Threatening Meme Ban And “Internet Censorship” In The EU Worry Users
An important committee in the European Parliament has spoken out in favour of the controversial introduction of upload filters on large online platforms in European copyright law.
Critics see such upload filters as a threat to freedom of opinion and information. Satire, parody or quotations could not be recognized by algorithms – and would be wrongly blocked. There is a Meme ban.
The problem is the recordings that were made by third parties and for which there are therefore also rights holders. Anyone who publishes a meme on the Internet usually does not own the rights to the image material used. Here an appropriate upload filter could prevent the upload.
The adoption of “Article 13” by the EU Parliament would have no direct consequences for Switzerland. “However, legal developments in the EU – at least indirectly and in the medium term – would always also have an impact on Switzerland,” quotes lawyer Martin Steiger 20 Minuten Online.
In addition, the draft for the new Swiss Copyright Act also provides for upload filters, albeit for the time being only for online platforms that create a particular risk of copyright infringements. Like Google.
“Serious Restrictions” Are Looming
In addition to the controversial “Article 13”, the so-called ancillary copyright for press publishers also received a narrow majority in a secret vote in the EU Legal Committee on Wednesday.
The EU Parliament has set the course for a restrictive copyright law, comments Spiegel Online. Now there is the threat of a gigantic filter infrastructure and serious limitations of the Internet.
“How automatic filters can reliably distinguish between genuine copyright infringements on the one hand and satire, quotations and other permitted exceptions on the other is foreseeable: not at all. Today’s technology simply cannot do that. See YouTube, that already has such a filter. The system is called Content ID and works even limited to videos after years of work and with the enormous financial resources of Google anything but perfect”.
In all likelihood, the EU Parliament will decide in July in plenary whether it wants to enter into negotiations with the EU states. Critics see the possible new regulations as a threat to the free Internet. They had made #SaveYourInternet mobile under the hashtag.
Over 250,000 concerned Internet users cast their votes at change.org. Fighting slogan: “Stop the censorship machine – Save the Internet!”
Against Google News
In recent years, publishers’ associations in particular have campaigned for ancillary copyright law. Accordingly, portals such as Google News will no longer be allowed to display headlines or short excerpts of press releases in their results without permission. The law already exists in a similar form in Germany, but is very controversial.
In Spain, Google had completely discontinued its Google News service after a law came into force that is even stricter than German ancillary copyright law.
The draft approved by the Committee also stipulates that in future online platforms must check whether the content is protected by copyright as soon as it is uploaded. These would then have to block them if necessary or acquire appropriate licenses for it.