Context:
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/a_temporary_win_for_freedom_european_parliament_rejects_tyrannical_new_copyright_law

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Remember what I previously said... Internet freedom is never more than one vote away from extinction. All it takes is one failed effort to block a draconian copyright law and Internet freedom goes dark over a third of the West for an indeterminate amount of time.

The delay is over and it's up for debate again:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/copyright-battle-in-europe-pits-media-companies-against-tech-giants-1536584852?mod=hp_lista_pos1

European media companies (megapublishers, music companies, and movie directors of the same sort who founded the RIAA and MPAA and their harassment-by-copyright-law agenda) are now pushing for stronger rules against internet giants.

While it's easy to say that "Facebook and Google deserve it" due to their spate of misconduct in recent years, think again. Like it or not, digital freedom advocates (hopefully most of us) are on the same side as Facebook and Google on this. (hey, if Facebook and Google are going to take your data and run with it while censoring your search results to fit their agenda, you might as well get something useful out of it)

According to the WSJ article, the European Parliament will hold a vote this Wednesday on a draft copyright law that would "bolster media producers against internet platforms and hold those platforms more responsible for paying for content, such as copyrighted music in the background of an uploaded home video".

That's an onerous provision if there ever was one. Anything that "bolsters the media producers", as all of you know (or should know by now) just means more megacorporate bullying and arbitrary "guilty until proven innocent" takedowns of content submitted by the little people (us). Fining the crap out of internet platforms will only encourage them to leave the market.

Continuing with the WSJ article: "Critics of the draft... contend the law would have negative consequences, including stifling free expression, hampering innovation, and forcing new expenses on small startups required to filter content for copyright material".

That's exactly what excessive copyright laws are about - tyranny that ignores the "Innocent until proven guilty" legal standards in the West. The #FakeNews media megacorporations are mad at losing money over the last few years, now they are targeting our basic rights to free expression, innovation, and founding new startups.

Excerpt from the WSJ article: Google speaks out warned that the draft of the law could mean "everything uploaded to the web must be cleared by lawyers before it can find an audience."

Translation: Our digital freedom and basic rights are under assault again.

Never stop fighting. Never give up.

It seems that EU would like to turn off the internet (at least in Europe).... Hopefully they will not manage to do so.

Wake up, people!

https://money.cnn.com/2018/09/12/technology/eu-copyright-law/index.html

The assault against our freedom and rights just got more real today as European lawmakers approve the new rules - oppression by the media megacorporations under the guise of "copyright law".

According to the article, the rules "must get final approval from the European Commission and Eurozone member states". The paragraph tells you all you need to know: it would "give more power to artists and publishers while piling new costs on tech companies".

It's going to set the future back in favor of an aging dinosaur of a media industry that's fallen out of favor and thoroughly trashed itself through decades of misconduct.

Critics are also warning that the new rules could end internet memes. If you're a Reddit nerd/geek or avid forum s***poster, THIS AFFECTS YOU.

The most onerous part of the new copyright law: Article 13, which makes online platforms liable for users' alleged copyright violations. Nevermind the insidious media megacorporations' history of misusing (usually false) copyright claims to take down user-made content that opposes the #FakeNews media narrative or threatening (again, usually false or out-of-proportion) copyright-related actions to bully the little people.

This would require tech companies to build automatic tools that prevent copyrighted content from being uploaded in the first place. As you all know (or should know), AIs are nowhere near perfect yet and this means many pieces of legitimate content will be blocked pre-emptively for being too similar to existing copyrighted content. Some internet freedom advocates label this requirement "censorship machines".

Do you like news aggregators? If so, have more bad news. The other controversial part of the proposal (Article 11) requires news aggregators (for example, Google News) to pay publishers for "snippets of content" that already falls under well-established fair use principles.

In recent years, Spain enacted a law to force aggregators to pay publishers for fair use, prompting Google to shut down its News product there. Bear in mind that aggregators help news companies when people click on the links - this article doesn't even help most news companies. The only news media who profit from it: the lying #FakeNews crooked media megacorporate establishment that's a large enough brand name that it doesn't need help from aggregators.

