EU copyright reform, article 13, and possible impact on WinCert

[Jan Krohn]

Dear Community,

If you've not yet looked into the details of the upcoming copyright reform in the EU, the following will shock you. No matter whether you're located in the EU or not, this will impact you, as all online portals that have a presence in the EU will need to comply.

The proposed directive has just passed through the EU Committee of Legal Affairs, and will be voted upon by the EU Parliament on 23 March. If the directive passes through parliament as well, it will become binding law throughout the entire EU by 23 March 2021.

So what does it mean, not only for WinCert, but every other online forum located in the EU, and even big portals like Twitter, Facebook, Youtube etc. that also have EU presences?

1. It will force upload filters on all these portals (article 13).

So what are upload filters? Think about YouTube. They developed an upload filter that automatically tests any uploaded video for copyright violations, and automatically rejects any video that is flagged. Development of that thing cost them more than 100 million dollars, and it doesn't work properly.

Everything that is user contributed (text, images, videos etc.) would have to be filtered through that software. As of now, it's a technology that exists exactly once on this planet, developed by Google/Youtube… They will set the pricing. They will decide who they're gonna allow access to it.

Failure to comply with this requirement would be more or less equal to shutting down the forum.

2. It will prohibit the use of content snippets with links, unless the platform acquires a license from the publisher.

So what's a content snippet?

It's basically a shared link with an attached snippet. Paste a link into Facebook, Twitter, WinCert etc. and it will fetch and display a preview within the portal:

So in order to do what I've just done here, after 23 March 2021, WinCert would require a license from ZDNet to use this snippet of content. Of course this rule would cover sharing of snippets by all WinCert users, and licenses from all news publishers. If any of you guys would share any snippet for which we're not licensed, the publisher could sue WinCert/HeiDoc/me for compensation, and we would probably also get fined.

So am I exaggerating here? I wish I were... It really is going to be the disaster of the magnitude described.

So what can you do, especially if you're a EU citizen?

1. Don't ignore the mess until it's too late. Be aware of the development, and share your knowledge about it, as it concerns everyone.

2. Sign the petition.

3. Use the hashtag #SaveYourInternet

4. Write to your MP/MEP, especially if they are pro copyright reform. An overview of all MEP and their view (pro/con/unknown) in the links below.

5. If you have a vote in the EU parliamentary elections in May, make sure not to vote for any copyright reform proponent. You can find both proponents and opponents across the entire political spectrum.

6. Join the protest (online and offline).

Further information:

https://saveyourinternet.eu/ (overview of all MEP and their view)

https://savetheinternet.info/ (petition and list of offline protest events)

https://juliareda.eu/eu-copyright-reform/ (Julia Reda MEP, Pirate Party; not endorsing the party here, but pointing to a prime source of information)

[NIM]

Once upon a time, the internet was free... 
I will sign the petition for sure!

[Jan Krohn]

I'm considering to join the protest in Brussels on 23 March. If anyone here is going, please let me know.

[Jan Krohn]

WinCert will participate in the Europe wide Blackout day on 21 March. In about 4 hours, the forum and blog will go offline for 24 hours, and direct the visitors to the blackout page:

http://www.cambobid.com/stopart13_en.php

[NIM]

FFS

https://www.cnet.com/news/article-13-eu-approves-controversial-copyright-law/

 

[Jan Krohn]

Actually, I did expect that.

Here's the overview on how the individual MEPs voted:

https://juliareda.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/copyrightvote.pdf

This document will be important for the parliamentary elections.

[NIM]

34 minutes ago, Jan Krohn said:

Actually, I did expect that.

Here's the overview on how the individual MEPs voted:

https://juliareda.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/copyrightvote.pdf

This document will be important for the parliamentary elections.

Actually, I didn't expect that. I thought that more than 5 million signatures will mean something

[Jan Krohn]

Not really. The president even refused to receive the petition with the signatures.

 

[NIM]

Unbelievable. So, this is now a final decision? Is there any chance that article 13 could be modified or changed in the future so it would not do so much harm to small platforms like ours? You've made a nice explanation regarding Article 13 on HeiDoc YouTube channel, although the sound quality could be better

 

[Jan Krohn]

It's 99% certain. In theory, the council has the power to stop it, but that includes people like Merkel, Macron and Tusk whose parties voted in favour of the reform. The protests do continue. The best strategy now is to kick those idiot MPs out of office at the election in May.

27 minutes ago, NIM said:

although the sound quality could be better

Yep, I'm not really happy with my Chinese camera. I'm going to do the next video with my phone camera, maybe the quality will be better.

[NIM]

15 minutes ago, Jan Krohn said:

It's 99% certain. In theory, the council has the power to stop it, but that includes people like Merkel, Macron and Tusk whose parties voted in favour of the reform. The protests do continue. The best strategy now is to kick those idiot MPs out of office at the election in May.

Yep, I'm not really happy with my Chinese camera. I'm going to do the next video with my phone camera, maybe the quality will be better.

Other videos have better sound  Just that particular one regarding Article 13 has lower quality sound, although not totally bad.

[Jan Krohn]

Yes, I made most of the other videos with my laptop camera. I'm still figuring out the best way to do it. Maybe I should invest in a professional microphone.

[podkaracz]

polexit

Edited March 27, 2019 by podkaracz

[mooms]

Frexit

[Jan Krohn]

I'm not really a friend of these exit strategies. We rather need new structures that support European unity instead of European uniformity, a future oriented EU for the young generation, and by the young generation.

[podkaracz]

Dont be funny . European union was created by altiero spinelli who was kicked from communist party for beeing too radical in beeing communist. I think that alone makes it not serious and tells us UE should be destroyed as fast as possible. And nowdays UE is doing everything that altiero spinelli wrote in ventotene manifesto.

Edited March 29, 2019 by podkaracz

[Nirav Narang]

what happened? i don't know why but how is it goung to affect me? what is article 13 actually about?

[Jan Krohn]

8 hours ago, Nirav Narang said:

what happened? i don't know why but how is it goung to affect me? what is article 13 actually about?

In short, it will make platform liable for any copyright violations, and requires them to use upload filters to prevent any violations.

EU based creators and EU based publishers will be severely crippled.