EU Commission Proposes Mandatory Piracy Filters For Online Services (torrentfreak.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: During his State of the Union address today, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced several plans (PDF) to modernize copyright law in Europe. One of the suggestions that has a lot of people worried is Article 13, which requires online services to police pirated content. This means that online services, which deal with large volumes of user-uploaded content, must use fingerprinting and filtering mechanisms to block copyright infringing files. While the Commission stresses that small content platforms won't be subject to the requirement, the proposal doesn't define what "small" means. It also fails to define what "appropriate" or "effective" content recognition systems are, creating a fair bit of uncertainty. Commenting on the proposal, Digital rights group EDRi says that it will put many European companies at risk while endangering users' right to free speech. "The text that was launched today includes a proposal to potentially filter all uploads to the Internet in Europe. The draft text would destroy users' rights and legal certainty for European hosting companies," EDRi notes. The Commission, however, notes that the changes are needed to reinforce the negotiating position of copyright holders, so they can sign licensing agreements with services that provide access to user uploaded content.

Comments

I Lol'ed, did you?

[Ol Olsoc]

People who have no idea about how computers and files work, trying to tell people how they will work.

Re:I Lol'ed, did you?

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

The trouble is, Juncker seems to be just about crazy enough to actually follow through with this. If he does, it's probably going to create a lot of trouble for a lot of people and waste a lot of money before it ultimately fails.

Re: I Lol'ed, did you?

[ArmoredDragon]

If only his last name was Van Damme, then he could at least ACT like his opinion on the matter wasn't purchased.

Re:I Lol'ed, did you?

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

He has very little power.

Unfortunately, in cases like this, that's not entirely true. Commissioners, and by extension Juncker, are still where a lot of the real power in the EU lies, even if the Parliament has more power to get in the way since the Lisbon treaty. If the Commission can drive this sort of measure through via a regulation rather than a directive, it will automatically become binding in all EU member states without the national governments having to do (or ratify) anything. And as I seem to be pointing out a lot lately, the EU authorities are generally very pro-copyright at the moment, so there is no guarantee at all that the Parliament won't essentially wave through whatever the Commission proposes here.

Re: I Lol'ed, did you?

[RogueyWon]

You're right. One of the problems with explaining the EU is that explaining where power actually sits is very hard.

That's not uncommon. Here in the UK, our "unwritten" constitution (which is in fact written, just in lots of places) vests a lot of power in the Prime Minister, even though his or her powers in law at first appear very limited (it is the power to appoint and sack Ministers that defines the role). The US has its own subtleties in the balance between different branches of Government.

The EU has institutions which look both democratic and powerful, but in reality a huge amount of power is vested in the Commission, which is, if you want to be kind, a technocracy, or if you want to be less kind, an aristocracy.

In the UK's recent referendum, I voted Remain, but held my nose while I did so. I was surprised but not devastated by the result. In the short to medium term, we will undoubtedly suffer economic pain and a fall in living standards. But in the longer term, we do get to step off a conveyor belt towards post-democratic Government.

ROFLZ

[sexconker]

As much of a shitshow as the US is, I always enjoy seeing Europe flailing about in lunacy. It's what it does best. That and be at war with itself.

Re:ROFLZ

[Anonymous Coward]

As a European I sometimes experience the same feeling when it comes to US lunacy,

Then I realize there is only one big shitshow, and I cry.

Wasn't it just yesterday...

[SuperKendall]

...you were all clamoring for DNS control to leave the US...

I gleefully await the technical community reaping the bitter harvest they have sown.

Re:Stop

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

No other industry gets this sort of corporate welfare from governments around the world.

Big pharma called and told you to get off their lawn.

Until...

[EmeraldBot]

One pixel changed, two pixels change, three pixels change, it's not hard to beat a hash. Of course, you could require that they examine every single pixel in a movie file and flag those with a ~5% margin, and in the very same move destroy YouTube. Hell, you even have a new DDOS method, just upload a 99999999 hour mflagof a black screen. Once again, the copyright industry shooting itself in the foot.

I propose a minimum knowledge requirement of the internet and basic computer literacy for every politician, along with the understanding that bribes are illegal. I don't think having even just one of those would be enough to think of a law as asinine as this one...

Might want to rethink the "Brexit"

[ItsJustAPseudonym]

Given this other article on Slashdot, I'm thinking the UK has more in common with the EU than they care to admit:

Ten Years in Prison for Pirates a Step Closer in the UK