European Parliament to vote on copyright reform > "Today's vote will change the face of the internet forever, from an open platform to a place where anything can be removed without warning"

A fortnight ago, the EU parliament voted to restrict the internet: 

Today's vote will change the face of the internet forever, from an open platform to a place where anything can be removed without warning

The idea of instituting a regime of petty everyday censorship, that randomly and unfairly damages campaigns, artists and the denizens of the Internet, ought to fill you with rage

Jim Killock
Wednesday 20 June 2018

Members of European Parliament (MEPs) voted today in favour of the hugely problematic Article 13, which will require automatic “Robocop” deletions of videos, pictures, sound, and text across internet platforms.

The plan is to enforce the automatic removal of any material that appears to violate copyright, which means that memes, mixes, sampling, and even reuse of news and parliamentary footage, will get caught up and deleted without warning.

This could change the way that the internet works – from a hub of free and creative sharing, to a space where anything can be removed without warning, by computers. Companies will be expected to monitor uploads and check that they aren’t copies of something someone has copyright in.

Campaigners will fall foul of this law, known as Article 13 of the Copyright Directive. We know how bad these systems are because they’re already used by YouTube’s system known as ContentID. Greenpeace, for instance, had their Star Wars video removed on YouTube after allegations of copyright infringement. Other campaigners reuse promotional videos to pick apart their arguments – and found copyright allegations used to delete their videos. Educationalists too have had their content wrongly removed.

Today's vote will change the face of the internet forever, from an open platform to a place where anything can be removed without warning | The Independent
EU votes for copyright law that would make internet a 'tool for control' | Technology | The Guardian

Today, a further vote will be taken:
European Parliament to vote on copyright reform mandate this week - who's voice will matter? - International Communia Association
Wikipedia goes dark in Spanish, Italian ahead of key EU vote on copyright | TechCrunch

Groups are campaigning against it: 

Avaaz forced to spy on you?!

In 24 hours, the EU parliament will vote on a internet-breaking copyright law that could force Avaaz to spy on you. Yes, you read that right.

The entire point of the law is to make Google and Co pay for linking to newspapers, but it’s so vague that Avaaz could be forced to install surveillance tools to scan all content uploaded to the site - your comments, pics or videos - and automatically block anything that may violates copyright.

This has so far flown under the radar, but protest is growing -- from Wikipedia going dark in Italy to Internet founders calling the law “a tool for automated surveillance”. And if you think I am not in Europe so why should I care, it will have implications everywhere! But parliament has the last word and if they say NO tomorrow, it will be sent back to the drawing board.

Add your voice to protect our Internet from censorship and surveillance

Most parts of the proposed law are simply adapting technical language to the digital age and others aim to return money generated by tech giants back to publishers - good intentions, but with terrible consequences because their vagueness threatening the free and open Internet.

For instance the “link tax” would force anyone using snippets of journalistic content online to first get a licence from the publisher - good in theory but it’s effect is to limit access to information and boost fake news because sharing of reputable news would be more costly.

Another provision forces websites to monitor everything users uploads to block copyrighted materials - this could turn websites into censorship machines and for example “Game of Thrones” fan pages may be caught in the copyright net because they feature pictures and text of the show.

The recent EU data protection reform showed us clearly how European laws have repercussions everywhere because companies end up applying them to everyone, everywhere.

In 24h, the EU parliament could send this law back to committee, where we can help re-open the debate and change the flawed provisions. Avaaz will bring our voices directly to the main party leaders and ensure they hear us:

Add your voice to protect our Internet from censorship and surveillance

Avaaz has been on the front lines for a free and open Internet - we fought for net neutrality and won against ACTA. Let’s stand up now one more time and call on European lawmakers to protect our free and open Internet from surveillance and censorship.

With hope and determination,

Pascal, Alice, Luca, Danny, Rewan, Alex and the entire Avaaz team.

New EU Copyright Law: Will Upload Filters Destroy the Internet as we Know it?
https://www.dw.com/en/new-eu-copyright-law-will-upload-filters-destroy-the-internet-as-we-know-it/a-44354310

New EU copyright filtering law threatens the internet as we knew it
https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/19/17480344/eu-european-union-parliament-copyright-article-13-upload-filter

EU copyright decision could change the internet's sharing culture
https://global.handelsblatt.com/politics/eu-copyright-internet-sharing-reform-936682

Wikipedia Italy goes dark to protest EU copyright reform
https://www.thelocal.it/20180703/wikipedia-italy-blackout-eu-copyright-directive-reform

The EU’s disastrous copyright reform will sabotage internet culture
https://thenextweb.com/contributors/2018/07/02/the-eus-disastrous-copyright-reform-will-sabotage-internet-culture/

Avaaz - The World in Action
.
.
.