As it came to be speculating and how we could fear, The European Union has approved the reform of the Copyright law In the vote that has taken place this Noon in parliament including the controversial Articles 11 and 13. 438 votes in favor, 226 against. But this does not mean that it has come to the end.
A second ballot will take place in January 2019 and will require the Legislative adaptation On the part of the 28 member countries of the Union. In all this process it is possible that the European courts ultimately by challenging these two articles, which are widely protested.
A controversial coming up here
The vote consolidates The setting from 2016, when this reform began to take place. In July already Was voted against its accelerated negotiation, giving way to the current scenario of public debate and voting.
-This approval is a terrible news for plurality and freedom on the net
The most controversial articles of the proposal were the 11 and 13. The first prohibits the free link to other content or the use of extracts from The same, as aggregators or social networks can do. You will have to pay a tax. The second requires online platforms to immediately detect and remove any copyright infringements by Use of filters during the process of Content upload. Something that at the technical level is also to be seen. Freedom of dissemination and access to information in danger
This includes the alternative content generated from copyrighted content, such as memes. If you do not comply with this article, both the platform and the end user who publish such content would be fined. Something That was not so far.
Mainly by these two articles it is considered that the approval of these articles Threat to freedom in the net, to its openness and to its plurality. Mozilla Explained in a public statement What The negative effects of this reform They would be huge for independent creators, small online services (impossible to compete against the big ones), or for the Internet users themselves, among other actors.
-A strong blow to freedom of expression on the Internet
Other illustrious people from the web, such as Vinton Cerf and Tim Berners-Lee, considered the parents of the Internet and the World Wide Web respectively, were also positioned: they headed a long list of experts who They sent a letter to Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament In which he talked about how article 13 in particular implied "an unprecedented step towards the transformation of the Internet from an open platform to To share and innovate a tool for automated monitoring and control of its users. " Article 13, in principle, shall be exempt from compliance for websites and apps Smaller, though It has not been specified at the moment which parameters will be measured for the classification in "large" or "small" No more details about it. A debate similar to that posed by The Commission's latest proposal for the withdrawal of extremist contentOf the online platforms, without discriminating by size and forcing even the smallest ones to have permanent availability to eliminate these contents. Today's vote has also led to the adoption of regulations that "protect" broadcasts of sporting events. This norm restricts even the publication on social networks of selfies In a sports stadium during that show, like a football game or a Formula 1 race.