#outside of queue

RINEA!!

RINEA AS TEMPEST TRIALS REWARD!!!!

Hey, hi, hello. Can you please stop scrolling for a minute and read this? This affects us all, not just the people in Europe. I know that it’s a long post, but please read it and share it.

I know that people don’t like Mat Pat for various reasons, but this is serious. This is an excellent video explaining what Article 13 is and how it will affect us.

If you can’t watch the video, here’s summary of the main points and some discussion.

All websites rely on Fair Use and SafeHarbor (these are key)

The US Fair Use Doctrine allows people to use content that is not their own without explicit permission, so long as it is for review, education, news reporting, commentary, research, etc.

The US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (aka SafeHarbor) lets media companies issue takedown notices to a hosting site so that the site takes down the content. Example, Disney doesn’t like that someone uploaded the full Mulan movie on YouTube; they issue a takedown notice and YT takes the video down and issues a copyright strike to the person. However, thanks to SafeHarbor, YT isn’t responsible for the copyright infringement, only the removal of the content. 

The problem comes into play when you take into consideration that these two laws are only in the United States. In Europe, it is called Permitted Use, which means that you need a permit (or explicit permission) to use copyrighted content.

Permitted Use does not allow people to use copyrighted content unless it is for parody, quotation, private copying, and education. And these four things are it- anything that doesn’t fall under these four items are not allowed by Permitted Use.

Article 13 plans to hose the concept of SafeHarbor.

Why is this bad?

In particle 2a of Article 13, it states, “online content sharing providers and right holders shall cooperate in good faith to ensure that unauthorized protected works or other subject matter are not available on their services”. Therein lies the problem:

What does ‘good faith’ mean?

The language in a good law is purposefully very specific so that people know what it means and that there is no abuse of said law. ‘Good faith’ is incredibly vague. Does it mean that both companies agree on infringement? Does it mean that the right holder gets to boss the provider around? What does this mean?

The words ‘good faith’ can be abused so that anything vaguely infringing (example, an image of a starfish with yellow-green shorts edited on it) can be taken down because it has the potential to be infringing.

What else does this mean?

This means that if Article 13 gets finalized (it already has been passed; it needs to be finalized) the way it is written, this means that content hosting sites can only post things from the people that hold the rights. SafeHarbor will be hosed in the way that content hosting sites will be directly responsible for the copyright infringing content.

How does this relate to the US?

Here’s the thing: other countries have their own laws regarding copyright, Fair Use, and SafeHarbor. However, because of this, companies will cater towards stricter laws to avoid infringing on the stricter law. If Article 13 gets finalized the way it is, all countries will comply to Article 13 and apply it to everyone. 

If companies can take down creators in one area, they will want to take everyone down because they have that power.

So, what can we do?

The biggest point is to spread the word. The more people that are aware, the more potential there is for change. We aren’t talking about this because it’s so complicated, but once it has been simplified, it’s easier to understand and share.

Make your own content. This pairs up well with point one, but raise awareness. Show people how Article 13 is a problem with how it’s worded. 

This especially applies for those in Europe, but contact your MEPs. Find out why they support if, if they do. Convince them that Article 13, by the way it’s worded, is a huge issue. We need them to understand that’s going on and what the consequences are. Explain to them in a reasonable, logical way that the way that Article 13 is worded will cause problems. No one believes that the the creator’s rights should be infringed upon. That is not what we want. The problem is that it is too vague and unclear. Because it is unclear, media companies can, and will abuse the law to get what they want. 

We need to do these three things immediately because Article 13 has already been passed. It just needs the language to be finalized. If nothing is changed, then it could spell the end of the internet as we know it.

Please spread the word. Please boost this post, and please, please don’t let this problem die like we let Net Neutrality die. Net Neutrality likely opened the door for Article 13. Do not let this happen.

No, seriously. He literally wears a cloudy fishbowl on his head.

See? Fishbowl.

Also, his theme/leitmotif is killer. Spoilers abound in the description, title, and comments, beware:

That synth. The electric guitar. The blaring horns. That ‘heroic’ yet subtle change a 1:26 that signifies that he’s not all that he seems. And after that point, you can really freaking tell that he’s Not A Good Guy. God. I freaking love this theme!! THAT SYNTH. I’m a sucker for synth.

It’s just freaking amazing. Michael Giacchino kills it AGAIN. I could listen to this theme over and over again.

I dislike her methods and how controlling she is regarding her route. I dislike how (as posted before) she has few repercussions for her actions and how she has a 'golden route' when sure, the others achieve (earn, in Dimitri's case) their 'happy' endings.

And they aren't even 'happy'!

No. I don't hate Edelgard. But I dislike her actions and overall controlling behavior. Are there rebellions? Considering she basically dissolves Faerghus and acts as though they were never there (don't quote me, but I've seen mentions of it) and removes the Church totally (which seeing as Fodlan is a theocracy or parts of it is), how is that such a non-issue that it's not mentioned in her 'happy ending'?

Have a lil Dima because hi hello he's my new favourite

Okay so highlight of my day that I freaked out with my friend because this is a First for me before I pass out for the night: in the Obligatory Introduce Yourself Papers my physics teacher has you write your name like normal but beside the line there was Mr./Ms./Mx. in a "select which you would like to be called" way

I was not expecting a "select your formal address" thing, let alone a neutral option