Save Your Internet
My friends, some of you might already know this. Especially if you live in the EU. In case you don’t know what’s going on, here’s a lil summary:
Basically the European Council and the European Commission are currently working towards the European version of Net Neutrality. Kind of.
There’s a provision called Article 13 mandating that everything that’s uploaded to the internet should be monitored and deleted if it seems to violate Copyright. Sounds like a good idea; no one wants their content stolen, right? Problem is, this requires filtering systems which small online platforms won’t be able to provide. So they most likely will have to shut down. This would lead to a very restricted version of the internet, where only big platforms would have the chance to exist. Plus sharing gifs, memes, fan art, or remixes would be prohibited because of copyright. It wouldn’t make a difference if you link your source of inspiration, it would simply be illegal.
If you want further information, just use google. Or take a look at this neat webiste saveyourinternet.eu (there are different languages avaible, just click on one of the bubbles in the upper right corner of the webiste to chose another language) For more in depth information you can find more resources here.
Yesterday (20 June) the Legal Afairs Committee (juri) voted with a 15:10 majority in favour of Article 13 (x). Here’s a list of the Members of the European Parliament who voted in favour. But there’s still a chance of the European Parliament plenary to stop Article 13. The plenary will take place on July 4-5.
If you feel like maybe you should do something abt this, you can:
write an email to your country’s MEPs (you can find a list with all the MEPs here, choose your country, select a name and click on the email icon)
call your country’s MEPs if you feel talkative
or tweet them (you can find their twitter here, same as with the email)
OR you can just go to saveyourinternet.eu where you can easily access all the ways to contact you MEPs
Protect your rights as an EU citizen, Contact you MEPs, Save Your Internet
