ARTICLE 13 IS COMING BACK. EVERYBODY BE READY · 3:51am Sep 6th, 2018
On September 12, the EU is going to bring back Article 13 (As well as Article 11 and the rest of the EU Copyright Directive) into negotiations.
Back in June we managed to make it so that they could not continue negotiations about how they would move forward with Article 13 behind closed doors. Now they must be open and transparent about what they discuss in regards to how and if they plan to move forward with it. This allows people to see how nefarious it is, and allows them to speak up against it
And speak up we must. Because if this goes through, it's not just the "end of memes," but potentially the end of user-created content as a whole. This means fanart, fan fiction, fan-anything, as well as even original content could be flagged by the inevitable algorithms that will be created and put into place to put this into effect.
(And to those who say that Article 13 doesn't demand the use of algorithms, you are correct. However, there is no way that any group of humans can manage the sheer amount of content uploaded to the internet every minute. The only way that such a thing COULD be managed is with the use of algorithms and bots. And algorithms and bots are notorious for being overreaching and inefficient and terrible at their jobs.)
At this point, the only people that really seem to support this law is the music industry and certain mainstream news organizations in Europe. But they're lobbying HARD. We all need to come together, regardless of politics, and contact MEP's in the European Union to get this eliminated, or at the very least remove the beast's teeth.
This cannot stand. The free and open internet is at stake.
To anybody in Europe, please contact your MEP's and do whatever you can to get this directive shut down. Let them know that you will be watching for people who support it, and that you will remember them if they do. Let them know that if they support it, you will remember them if they ever need to come to the people for help with a project in the future.
And remember, this very website is almost certainly on the chopping block if it goes through.
Contact your MEP's. Spread the word.
It is a shame Europeans are at the mercy of unelected bureaucrats that want to destroy the Internet for the entire continent. Best wishes from America.
Hoo boy. Here we go again...
from America, our hearts go out to you
Greed and Ignorance at their finest.
Nobody understands.
They refuse to learn.
These thoughts, and a thousand more, are always screaming at me over stuff like this.
Let's pray that this doesn't happen, no matter the cost.
Best wishes to all from CA. ;)