nir Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 The Save Our Internet campaign delivered over four million signatures opposing the EU’s controversial Article 13 of the new Copyright in the Single Market Directive on Monday. The directive is currently in the “trilogue” phase where member state governments and the EU negotiate the text behind closed doors before sending it to MEPs to vote on. According to the EFF, it seems as though the vote in parliament could be rushed through around Christmas to give it a better chance. Article 13 is troubling because it could lead to the creation of “algorithmic copyright filters” which brings up two problems. First of all, only big tech firms will be able to afford these filters, cutting out smaller players. Secondly, such filters would censor lots of legitimate content caused by errors in, or abuse of the algorithms. In a vote held in September, Article 13 was approved by a majority of 69 by the EU Parliament to head into the trilogue stage. Originally it was thought that the upcoming vote could take place next year but there’s every chance it will be held this month in order to give it a better chance of success. Whenever the vote is, it will be presented to Members of the European Parliament who will give it their blessing or reject it; those four million people who signed the petition are hoping that their outcry over the Article will cause MEPs to reject it. Article 13 has been criticised widely by famous internet personalities including Vint Cerf, Tim Berners-Lee, Jimmy Wales, Mitchell Baker, and Bruce Schneier. A coalition of Europe’s largest film companies and sports leagues also penned an open letter voicing their opposition to Article 13. Source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matrix Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 Activists to Deliver 4 Million Anti ‘Article 13’ Signatures to EU Parliament Ahead of the final trilogue negotiations this Thursday, activists will deliver an anti "upload filter" petition signed by four million people to the European Parliament. Lawmakers will try to agree on the final text of the controversial Article 13 this week. The latest proposals stress that any measures platforms take should not remove legitimate content. In a plenary vote in September, the European Parliament backed the controversial Article 13 proposal, which is part of the EU’s copyright reform plans. Since then, the proposal has been tweaked in an attempt to gain broader support, but thus far the critics have yet to be silenced. That includes rightsholders as well. Most opposition is generated by anti upload filter activists though. They rallied support from the public through various online campaigns, including a prominent petition hosted on Change.org. Yesterday the “Stop the censorship-machinery! Save the Internet!” petition passed four million signatures, making it one of the largest to be hosted on the platform. With these impressive numbers activists behind the SaveTheInternet campaign hope to make a change. Tomorrow the SafeTheInternet team will hand over the signatures to copyright rapporteur Axel Voss at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The activists tried to do the same in July when the petition had roughly one million signees. At the time Voss wasn’t willing to accept them, but he has agreed to do so tomorrow. The timing of the handover is not a mere coincidence. It’s scheduled a day ahead of the final trilogue meeting, during which lawmakers will try to reach agreement on the final test of Article 13 and other copyright reform proposals. With the petition, the activists call on Members of the European Parliament to decide against directives such as Article 13 which may hamper freedom of information. “This form of censorship could very soon destroy the cultural normatives of the internet as we know it. The blocking of uploads, in combination with faulty algorithms, will result in so called overblocking lead by the platforms, so that they can avoid legal violations,” the campaign website warns. The latest Article 13 proposal, published by Politico this week, shows that the proposed language has been tweaked further still. Any references to upload filters were long gone, and it’s now clarified that Article 13 does not impose any monitoring obligation. In addition, it suggests that platforms will be held liable if they fail to remove content following reports from copyright holders. Optionally, platforms may also be required to “make best efforts” to prevent these files from being uploaded. A so-called takedown and staydown policy. From the latest proposal In what appears to be a response to concerns from the public, the proposal also clarifies that enforcement measures should not prevent the availability of legitimate content. This includes fair use uploads for the purpose of criticism, review or parody. While that sounds like good news, not everyone is convinced that this will work. “This is the ‘nerd harder’ approach to regulating. It is magic wand regulating: make the bad stuff go away, and magically don’t have any collateral damage,” Techdirt’s Masnick comments. That’s a fair point since large platforms simply can’t identify fair use content through algorithms. There is bound to be some collateral