it is closely related to land-based animals with a backbone Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2265127-australian-lungfish-has-largest-genome-of-any-animal-sequenced-so-far/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Project maps ‘astronomical’ number of celestial objects
Nearly 700 million astronomical objects have been carefully cataloged and made public as part of a major international collaboration involving researchers from The Australian National University (ANU). Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-01-astronomical-celestial.html…
Google Closes the Fitbit Acquisition, Pledges To Not Use Data For Ads
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Today Google’s senior VP of Hardware, Rick Osterloh, announced Google has closed its acquisition of Fitbit. The $2.1 billion deal was announced back in November 2019, which kicked off a regulatory review process from governments around the world concerned about Google’s influence over the Internet and the data it can collect on…
2020 tied for warmest year on record
2020 was Earth’s hottest year in the 140-year record, effectively tying 2016, the previous record-holder. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/2020-tied-for-warmest-global-year-on-record…