The portal expressed its rejection of the draft legislation that the European Parliament will vote on Thursday.
As an act of protest to the project to reform the legislation on copyright that the European Parliament will vote this July 5, the Wikipedia digital encyclopedia decided not to be available for public consultation on Wednesday and Thursday until noon, time of voting .
According to a statement published in the Spanish portal of this "free encyclopedia," the approval of the reform "would significantly damage the open Internet we know today." Stresses the rejection that have also manifested "relevant people in the field of information technology," as the creator of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, academics, human rights organizations, among others.
He adds that the reform "would threaten online freedom and impose new filters, barriers and restrictions to access the Web. If the proposal were approved in its current version, actions such as sharing a news item on social networks or accessing it through a search engine would become more complicated on the Internet; Wikipedia itself would be at risk. "
The text recalls that in other Spanish-speaking countries, such as Colombia and Mexico, "the Wikipedia community has recently opposed similar proposals." According to the EFE Agency, according to clarified the speakers of the new European directive, the modifications would not affect websites like Wikipedia.
Article 13 of the bill has been one of the most controversial. It establishes that web pages could continue to host music videos, as long as there is a guarantee that copyrighted works "will not be available when a specific license has not been agreed upon for publication," EFE reported.
Among those who have promoted the passage of legislation are Paul McCartney, James Blunt and Plácido Domingo, on a list of more than 1,300 artists. The former member of The Beatles "believes that the proposed changes in the regulations will support and give greater support to European artists and authors," Agencia EFE reported.