Google unveils new moves to boost struggling news organizations

Agencies
October 2, 2017

Washington, Oct 2: Google announced new steps to help struggling news organizations Monday - including an end to a longstanding "first click free" policy to generate fresh revenues for publishers hurt by the shift from print to digital.

The moves come amid mounting criticism that online platforms are siphoning off the majority of revenues as more readers turn to digital platforms for news.

"I truly believe that Google and news publishers actually share a common cause," said Google Vice President Philipp Schindler.

"Our users truly value high quality journalism."

Google announced a series of measures, the most significant of which would be to replace the decade-old policy of requiring news organizations to provide one article discovered in a news search without subscribing -- a standard known as "first click free."

This will be replaced by a "flexible sampling" model that will allow publishers to require a subscription if they choose at any time.

"We realize that one size does not fit all," said Richard Gingras, Google's vice president for news.

This will allow news organizations to decide whether to show articles at no cost or to implement a "paywall" for some or all content.

Gingras said the new policy, effective Monday, will be in place worldwide. He said it was not clear how many publishers would start implementing an immediate paywall as a result.

"The reaction to our efforts has been positive," he told a conference call announcing the new policy.

"This is not a silver bullet to the subscription market. It is a very competitive market for information. And people buy subscriptions when they have a perception of value."

Google said it is recommending a "metering" system allowing 10 free articles per month as the best way to encourage subscriptions.

The California tech giant also said it would work with publishers to make subscriptions easier, including allowing readers to pay with their Google or Android account to avoid a cumbersome registration process.

"We think we can get it down to one click, that would be superb," Gingras said.

He explained people are becoming more accustomed to paying for news, but that a "sometimes painful process of signing up for a subscription can be a turn off. That's not great for users or for news publishers who see subscriptions as an increasingly important source of revenue."

Google would share data with the news organizations to enable them to keep up the customer relationship, he added.

"We're not looking to own the customer," he said. "We will provide the name of user, the email and if necessary the address."

Gingras said Google is also exploring ways "to use machine learning to help publishers recognize potential subscribers," employing the internet giant's technology to help news organizations.

He added that Google was not implementing the changes to generate revenues for itself, but that some financial details had not been worked out.

Google does not intend to take a slice of subscription revenues, he noted.

"Our intent is to be as generous as possible," he said.

Research firm eMarketer estimates that Google and Facebook will take in 63 percent of digital advertising revenues in 2017 -- making it harder for news organizations to compete online.

Facebook is widely believed to be working on a similar effort to help news organizations drive more subscriptions.

Google created a "Digital News Initiative" in Europe in 2015 which provides funding for innovative journalism projects.

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Agencies
March 18,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 18: To raise awareness about protective measures against coronavirus, Kerala Police released a dance video on the State Police Media Centre's Facebook page promoting the washing of hands, here on Tuesday.

In the video, the police officers were seen dancing to the tunes of Kalakkatha from the Malayalam action-drama thriller Ayyappanum Koshiyum while demonstrating the right technique for washing hands.

The video gained over 27,000 likes and over 2,400 comments and more than 33,000 netizens shared the video.

The video has received a positive response with users congratulating Kerala Police for the initiative.

"Congrats Kerala police media for this kind of initiative," one user commented on Facebook. Another user thanked the police in the comments section saying, "Super super thanks to KL (Kerala) police."

The number of people who have tested positive for the coronavirus in Kerala is 25.

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in India has reached 147, including 122 Indians and 25 foreign nationals, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare earlier today.

Globally, the virus has infected more than 184,000 people and killed more than 7500, as per the data available on the World Health Organisation website.

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Agencies
July 11,2020

Citing the current dismal aviation scenario, Air India is terminating the services of trainee cabin crew and cabin crew by withdrawing the offer of employment of those who were under training.

As per sources, the new crew and trainee pilots might reduce contracts from five years to one year. Sources said Air India is terminating 1,200 crew and employees who are more than 55-yr-old including 190 trainee pilots.

In a letter reviewed by IANS, Air India has informed an applicant who had been selected as cabin crew in August 2019 subject to successful completion of training.

"On behalf of Air India we would like to thank you for the interest shown by you in joining our organization. However, in view of the current aviation scenario, it would not be possible for Air India to impart any further training to you for engaging your services," the company said.

"In view of the above reasons, which are beyond the control of the company, it has been decided to discontinue your training arrangements and dispense with the offer of engagement with immediate effect. The bank guarantee furnished by you at the time of joining is returned herewith," Air India told the cabin crew.

"Once again on behalf of Air India we thank you for your cooperation and trust that you will appreciate the circumstances under which we are constrained to discontinue the training arrangements," the carrier said.

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Agencies
January 10,2020

Indian enterprises were flooded with a whopping 14.6 crore malware threats in 2019 - a growth of 48 per cent (year-on-year) compared to 2018, a new report said on Friday.

Manufacturing, BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance), education, healthcare, IT/ITES, and the government were the most at-risk industries in the country, said the report from Seqrite, the enterprise arm of Pune-based IT security firm Quick Heal Technologies.

Interestingly, almost a quarter (23 per cent) of the threats were identified through 'Signatureless behaviour-based' detection by Seqrite, indicating how a growing number of cybercriminals were deploying new or previously unknown threat vectors to compromise enterprise security.

"With the latest Seqrite annual threat report, we want to empower CIOs, CISOs, business leaders and all key public stakeholders with the insights they need to combat the growing complexity of the threat landscape," said Sanjay Katkar, Joint Managing Director and CTO, Quick Heal Technologies.

The most prominent trend was the drastic increase in the volume, intensity, and sophistication of cyber-attack campaigns targeting Indian enterprises in 2019.

The rapid integration of IoT devices, BYOD (bring your own device), and third-party APIs into enterprise networks has created newer security vulnerabilities that might go unnoticed until a major breach occurs.

Threat researchers at Seqrite observed several large-scale advanced persistent threats (APT) attacks deployed against organisations in the government sector.

"The entry of nation-states and organised cybercrime cells into the fray is expected to add more complication to this situation and will require Indian government bodies and corporate enterprises to shore up their cyber defence strategies in 2020 and beyond," the report noted.

More alarming, however, was the continued lack of security awareness amongst enterprises and government organisations.

"Unsecured Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and Server Message Block (SMB) protocols continued to be targeted through brute-force attacks," said the report.

Spear phishing attack campaigns leveraging Office exploits and infected macros were also used extensively by cybercriminals to gain access to enterprise networks and steal critical data.

"India's digital journey depends on ensuring robust cybersecurity for all stakeholders within the enterprise ecosystem," said Katkar.

The sharp spike should be a cause of concern for CIOs and CISOs in the country, especially given the growing digital penetration within their enterprise networks.

"With network vulnerabilities and potential entry points increasing at a rapid pace, threat actors are expected to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to power their malware campaigns in the future to capitalise on newer attack vectors," the report added.

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