The EU Copyright Reform Proposal including the controversial article 11 and 13 has been approved today. Here’s what we can do to prevent this law from actually being passed.
So first of all, now that it has been approved I’m seeing a lot of confusion about what the proposal actually does. You can read all of it here, but here’s a short summary of the proposal:
- The proposal was first published around two years ago. The two most problematic things about it are Article 11 and Article 13, Article 11 wanting to prevent people from using snippets of text from news articles, possibly also affecting links that contain the headline of the article; Article 13 is about using upload filters on websites with lots of user uploads to prevent copyrighted material from being posted online. This would not only affect screenshots and gifs, but also memes, music used in remixes and similar content. That’s right, if this law passes we won’t be able to post memes and similar content online anymore. (Note: Don’t worry about your fanart and fanfiction. Those won’t be taken down.) It’s not clear what kinds of websites will have to make use of those filters yet; while some sources state it will only affect big platforms like Youtube, Facebook, Flickr etc. others say it could also affect start-ups and forums who aren’t able to pay for those filters and might have to close down. (Please note that I’m no expert, so if you have anything to add/correct about my summary, feel free to do so.) - Today, on June 20th, a parliamentary committee approved of the proposal. However, it’s not over yet. The Internet won’t suddenly “die” today. There are a few more steps to be made before this passes as an actual law. Presumably on 3rd-5th July, there’ll be a Parliament Negotiating Mandate Vote. Finally, there’ll be a final Parliamentary Vote in December. The proposal has to pass both of those votes before becoming an actual law.
Long story short: Keep contacting your MEPs. Just because the proposal has been approved, you shouldn’t stop fighting against this shit being passed. It’s not over yet. Here are some useful links: https://saveyourinternet.eu - Call and tweet your MEPs or write them (pre-written) emails https://act.openmedia.org/savethelink-call - Call your MEPs https://www.change.org/p/european-parliament-stop-the-censorship-machinery-save-the-internet - Sign this petition against upload filters Lastly: No, this is not alt-right propaganda. I know many of you were confused when this issue first blew up, as there were barely any reliable sources and most articles about it seemed to come from alt-right websites who used the issue to bash the EU. I fell for the rumor about the issue being faked too and was surprised to read in my local newspaper a few days ago that it is an actual issue, and now I just regret to not have done anything before the proposal passed. But as I said: It’s not over yet. We can still fight against this.
Please share this post, no matter if you’re from the EU or not. If you are from the EU, please contact your MEPs or sign the petition. Remind them on the upcoming elections May 2019 and let them know you and many, many more people care about the internet as it is right now.
