EU Copyright Reform Proposal

[BondJmsBond]

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20...internet.shtml

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvXOfq3AB8s

Any of you Euro folk have any knowledge of this? It looks bad for those of our ilk.

It sounds like a huge deal, filtering uploads for copyright etc., but I haven't seen any one talking about it.

I hope it's fake news...

I also have a sneaking suspicion this is somehow tied into the US Net Neutrality stuff.

[Misrule]

Hmm. That looks like a standard EU dog's dinner. But so did GDPR, so I'm not too despondent. These things require an awful lot of politicking to get them over the line. My guess (and hope) is that there will be insufficient agreement for anything that dumb. It would effectively kill the internet in the EU. There will be a fudge that will be acceptable and workable. (I hope)
Back to closed groups with encryption? Private sharing? Ways will be found.

[BondJmsBond]

I don't seem to find the story on mainstream news outlets (maybe not a big enough story?) and have learned to cast a jaundiced eye on virtually any news I see these days. So I don't know.

Isn't that something, in these days of worldwide information available to all at near light speed, you still can't get good information.

[Misrule]

As it is just a proposal at this stage, panic has not set in, yet. However, it is gaining attention...

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...ight-overhaul/

[Toto]

that was released at the For Uncut ! group at Steam

On 20 June, the European Parliament will vote on a Proposal for a Directive of the Europeal Parliament and of the Council on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. The directive can be found here[eur-lex.europa.eu].

Article 13 stipulates that in the future every form of digital media, as we know and are used to when using the Internet today, will be checked and compared with a database during upload using algorithms that are known to be prone to errors. If the uploaded material is similar to an already known work from the database, there is a very high risk that an automatic censorship mechanism will be applied and your own upload will be blocked. This, however, does not only affect musical works, as one might still suspect. No, all audio and video files, photos or pictures and even texts - such as reports („News“), satire or the like - are in the line of fire.

Article 11 goes so far that even the mentioning of individual extracts of third-party works in the quotation or a simple link to the original works can be seen as a copyright infringement. Not only for smaller news outlets, which already have it harder than the big publishers on the net because of their reach, but also for users of platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Reddit or online forums, this will entail serious restrictions, since no one can help to disseminate important or critical information without hesitation.

Articles 11 and 13 therefore censor everyone living person in the European Union under the guise of copyright, since free expressions of opinion and art are disproportionately restricted or even made impossible even before these fundamental rights are properly exercised. The interests of basically only a few are „protected“ here – to the regret of hundreds of millions of people in the EU.

Only three days left!
But it is not too late to defend against the enforcement of this EU directive. On the SaveYourInternet[saveyourinternet.eu] website everyone who lives in the EU has the opportunity to get in touch with the only 10 Members of the EU parliament who will ultimately decide on the fate of the Internet – as we have come to know and love it today – and convince them to vote against the directive on 20 June. The website also contains further information[saveyourinternet.eu] on why the new directive is so dangerous.

We would therefore like to encourage every member of our community to do just that. Together we have enormous potential, and only those who defend themselves together can be successful. Remind the members of the parliament who elected them, that they serve the people of the EU and that the interests of a few are not above the well-being of the population. Be creative, be direct, be relentless, but fight back. Time is ticking!

BTW here's the link https://saveyourinternet.eu/

[Misrule]

Only three days left!
But it is not too late to defend against the enforcement of this EU directive. On the SaveYourInternet[saveyourinternet.eu] website everyone who lives in the EU has the opportunity to get in touch with the only 10 Members of the EU parliament who will ultimately decide on the fate of the Internet – as we have come to know and love it today – and convince them to vote against the directive on 20 June. The website also contains further information[saveyourinternet.eu] on why the new directive is so dangerous.

We would therefore like to encourage every member of our community to do just that. Together we have enormous potential, and only those who defend themselves together can be successful. Remind the members of the parliament who elected them, that they serve the people of the EU and that the interests of a few are not above the well-being of the population. Be creative, be direct, be relentless, but fight back. Time is ticking!

Get to it, people in the EU.

[BondJmsBond]

"all audio and video files, photos or pictures and even texts - such as reports („News“), satire or the like - are in the line of fire."

I will continue my long-standing tradition of being an alarmist and say this is really bad. My record is being slightly more often right than wrong.

This gives the EU Government the power to censor anything they want. They will censor anything they want, slowly and under the radar, under the guise of 'the greater good for all' and 'fighting hate speech' etc. Those doing the actual censorship will be hidden or unaccountable. Copyright protection is the veneer under which it will hide.
It's far too useful a tool to go unused by bad actors in power. How long will it be before the EU erects a firewall to keep out any dissent, just like China? If this passes and is allowed to continue, I'd say 5 years.

Copyright shmopyright, this is just another attack on Free Speech. Please let it fail.

[Misrule]

Article 13 passed the Committee stage by 15-10. It's still a long way from becoming an EU Directive, but getting closer.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...-the-internet/

[BondJmsBond]

It's Big Brother on roid rage. It sounds like all EU citizens' online activity will be filtered for compliance; The State looking over your shoulder at every turn.
They probably got the 'surveil and control the masses' idea from the Chinese:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-34592186

From Misrules' referenced article:

." Businesses would no longer benefit from safe harbor protection "for any service that 'optimizes' content, which includes things like promoting, tagging, curating, or sequencing a site's contents."

"While the Internet today is "an open platform for sharing and innovation," automatic filtering of user-generated content would ultimately transform it "into a tool for the automated surveillance and control of its users"

Again I'll hazard a guess and say the US won't be far behind to implement this or similar. Additionally, won't this force US companies etc. to comply in order to do business with the EU?

The internet is great, I get much fun, great utility, and awesome convenience from it.
But let money and power hungry control freaks rule and it gets turned to shit; actually a weapon against it's users.

We need Gandalf on this one.

[Misrule]

Well done, everybody who contacted their MEP. It worked and the draft was sent back to the drawing board.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44712475