- Jun 1, 2018
- 518
- 2,948
You’ve probably heard about this in general terms already, but there has been some interesting chatter about the EU’s Copyright Directive, and I wanted to get the BHW opinion.
For those that aren’t aware, here’s a brief summary. Hot on the heels of GDPR, the EU is working on a plan to try and regulate the way that copyrighted material is shared and published online. (Apparently we should feel bad for copyright owners because when we post memes we’re damaging their reputation and revenue…) Specifically, Article 13 stipulates that platforms will have to instigate a filter system to spot and block the use of copyrighted material by anyone other than the copyright owner. If copyrighted material is uploaded by an unauthorized individual, the channel/platform will be held responsible, rather than the individual who uploaded it.
Article 11 is also an issue, because it would introduce a kind of link tax. Essentially sites would have to pay for a license if they want to link out to or quote other websites, which would hinder the current free flow of information online.
Discussions so far have focused on the fact that this going to kill the little guys. Only the biggest of the big tech companies will have the resources and budget to buy licenses and build decent filters, leaving the smaller platforms to fend for themselves. Not only that, but shifting all responsibility to the platform, rather than the user, is a pretty difficult model to sell to businesses that run thanks to the content their users upload.
So, what’s been going on recently then? YouTube, Reddit and Twitch have all come out in the last month or so and publicly said that the Copyright Directive is a bad idea (Articles 11 and 13 in particular). YouTube should know, given that their own filtering system wasn’t the roaring success they had hoped for, and it was anything but cheap and cheerful! Their CEO Susan Wojcicki has stated that Article 13 could damage the income of content uploaders, while Reddit have said that it would ‘eliminate the previous safe harbors’ of the internet. Twitch haven’t been quite so bold as to publish an open letter just yet, but they have allegedly sent an email to their creators, saying that with Article 13 ‘Communities and viewers everywhere would also suffer’.
So far, so dramatic, right? The general consensus is that everyone should be contacting their representatives and asking them to do something about the directive. But what do you guys think? Is this as big a deal as YouTube, Reddit and Twitch would have its users believe? Or do you think the legislation will change beyond recognition before it’s passed anyway?
For those that aren’t aware, here’s a brief summary. Hot on the heels of GDPR, the EU is working on a plan to try and regulate the way that copyrighted material is shared and published online. (Apparently we should feel bad for copyright owners because when we post memes we’re damaging their reputation and revenue…) Specifically, Article 13 stipulates that platforms will have to instigate a filter system to spot and block the use of copyrighted material by anyone other than the copyright owner. If copyrighted material is uploaded by an unauthorized individual, the channel/platform will be held responsible, rather than the individual who uploaded it.
Article 11 is also an issue, because it would introduce a kind of link tax. Essentially sites would have to pay for a license if they want to link out to or quote other websites, which would hinder the current free flow of information online.
Discussions so far have focused on the fact that this going to kill the little guys. Only the biggest of the big tech companies will have the resources and budget to buy licenses and build decent filters, leaving the smaller platforms to fend for themselves. Not only that, but shifting all responsibility to the platform, rather than the user, is a pretty difficult model to sell to businesses that run thanks to the content their users upload.
So, what’s been going on recently then? YouTube, Reddit and Twitch have all come out in the last month or so and publicly said that the Copyright Directive is a bad idea (Articles 11 and 13 in particular). YouTube should know, given that their own filtering system wasn’t the roaring success they had hoped for, and it was anything but cheap and cheerful! Their CEO Susan Wojcicki has stated that Article 13 could damage the income of content uploaders, while Reddit have said that it would ‘eliminate the previous safe harbors’ of the internet. Twitch haven’t been quite so bold as to publish an open letter just yet, but they have allegedly sent an email to their creators, saying that with Article 13 ‘Communities and viewers everywhere would also suffer’.
So far, so dramatic, right? The general consensus is that everyone should be contacting their representatives and asking them to do something about the directive. But what do you guys think? Is this as big a deal as YouTube, Reddit and Twitch would have its users believe? Or do you think the legislation will change beyond recognition before it’s passed anyway?