The EU’s bizarre war on memes is totally unwinnable

dajjalsdick:

dajjalsdick:

dajjalsdick:

On June 20, the European Parliament will set in motion a
process that could force online platforms like Facebook, Reddit and
even 4chan to censor their users’ content before it ever gets online.

A
proposed new European copyright law wants large websites to use
“content recognition technologies” to scan for copyrighted videos,
music, photos, text and code in a move that that could impact everyone
from the open source software community to remixers, livestreamers and
teenage meme creators.

In an open letter to the President of the European Parliament, some of the world’s most prominent technologists warn that Article 13 of the proposed EU Copyright Directive
“takes an unprecedented step towards the transformation of the Internet
from an open platform for sharing and innovation, into a tool for the
automated surveillance and control of its users.”

The Save Your Internet
campaign is urging European internet users to contact their MEPs before
the critical June 20 vote, and includes tools to facilitate
communication with them via email, phone or social media.

Although it’s primarily intended to prevent the online
streaming of pirated music and video, the scope of Article 13 covers all
and any copyrightable material, including images, audio, video,
compiled software, code and the written word.

UM THIS IS A BIG FREAKING DEAL BTW

https://saveyourinternet.eu/ (ALSO LINKS TO KEY MEMBERS WHO MUST BE PRESSURED TO VOTE NO)

The European Parliament’s Legal Affairs committee will vote on this proposal on June 20 or 21. Your MEP needs to hear from you today. Call or email them now.

(LINKS TO KEY MEMBERS WHO NEED TO BE PRESSURE TO VOTE AGAINST THIS)

IF YOU LIVE IN EUROPE THIS *MUST* BE YOUR TOP PRIORITY UNTIL THE VOTE ON WEDNESDAY THE 20TH/THURSDAY THE 21ST

“Web services can’t even avoid liability by implementing upload filters.
To protect themselves from being sued, they would need to get licenses
from all rightsholders that exist on the planet before allowing user
uploads to go online, just in case the upload may contain (parts of) any
of their works.”

literally this effects the entire scope of internet and fandom. THE ENTIRE SCOPE OF INTERNET AND FANDOM.

“Big corporate lobbies are demanding these laws,
hoping to make additional profits and gain more control over the web,
after missing out on much of the digital transformation. Publicly, they
insist these laws are necessary to protect European cultural industries
from exploitation by foreign internet platforms. The link tax is even
supposed to single-handedly “save journalism”.

But independent experts agree: Copyright law isn’t the source of these problems, and these plans won’t fix them. In fact, they may well backfire – and they are certain to cause collateral damage to freedom of expression and harm independent creators, small publishers and startups. “

The EU’s bizarre war on memes is totally unwinnable