Google is paying for more information in a break with its past

After bending to the spirit of Australia’s new law – without completely submitting – Google may now have to play a game of Whack-a-Mole in other countries. — Reuters

Google is under growing pressure to pay for information that, for two decades, the search provider snipped from the Web – and made a mint from – without paying a sen.

Australian and French efforts to force Google to compensate news publishers are only the latest examples of a trend spanning the globe. Canada is considering a similar requirement and rival Microsoft Corp has urged the US to pass a comparable law.