If it gets rid of annoying "memes" and YouTube garbage I am all for it. It's about time Europe did something about the likes of google, YouTube, Facebook, twitter and all the other tax dodging mega corps from the US. Switch them off, maybe they will be more happy to contribute to the countries they blatantly extract all that lovely lucrative data. Am not one for supporting the music industry, however if this helps the actual artists and doesn't let YouTube profit from their activities then all the better.

Damn, I didn't think before clicking on that link, now all my phone data is the property of CNN, another vast US megadevil.

I see this quasi-political thread being locked in the near future. In before the lock.

EU doesn't give a damn about its people. Their rights or freedom.

EU is after money, wherever they can get them.

Yes. And I dislike Germany.

Truth is that Google, Facebook or even Amazon are a danger.

deleted

It's so nice that you're around to protect Google from the evil faceless corporations that seek to take it down. We need to protect such underdogs.

No one concludes nothing. EU in primis.

@nightcrawler: No offense meant but that's an ignorant post if there ever was one. (for reference, that wasn't a personal attack - I called your post ignorant, I didn't specifically call you ignorant)

"If it gets rid of annoying "memes" and YouTube garbage I am all for it."

There are people who enjoy making and reading memes, and there are people who enjoy watching YouTube garbage. Who are you to determine that people shouldn't get the watch memes and YouTube garbage they enjoy?

Funny considering I was downvoted into a dumpster after being accused of doing the same thing when I wasn't (see https://www.gog.com/forum/general/cyberpunk_2077_why_cd_projekt_red_should_stop_pushing_the_bounds_of_mature_content ). Crooked Dishonest #DoubleStandard!

If you think this it stops at memes and YouTube garbage, think again. Companies will be required to use AIs to filter potential copyrighted content, which means remixes, parodies, and some product reviews will be flagged and blocked automatically. Soon we will all be reduced to posting gobbledygook.

"however if this helps the actual artists and doesn't let YouTube profit from their activities then all the better. "

Again, you're mistaken. The industry standard across the megacorporate media (TV, movies, music, and books) generally has the vast majority of the revenue going to the publisher (with the exception of prominent TV and movie stars). This publisher revenue-greed is most dominant in the music and book industry where the publisher can take >90% of the revenue easily. A lot of famous musicians make money from concert tickets and branded merchandise.

Don't let your hatred of the U.S. tech companies blind you to the consequences of failing to fight for Internet freedom. The crooked megacorporate media are likely doing this now while Silicon Valley faces backlash from all sides to take advantage of the situation. And if the media win, your collective freedom and rights will be diminished, just because you couldn't grit your teeth and support bad over worse. Yes, the U.S. tech titans have much to answer for, but throwing the free Internet away is hardly an appropriate way to punish them.

Speaking of which, for those of you who hate U.S. tech titans, onerous heavy-handed regulation actually favors tech titans over startups because startups (the "little guy") can't afford to comply with massive amounts of regulatory burdens. You might want to consider that.

I guess that makes you a trend setter.

@wpegg: (sigh) More blatantly false s***posting to debunk.

You falsely accuse me of "protecting Google", despite how my original post condemns the tech giants for "their spate of misconduct in recent years"

One of my later posts also mentions that "the U.S. tech titans have much to answer for". How am I defending them?

I'm defending Internet freedom by posting news like this and calling for people to wake up. Internet freedom advocates just happen to be on the same side as the U.S. tech titans in this particular fight, although (paradoxically) there's a whole different fight on the other side of the Atlantic featuring the tech titans as the enemy of a different kind of freedom - censoring anyone who doesn't fit in with the political agenda.

For now, the tech giants are useful for staving off tyranny under the guise of copyright law.

Your funny. US tech companies are well documented as dears capture systems, with highly trained tax avoidance systems. Come back to me any single one has done anything more than profiteer off our data without paying a single penny in tax. There is no ignorance in that, it is well documented, even on your own news sites. There is no hate in cold facts
As for your YouTube rubbish, if it breaks the law, then yes it should be removed, wether I think it's rubbish or not is irrelevant. If it's in law the I tabould be followed and I for one would be glad to see it go.
As for you other post I didn't even see it, but I just checked it out quickly and it is a totally different topic, I mean I am not overly pleased with selling paedo mags here, but I fail to see how this is relevant to this discussion, unless of course the internet should be censored per your beliefs?

They probably want to turn it off to stop the spreading of news about the migrant filth entering our lands. Either way, fuck the EU!