damage, which is already quite common as things stand today. Responding to concerns from rightsholders in the audiovisual sector, the legislators clarified that they shouldn’t be worse off under Article 13 than they currently are. It’s clear that the lawmakers are trying to appease both rightsholders and the public at large. The question remains, however, whether anyone will be truly pleased with the outcome of the negotiations. The SafeTheInternet team remains on course though. They hope that the four million signatures will help to convince Members of Parliament to remain vigilant and ensure that their views are heard. Original Article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Activists to Deliver 4 Million Anti ‘Article 13’ Signatures to EU Parliament Ahead of the final trilogue negotiations this Thursday, activists will deliver an anti "upload filter" petition signed by four million people to the European Parliament. Lawmakers will try to agree on the final text of the controversial Article 13 this week. The latest proposals stress that any measures platforms take should not remove legitimate content. In a plenary vote in September, the European Parliament backed the controversial Article 13 proposal, which is part of the EU’s copyright reform plans. Since then, the proposal has been tweaked in an attempt to gain broader support, but thus far the critics have yet to be silenced. That includes rightsholders as well. Most opposition is generated by anti upload filter activists though. They rallied support from the public through various online campaigns, including a prominent petition hosted on Change.org. Yesterday the “Stop the censorship-machinery! Save the Internet!” petition passed four million signatures, making it one of the largest to be hosted on the platform. With these impressive numbers activists behind the SaveTheInternet campaign hope to make a change. Tomorrow the SafeTheInternet team will hand over the signatures to copyright rapporteur Axel Voss at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The activists tried to do the same in July when the petition had roughly one million signees. At the time Voss wasn’t willing to accept them, but he has agreed to do so tomorrow. The timing of the handover is not a mere coincidence. It’s scheduled a day ahead of the final trilogue meeting, during which lawmakers will try to reach agreement on the final test of Article 13 and other copyright reform proposals. With the petition, the activists call on Members of the European Parliament to decide against directives such as Article 13 which may hamper freedom of information. “This form of censorship could very soon destroy the cultural normatives of the internet as we know it. The blocking of uploads, in combination with faulty algorithms, will result in so called overblocking lead by the platforms, so that they can avoid legal violations,” the campaign website warns. The latest Article 13 proposal, published by Politico this week, shows that the proposed language has been tweaked further still. Any references to upload filters were long gone, and it’s now clarified that Article 13 does not impose any monitoring obligation. In addition, it suggests that platforms will be held liable if they fail to remove content following reports from copyright holders. Optionally, platforms may also be required to “make best efforts” to prevent these files from being uploaded. A so-called takedown and staydown policy. From the latest proposal In what appears to be a response to concerns from the public, the proposal also clarifies that enforcement measures should not prevent the availability of legitimate content. This includes fair use uploads for the purpose of criticism, review or parody. While that sounds like good news, not everyone is convinced that this will work. “This is the ‘nerd harder’ approach to regulating. It is magic wand regulating: make the bad stuff go away, and magically don’t have any collateral damage,” Techdirt’s Masnick comments. That’s a fair point since large platforms simply can’t identify fair use content through algorithms. There is bound to be some collateral damage, which is already quite common as things stand today. Responding to concerns from rightsholders in the audiovisual sector, the legislators clarified that they shouldn’t be worse off under Article 13 than they currently are. It’s clear that the lawmakers are trying to appease both rightsholders and the public at large. The question remains, however, whether anyone will be truly pleased with the outcome of the negotiations. The SafeTheInternet team remains on course though. They hope that the four million signatures will help to convince Members of Parliament to remain vigilant and ensure that their views are heard.
Rekkio Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 Right now the web is infested with tsunamis of 'Cookie Consent' windows in the EU. Tomorrow online platforms will just not bother anymore and simply ban all EU users. Are VPN providers trying to pass this bill to increase VPN demand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matrix Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 Also here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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