WIKIORG policy update/2018-w25
This is ORG's Policy Update for the week beginning 18/06/2018.
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ORG’s work
Parliament
Other National developments
“”EU votes to effectively ban internet memes””
European lawmakers have legislated to pass Article 11 and 13 of the EU Copyright Directive, which has paved the way for extreme regulation of internet content such as memes, which are seen as a form of copyright when shared across social media. The motions were passed by the JURI Committee despite the significant pushback from tech companies, including an open letter to them signed by some of the industries biggest giants. Article 11 will force companies to pay for any copyrighted work that is available on the web. Article 13 will effectively put a ban on internet content like memes, by enforcing a copyright filter on everything uploaded to the web. Executive Director Jim Killock expressed that "Article 13 must go. The EU Parliament will have another chance to remove this dreadful law. "The EU Parliament's duty is to defend citizens from unfair and unjust laws. MEPs must reject this law, which would create a Robo-copyright regime intended to zap any image, text, meme or video that appears to include copyright material, even when it is entirely legal material." As of now, Article 13 has been removed from the bill but has reappeared in the GDPR. The next stage for the bill is a vote in the wider European Parliament.
“”Article 11 and 13 are one step closer to becoming law””
With regards to freedom of speech concerns, it is feared that the Article’s could reenforce companies such as Google and Facebook’s position as market leaders because they have resources needed to ensure they comply with the new regulations. The legislation also proposes sweeping changes to the way stories are shared online. Article 11, which was approved by the committee this week, calls for various internet sites (like Google and Facebook) to pay publishers who’s work is published or has had snippets of their work shared on their websites.
Media coverage
See ORG Press Coverage for full details.
2018-06-22-ZDNet-Union prepares to wreck internet with new copyright law Author: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols Summary: If passed, Article 13 will force all websites to check any and all posts for copyright violations. That will include photos, videos, words, tweets, memes, software code,etc. Jim Killock, executive director of the UK's Open Rights Group, warned the BBC: "Article 13 will create a 'Robo-copyright' regime, where machines zap anything they identify as breaking copyright rules" Topics: Data protection