One more step in the wrong direction?
The European Parliament Committee on Legal Affairs just approved two articles of the new Copyright Reform. By doing so, they have encouraged censorship machines and “link taxes”. Sigh!
Article 11 (the “link tax”) states that anyone, individual or business (like aggregators and news apps), has to get license from the publisher before using parts of journalistic online content.
Article 13 (the “censorship machines”) is about forcing platforms to install “upload filters”. By doing so, any content that does not belong to the user who shared it – either as a comment or as a post (including memes) – will be removed.
The articles passed with a 13:12 and 15:10 majority, which is enough to influence the legislative process and turn both into law. If that happens, the Internet as you know it will be gone. Changes will be felt by users and online businesses alike.
The matter is controversial enough to be put up for discussion in the Plenary next month, where all 751 MEPs will discuss the matter at length and finally, give their votes, deciding the fate of the Internet.
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