EU Copyright directive – Ciaran Laval

The European parliament today voted to approve new copyright rules for the internet, the headline points are :

Internet platforms are liable for content that users upload
Some uploaded material, such as memes or GIFs, now specifically excluded from directive
Hyperlinks to news articles, accompanied by “individual words or very short extracts”, can be shared freely
Journalists must get a share of any copyright-related revenue obtained by their news publisher
Start-up platforms subject to lighter obligations

The headline points don’t sound too bad on the surface but the reality is that the technology to ensure compliance with this directive simply doesn’t exist. Technology isn’t going to be able to differentiate between parody and copyright, this is Unicorn technology territory and it’s extremely disappointing that so many MEPs have completely ignored this.

The European Union is currently in a bit of a crisis, it’s not just Brexit, which is a whole steaming mess for those of us in the UK to endure, there’s a lot more cause for concern, as exemplified by French President Emmanuel Macron’s address to the citizens of the EU via a number of newspapers.

Liberal leader Guy Verhofstadt has warned of a nationalist nightmare, so there’s plenty to be concerned with, but this is not a political blog so I’m not going to explore those avenues here other than pointing out that all doesn’t seem well.

One thing politicians pretty much worldwide get accused of is not listening to people and we are seeing a glaring example of that when it comes to articles 11 and 13 of the EU copyright directive.

Mona Eberhardt and Odysseus Giacosa have jointly posted The EU Copyright Directive: the answer to many SL users’ prayers, but also a mortal risk for Second Life itself. I don’t agree with everything they say but they highlight some of the key concerns relating to articles 11 and 13 of the directive.

Tag: EU Copyright directive

Unicorn Technologies

It’s Time To Hit Pause On The EU Copyright Directive