This is bad, guys.

So, I don't know how many of you have heard about the EU's new copyright charter, and I don't know how many of you actually live in the EU (and those in the UK, ya'll still technically there, so you should listen up), but this is bad.

The EU has a bill set to be voted on on the 20th and among many bad provisions, the main one is a clause that would make every webhost of user generated content legally liable for the copyright violates of it's users to the tune of millions, unless they can show they did everything humanly possible to prevent such things from happening, which, in short, means every website that accepts user content needs invasive ineffectual expensive draconian content filtering on the upload, or they will be terminated.

And Knighty lives in the UK.

If you want more details, you can check out Defranco's summary of the most hotbutton parts of the bill, but anyone who lives in the EU; please. Call your MEP. Get your family to call your MEP. Get your friends, and their families to call MEP.

As for the rest of us... I recommend spreading the word, downloading your RIL, and praying.

Comments

[Neece]

Wait, you mean fimfiction might die because of that law? Damn

[Nyronus]

4881082

That is a possibility.

I don't know what Knighty has planned, or if he has a plan, but it's a serious risk given everything I understand about the bill.

[Neece]

4881089
How hard would it be to host the site somewhere else, if push comes to shove? The bill can't possibly stop that from happening.

But it the worst comes to pass, how long do we have to save our favorite stories in our PC's?

[Nyronus]

4881091

I don't know, and I don't know, unfortunately.

[Jordan179]

Too bad Theresa May is dragging her feet on getting out of the EU.

[FanOfMostEverything]

Fortunately, Fimfarchive updated at the start of the month.

[Olden Bronie]

What can we do to help,Nyromus?

I very much enjoy Fimfiction and the community here. I've made so many friends.

What can I do?

[Nyronus]

4881153

If you live in Europe, contact your MEP. If not, spread the word. That's my best advice. Knighty has yet to drop a comment publically, so if he has a plan, I don't know it.

[Olden Bronie]

4881163
Will do!

[Coyote de La Mancha]

[Bad Horse]

In related news, today I got an email from Project Wonderful (the only method of deliberately placing ads on fimfiction) announcing that they're shutting down. It says,

In the past several years, the internet has changed. Large sites like Facebook do all they can to keep readers on their network, rather than sending that traffic out to individual websites. As such, many readers - who used to visit dozens if not hundreds of websites a day - now visit only a few sites, and things like the indie "blogosphere" (remember that?) are disappearing. We're hopeful that individual creators can adapt - either by embracing these walled gardens in a way that protects themselves, or by finding other ways to draw attention to their work - but as a network founded on supporting independent websites, our options were limited.

The Internet has been, briefly, a place where individuals stood on an even playing field with giant corporations--where having hundreds of millions of dollars was less important than building a good website and having good content. This situation is as intolerable to the Facebooks and Twitters and Googles as it is to the Washington Post and the New Yorker. Getting laws passed that prevent anyone but large corporations from having websites is their only real defense against entrepeneurs.

(I'll note in passing that GPL, the Gnu Public License, is also highly favorable to large corporations. It's intended to force a communist model of production, but because it applies only to programmers, who are supposed to unilaterally give away their work for free while still paying everyone else for their work, its effect has been to damage the ability of start-ups to use or license code, and thus lead programmers to remain employed at large corporations while writing code to give away in their spare time.)