I don’t usually share this kind of thing, and I will delete it later. But this June 20th the EU want to pass Article 13 that will destroy fair use on the internet and will effect non-EU residents too. Goodbye to making money from fan art and livestreaming games and parody videos. No can do. Visit saveyourinternet.eu to very simply send a pre-written email to you MEPs. Please spread awareness as there’s not much time.
All you people who were afraid of Net Neutrality should be terrified of this.
C’mon, guys.
To all my fellow Europeans, please, get involved. Make your MEPs aware of your objections to this article. Spread the word to everyone you know and make them understand that this is something that might happen and that will affect them.
I’d like to add that many people are saying that the Art. 13 is about fighting fake news, Russian bots, Nazis and whatsoever.
It’s not about that, and that’s not the issue people have with the text.
The article is part of a COPYRIGHT DIRECTIVE the European Parliament has been trying to push since 2016.
You can find there original text HERE, but it’s been going through many re-drafts. HERE you can find all the original EU texts, including the latest versions that are being discussed.
As @transformativeworks posted HERE, it’s really difficult to foresee what this directive could mean for transformative works. Article 13 makes online content sharing service providers (like Tumblr) responsible for all the content users upload. It could easily force them to use preventive filtering programs to scan through uploaded content and block/take down content that (they find) infringes upon copyright and license agreements, since it calls for “appropriate and proportionate measures” from said providers, including “implementing effective technologies”. (from version 8 of the proposal draft you can find HERE).
It’s vague, isn’t it? You know what’s also vague in the EU? Fair use. Remember that the EU doesn’t have a formal doctrine on fair use.
Send your representatives an email, tweet, or phone call before June 20 and EXPRESS YOUR CONCERN. If you still have doubts, ask for clarifications, ask them about our worries, they owe us!
As the Organization for Transformative Works suggested, contanct your MEPs, and let them know that:
Without safe harbors for user-generated content, Article 13 of the Copyright Directive would stifle free expression on the Internet. We don’t want mandatory filtering. Algorithms don’t understand limitations and exceptions to copyright like parody, public interest exceptions, fair use, or fair dealing, and we don’t want our non-infringing videos, website posts and art blocked because of a biased algorithm created by big corporations. We want the law to protect user-generated works, not harm them.
Some links: