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EU Takes First Step in Passing Controversial Copyright Law That Could 'Censor the Internet' (theverge.com)

The European Union has taken the first step in passing new copyright legislation that critics say will tear the internet apart. From a report: This morning, the EU's Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) voted in favor of the legislation, called the Copyright Directive. Although most of the directive simply updates technical language for copyright law in the age of the internet, it includes two highly controversial provisions. These are Article 11, a "link tax," which would force online platforms like Facebook and Google to buy licenses from media companies before linking to their stories; and Article 13, an "upload filter," which would require that everything uploaded online in the EU is checked for copyright infringement. (Think of it like YouTube's Content ID system but for the whole internet.) EU lawmakers critical of the legislation say these Articles may have been proposed with good intentions -- like protecting copyright owners -- but are vaguely worded and ripe for abuse.

147 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. Forget "good intentions" by Nova+Express · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Laws that transfer power from citizens to the government are never about "good intentions," they're about control.

    One of the first things they'll start censoring is content critical of sacred Eurocratic initiatives. Video opposing unassimilated Muslim immigration into Europe? Sorry, that's banned because we call it "hate speech." Video suggesting Italy should leave the Euro? Sorry, we have to ban that because it endangers "economic stability."

    Good intentions have nothing to do with it. It's all about censorship and control.

    --
    Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)

    http://www.lawrenceperson.com/

    1. Re:Forget "good intentions" by Joce640k · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity.

      The "media companies" are the ones fighting for this law - in the hope Google and Facebook will pay them for the right to link to their stories.

      It's going to really funny to watch their faces after Google and Facebook stop linking to them.

      --
      No sig today...
    2. Re:Forget "good intentions" by bobbied · · Score: 1

      That's exactly what I first thought. How will all these content providers remain relevant if Facebook, Google and Yahoo simply refuses to link to their content because they have to pay.

      When did the whole model change here? I remember when the whole goal when making money was to get as many links on as many sites as you could manage to funnel traffic to your site and it's embedded advertisements. It's like this whole model has been upended and spun around by 180 degrees.

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    3. Re:Forget "good intentions" by loonycyborg · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's all lies. You won't automatically become a paedophile if you'll glimpse some child porn, so banning such content is pointless. People will themselves shun such resources. Those laws are primarily aimed at something about what many people disagree whether it is nasty content or not, mostly political dissent. Copyright always existed to ensure religious purity and ideological consistency based on idea that rulers and hereditary elites are owners of nations and people in them, so they can alter ideological colors of their populace for their pleasure.

    4. Re:Forget "good intentions" by Joce640k · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It's like this whole model has been upended and spun around by 180 degrees.

      Only in the imaginations of a few deranged old men.

      I've seen them arguing, it really doesn't occur to them that Google will simply turn of the links and their web site will vanish from the 'net.

      Even funnier: That nobody will want to advertise on a site that Google doesn't link to.

      --
      No sig today...
    5. Re:Forget "good intentions" by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      Laws that transfer power from citizens to the government are never about "good intentions," they're about control.

      See, the problem is, of course they're sometimes well-intentioned. Hell, laws preventing running red lights are "transferring power form citizens to the government". Starting with a stupid absolute just means that the rest of your argument is going to be dismissed as vaguely general

      And that's too bad, because there are a lot of issues with this law. But you jumped into the deep end.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    6. Re:Forget "good intentions" by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Not to undermine your blog Mr. Person, but it is called BattleSwarm and does have the tagline "Attacking so fast they won't know what hit them", some might be forgiven for mistaking it for a site trying to frame migration as a military conflict that people should be fighting against...

      But yeah, YouTube is rather over-zealous with it's enforcement.

      Ironically the biggest defender of freedom of speech is often the European Court of Human Rights, which enforces the freedom of expression clause of the European Convention on Human Right (ECHR).

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    7. Re:Forget "good intentions" by penandpaper · · Score: 4, Insightful

      the biggest defender of freedom of speech is often the European Court of Human Rights,

      How do you quantify that? They have nice exceptions built in to allow the outlawing of "hate speech". I find it hard to believe that any institution that values free speech would allow arbitrary subjective definitions to permeate their interpretations as though they promote freedom when those interpretations are limiting in freedom by design.

      The SCOTUS doesn't allow hate speech and has protected the speech of minorities with awful opinions, like the KKK or neo-nazis precisely because freedom of speech means that my rights start where your feelings begin and if you can outlaw arbitrary subjective definitions, like 'hate speech', then you do not have freedom of speech.

      SCOTUS: 1
      ECHR: 0

    8. Re:Forget "good intentions" by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2, Informative

      Actually the ECHR doesn't say anything about hate speech. Here is the entire article relating to freedom of expression:

      Article 10 â" Freedom of expression

      1. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises.

      2. The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.

      This is broadly in line with the position in the US, where there are exceptions for things that may injure others, state secrets, libel, doctor-patient confidentiality and the like.

      The anti-hate-speech laws in the UK have been severely limited by the ECHR, which is one of the reasons why the current government wants to get rid of it.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    9. Re:Forget "good intentions" by tepples · · Score: 2

      When did the whole model change here?

      Sometime around the introduction of "retargeting" or "remarketing", where websites show you ads for sites you have recently visited. Unlike previous ads, which were relevant to the demographics associated with the website or the subject of a particular article, the new crop of ads in the 2010s were intended to be relevant to each individual viewer's browsing history. Previously, this sort of behavioral micro-targeting was seen as a curiosity, such as the "TiVo thinks I'm gay" observation from fourth quarter 2002. But as interest-based advertising became the new normal, viewers became aware of tools to blockintrusive practices and the Internet data use associated with client-side real-time bidding. As more visitors started to block ads, website publishers saw the hit to their primary revenue stream and started putting everything past the abstract behind a paywall, attempting to convert occasional visitors to long-term subscribers.

    10. Re:Forget "good intentions" by penandpaper · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Tell me more about holocaust denial in Europe. I also like that such subjective conditions and restrictions such as "prevention of disorder" or "morals" are reasonable restrictions on freedom of speech yet the ECHR is the biggest defender of freedom of speech. Seems to me rather contradictory. Do you think the government can limit that right based on dubious philosophies like morals and disorder or vague legalities like "necessity in a democratic state"?

      How can the ECHR be the biggest defender of freedom of speech when it has arbitrary subjective exceptions to limit that freedom?

    11. Re:Forget "good intentions" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      This already happened in Germany in 2014. Several newspapers complained that Google should pay them for showing snippets of their articles and links to the source in Google News. They wanted 11% of gross worldwide revenue on any search that showed one of their articles. Google removed them from the service and page views at these publications dropped. Well, these newspapers didn't like that one bit and complained that Google should be required to carry their articles. Fortunately, German regulators shot down the idea of forced publication.

      Same the happened in Belgium a few years before. Damned if you do, damned if you don't

    12. Re:Forget "good intentions" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      "Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity."

      Why?

      It could still be malice, and since every malice can be attributed to some level of stupidity its suggesting there is no malice at all.

    13. Re:Forget "good intentions" by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity.

      No NEVER!!!. I will never attribute to "stupidity" of totalitarian control and the wake of deaths said goverments cause. That takes engineering, effort. The atrocities of Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Kim's, etc are never because of "stupid" Jails, concentration camps, police, and military just don't happen on their own.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    14. Re:Forget "good intentions" by Solandri · · Score: 2

      The "media companies" are the ones fighting for this law - in the hope Google and Facebook will pay them for the right to link to their stories.

      It's going to really funny to watch their faces after Google and Facebook stop linking to them.

      And it's going to result in a bunch of sites currently with small market share explicitly offering a no-fee linking license. Google, Facebook, etc. will link to those sites instead, resulting in those sites gobbling up the market share currently owned by the sites wanting to be paid. And everything will go right back to the way it is now. Except Google et al will now have explicit permission to link for free. And the sites wanting to be paid for linking will have disappeared into obscurity, hoisted by their own petard.

      The car analogy is that these media sites think of Internet traffic as cars on a road, and Google as a company which puts up a Google News billboard in front of their store, blocking people who are traveling the road from seeing their actual store. So they're demanding that Google pay them. What they don't realize is that Google isn't putting up a billboard. Google is the road. And if they demand Google et al pay them, those companies are simply going to move the road so it no longer goes in front of their store.

    15. Re:Forget "good intentions" by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity.

      Intentional 'stupidity' is malicious.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    16. Re:Forget "good intentions" by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

      Seconded.

      You can reword it as "If you're malicious, you can get away with it by acting stupid".

      Alternatively, "Give bastards and assholes the benefit of the doubt".

      Fuck all of that twice.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    17. Re:Forget "good intentions" by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      You won't automatically become a paedophile if you'll glimpse some child porn, so banning such content is pointless.

      From a legal POV you can. Ask Chris Langham.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    18. Re:Forget "good intentions" by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      The anti-hate-speech laws in the UK have been severely limited by the ECHR, which is one of the reasons why the current government wants to get rid of it.

      Why in tarnitterynation would the Tories want stronger laws against hate speech?

      They'd be gagging themselves.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    19. Re:Forget "good intentions" by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      The ECHR doesn't but the UK has idiotic hate speech laws.

      Hate Speech == Censorship. PERIOD.

      > The anti-hate-speech laws in the UK have been severely limited by the ECHR,

      Except these idiots waste everyone's time and money over bullshit issues

      On 13 October 2001, Harry Hammond, an evangelist, was arrested and charged under section 5 of the Public Order Act (1986) because he had displayed to people in Bournemouth a large sign bearing the words "Jesus Gives Peace, Jesus is Alive, Stop Immorality, Stop Homosexuality, Stop Lesbianism, Jesus is Lord". In April 2002, a magistrate convicted Hammond, fined him £300, and ordered him to pay costs of £395.

      /sarcasm Oh noes, somebody is expressing their opinion! Quick, call the Wahbulance!! We must let punish and make and make an example of someone who dares display their (outdated) morality views in public. He is the cause of the downfall of society!!! First World Problems

      More retarded "logic":

      On 23 April 2018, Scottish YouTuber "Mark Meechan" of Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire was fined £800 by a Scottish Jury after being found "grossly offensive" for posting a YouTube video that was viewed over 3 million times depicting him training his girlfriend's pug to respond to the phrase "Sieg Heil" by lifting his paw in a Nazi Salute.

      Where is the line between comedy and "grossly offensive" ??? With bullshit hate speech there is none.

    20. Re:Forget "good intentions" by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      The word "liberal" is a source of much confusion. Much, folks.

      In the US it means a communist.

      In the UK it has three meanings:

      If you're a Tory it means someone who's basically a socialist but due to a suspicion of collectivism can't quite bring himself to vote Labour.

      If you're a socialist it means someone who believes that private enterprise is in theory the way to make a bigger cake, but suspects that the game is rigged and has too much empathy for those who lose out to vote Tory.

      If you're apolitical it means someone who wears sandals.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    21. Re:Forget "good intentions" by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      P.S. Sandals and socks.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    22. Re:Forget "good intentions" by GonzoPhysicist · · Score: 1

      How can the ECHR be the biggest defender of freedom of speech when it has arbitrary subjective exceptions to limit that freedom?

      You don't have to be perfect to be the best that's out there.

      --
      horror vacui
    23. Re:Forget "good intentions" by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      I agree, the law in the UK is stupid and excessive.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    24. Re:Forget "good intentions" by nasch · · Score: 1

      But those atrocities cannot be adequately explained by stupidity.

    25. Re:Forget "good intentions" by penandpaper · · Score: 1

      Very convincing.

      Forgive me, but I will bet on the institution that protects speech that is offensive rather than the institution that allows arbitrary subjective exceptions to limit speech. Seems rather obvious which is "best".

    26. Re:Forget "good intentions" by bingoUV · · Score: 1

      started putting everything past the abstract behind a paywall

      You have put these in the past tense. Do you have evidence that more than a miniscule percentage of the internet is behind a paywall ?

      Or is it the past tense of a hypothetical world ? You have provided timeline to the other events (2010s and 2002) but for the appearance of paywall I don't see any.

      --
      Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
    27. Re:Forget "good intentions" by knorthern+knight · · Score: 1

      > And it's going to result in a bunch of sites currently with small market share explicitly
      > offering a no-fee linking license. Google, Facebook, etc. will link to those sites instead,
      > resulting in those sites gobbling up the market share currently owned by the sites
      > wanting to be paid. And everything will go right back to the way it is now. Except Google
      > et al will now have explicit permission to link for free. And the sites wanting to be
      > paid for linking will have disappeared into obscurity, hoisted by their own petard.

      That happened in Belgium https://tech.slashdot.org/stor... and Germany https://search.slashdot.org/st...

      Spain tried to "solve that problem" by mandating that all websites be required to charge. I.e. nobody was allowed to give free links. Net result, Google threatened to stop linking to Spanish websites and the media websites went whining to the government begging them to force Google to do business with them https://search.slashdot.org/st...

      With all the cord-cutting going on, imagine cablecos going to governments demanding legislation that all households be required to subscribe to cable.

      --

      I'm not repeating myself
      I'm an X window user; I'm an ex-Windows user
    28. Re:Forget "good intentions" by Joce640k · · Score: 1

      You're saying Hitler's malice can be explained by stupidity?

      --
      No sig today...
  2. How by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...and Article 13, an "upload filter," which would require that everything uploaded online in the EU is checked for copyright infringement.

    Do the people writing this crap have ANY IDEA how the internet works?

    1. Re:How by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      They work for the EU.
      Every word in a newspaper and frame from a movie is copyright. Linking to a EU company website will be taxed.
      Political cartoons about France and Spain are reported and cant be uploaded.

      The EU has taken US freedoms to publish and comment and wants to turn the net into a TV broadcast.
      EU nations approved links, newspapers, cartoons, content, movie reviews.

      No funny memes, no politics, no art, no culture, no satire, no reviews. Just approved content and quote taxes.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    2. Re:How by bobbied · · Score: 2

      ...and Article 13, an "upload filter," which would require that everything uploaded online in the EU is checked for copyright infringement.

      Do the people writing this crap have ANY IDEA how the internet works?

      Do you really want the answer to that question? I mean it's OBVIOUS to me.

      However, the politicians of the world are pretty much all in the same boat. Hardly ever do they know anything about the real issues they are trying to "fix" and most don't really care. It's not about actually fixing something, it's about being seen as trying to do something, right or wrong, about seeming to care, about getting covered in the press. So, if you hear a politician making confident assertions about some subject and how it should be fixed, chances are they are dead wrong.

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    3. Re:How by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'm guessing the first step would be banning all consumer-level encryption, though in that scenario I can see a literal alt-net with different protocols quickly springing up, possibly in the form of mesh networking.

      EU would be a lot better place for this to happen, geographically speaking, since they're not as spread out as the US. Of course... every semi-hostile foreign nation would have a field day if the EU banned encryption, so I don't know if they'd last more than a month before everything was literally on fire.

  3. The wonderful EU net tax by AHuxley · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The link tax :
    Link to a newspaper in the EU? Thats a copyright problem that can result in having to pay a company in the EU.
    Quote from an EU nation newspaper? Thats copyright. Show the EU payment was made per line quoted.

    The upload filter
    A cartoon? Is it a political meme? Does it related to Spanish or French politics? No upload for you on social media.
    Report the account to French and Spanish authorities. Is the meme funny and political? Could it cause an EU political party to be considered funny? No social media access for that cartoon.
    A message about Catalan? No EU freedom for you. Spain gets a report on that social media account and requests an upload ban. The EU bans the image.
    An image from a movie? Thats an EU tax for using that copyright frame from a movie.
    An image from a movie with a French political leader added in as a meme? Thats going to get reported and banned. A copyright fine must be paid.

    SJW want to stop news getting linked and their politics getting turned into a funny meme.
    So EU political leaders tax and censor the internet. Thanks for the new tax and internet censorship attempt EU bureaucrats.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  4. Re:Popcorn ready... by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    AC why should a one line quote and using a link be EU taxed?
    Why should a funny political cartoon be banned by the EU?

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  5. Article 15 by KiloByte · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I somehow don't see much uproar against art 15, which is worse than 11 and 13. It pretty much forbids any free software licenses, as it disallows perpetual licenses where payment is deemed to be too cheap.

    --
    The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
    1. Re:Article 15 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Unless you're looking at a more up to date version, you seem to be wrong. The text of article 15 says:

      Member States shall ensure that authors and performers are entitled to request additional, appropriate remuneration from the party with whom they entered into a contract for the exploitation of the rights when the remuneration originally agreed is disproportionately low compared to the subsequent relevant revenues and benefits derived from the exploitation of the works or performances.

    2. Re:Article 15 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yes this seems aimed at record companies and movie studios who use accounting voodoo to give artists small change compared to what they make. Key words here are "contract for the exploitation of the rights" so doubtful this could be used as kiloByte says.

    3. Re:Article 15 by halivar · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That is absolutely a problem for open-source.
      1) Developer A writes free software B under an open-source license.
      2) Companies X, Y, and Z incorporate B into their products.
      3) X, Y, and Z make a brazillion dollars.

      This happens all the time. Now we can add step 4:
      4) A asserts his Article 15 rights to extract money from X, Y, and Z.

      Maybe that seems fair to you. But if this scenario happens with any regularity, companies will cease using FOSS altogether. People will be putting out free software and the corporate world will say "don't look, don't touch."

    4. Re:Article 15 by nzkbuk · · Score: 1

      Forget about the FOSS angle, apply a closed source angle and approach it in the same light as a singer / songwriter etc.
      If I'm employed by a company who writes software / libraries and they make alot of money from code I was paid to write, can I then assert my rights because I was paid much less than the software has later proven to be worth?
      How many employees from large tech companies could make that claim ?

    5. Re:Article 15 by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      'entitled to request'

      WTF does that even mean? They're not entitled to get anything, just request it.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    6. Re:Article 15 by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      4) A asserts hs Article 15 rights and _requests_ money.
      4b) Companies say: 'Tits or GTFO! LOL'

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    7. Re:Article 15 by halivar · · Score: 2

      Article 15 applies regardless of previous agreements, as stated in the very text itself. I must not be much of a programmer, because I actually read the documentation.

    8. Re:Article 15 by halivar · · Score: 1

      4) A asserts hs Article 15 rights and _requests_ money.

      4b) Companies say: 'Tits or GTFO! LOL'

      Wow. Things sure do work differently in Europe.

    9. Re:Article 15 by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Lennart Poettering.

      NOT!

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    10. Re:Article 15 by bsolar · · Score: 1

      Not all legal rights are a negotiable matter in private contracts: rights which are non-negotiable cannot be foregone no matter which contractual clauses you sign.

      This right seems pretty clealry meant to be non-negotiable.

  6. Re:Crazy European Privacy Laws... by Joce640k · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is where all those crazy European internet laws like GDPR inevitably lead.

    Nah, you don't get it.

    The media is run by a bunch of old men who imagine that Google needs them, that Google will pay good money to link to them. They've actually been fighting for this law for about a decade.

    Yes, it's going to be fucking hilarious when Google stops linking and they disappear from the Internet.

    --
    No sig today...
  7. Finally a reasonable position from Slashdot. by pecosdave · · Score: 1, Troll

    Based on everything green-lit from Slashdot over the past year about unwavering, unquestioning support for every scaremongering climate article they could get their hands on and every similarly scaremongering article about net-neutrality that only looks at the things from the MSM filtered left-wing perspective I'm glad to see a level-headed approach to a censorship issue.

    The "Link Tax" is about the stupidest damned thing I ever heard of in my life.

    If I'm publishing articles for a living I want people to link to those articles and drive traffic to my site so I can sell banner ads. In fact, there's entire bullshit sites built around the idea of going viral by getting your aunt to post links to feel-good stories on Facebook that could easily be the equivalent of a single legal-sized sheet of paper of content, but require you to hit "next" to load a new page with a new unrelated image a dozen times to read an incoherent string of facts and opinions that are only tangibly related to the subject of the "root link" - mostly to keep you clicking for page/banner loads. "Legitimate" news stories make money in a similar fashion - the "better" news sites put it all on one page, but some "legitimate news" sites use the bullshit article approach to keep you clicking. (slide-shows - how I hate ad-based slideshows, how I love legitimate add to the story well done slideshows with a wealth of images)

    Nope, if I were a news source I would exempt myself from charging the link tax if it were an option just to make sure people actually shared my links, assuming the AI filters don't prevent it. This is why I'm moving to block-chain social networks. Fuck AI overlords on legacy media sites.

    The EU is doing the right thing by having their Brexit. More nations should follow because of stupid shit like this. Sometimes it feels like we've all been duped, the Nazi's actually won WWII and their running the EU to get shit like this shoved down everyone's throats.

    BTW - here at home in the US we're being threatened by an expansion of the Mickey Mouse protection act. JUST SAY NO to the automatic insanely long copyright extension here in the US.

    --
    The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
    1. Re:Finally a reasonable position from Slashdot. by penandpaper · · Score: 1

      Sometimes it feels like we've all been duped, the Nazi's actually won WWII and their running the EU

      Germans just can't help themselves. They see a Europe and go on a power trip.

    2. Re:Finally a reasonable position from Slashdot. by PPH · · Score: 1

      If I'm publishing articles for a living I want people to link to those articles and drive traffic to my site so I can sell banner ads.

      It's a smart move in one sense. This law gets a jump on the search engines charging you for listing your stuff.

      It's analogous to what broadcasters did to cable TV decades ago. Community antenna systems (which eventually consolidated into cable providers) made it possible for broadcasts to reach people previously incapable of receiving that content. When it appeared that the cable systems might charge the broadcasters a small fee for these extra viewers, the broadcasters ran crying to Congress and had a law created to reverse the direction of the fee. Now, cable companies have to pay broadcasters. Never mind that they are providing value to the broadcasters in the form of a larger audience.

      Same thing is happening here. Even though the value flows the other way, this law will ensure that you won't have to pay Google/Facebook a fee for being visible on the Internet.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  8. If you can't link by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    then you're going to drop off the internet. Companies have tried this before. Google will pull them from search results and they'll cease to exist. Meanwhile I'll keep watching Youtube videos that report the facts in the articles (perfectly legal since they're facts) from guys like Secular Talk, the Young Turks and the BBC and get my news that way. This is a profoundly stupid thing to do.

    And if newspapers want to be relevant to me how about covering issues that matter to me (like our screwed up healthcare, the ongoing wars that just won't end or the fact that we're at full employment but wages are declining) instead of banging on about the British royal family or some such. How about some good 'ole fashion Watergate style muck racking? Of course your corporate owners wouldn't like that...

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:If you can't link by pecosdave · · Score: 1

      Make an effort to become less Googlecentric. Embrace block-chain social media, use a different search engines - preferably that don't reuse Google data, make an effort to embrace IPFS. Eventually, once enough people are off the Google teat having Google de-list you won't be an issue.

      It's not really all that great yet - but disruptive search, hosting, and networking is on the way. So far the only thing I've seen trying to stop it is MalwareBytes declaring IPFS gateways hazardous, which I suppose they are, the same way FTP is. I expect more effort being put into driving people away from block-chain and IPFS in the near future, once it gains some traction and scares the same people who can't stand non-corporate news sources and media.

      This is how you stop EU bullshit.

      --
      The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
    2. Re:If you can't link by jez9999 · · Score: 2

      I'll keep watching Youtube videos that report the facts in the articles (perfectly legal since they're facts) from guys like Secular Talk, the Young Turks and the BBC and get my news that way

      That'll make you so far left I'm surprised you haven't fallen off yet.

    3. Re:If you can't link by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      TYT election night highlight videos are the funniest thing since Python!

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    4. Re:If you can't link by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

      IPFS is content distribution system. It offers no search capability.

      There are actually two search engines dedicated to IPFS. ipfs-search and Hypatia. But IPFS uses the conventional internet for hosting, and Hypatia is... well, it kind of sucks, if you can get it working at all.

    5. Re:If you can't link by pecosdave · · Score: 1

      Don't worry, I never had that particular confusion. IPFS and block-chain go hand-in-hand as tools to make information indestructible, we are severely lacking in searchable catalogs of IPFS content. I've found some cool stuff with Hypatia, but it was hit and miss and more miss than hit. Still, I think a block-chain web where we may eventually even stop using DNS is the answer we're all looking for.

      --
      The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
  9. Utter stupidity by jenningsthecat · · Score: 1

    At first I wasn't too worried about the 'link tax' - I figured that news outlets and media companies would realize what a tremendous footgun the idea is and have it repealed posthaste. But then I started thinking about smaller content creators who depend on those links - lack of site traffic is likely a bigger problem for them than copyright infringement is. As for checking everything uploaded for infringement, just how are they going to do that? Even if you ignore the problems of different laws in different jurisdictions outside the EU; and even if you can figure out how to consistently and reliably make sure that 'fair use', 'fair dealing', and the like are properly evaluated; there's still the techno-logistical problem of the HUGE volume of uploading that takes place every minute. There's simply no way to handle that volume with anything like acceptable accuracy and latency. And this is just the first gloss - I can already see a LOT of subtleties and complexities that would make this whole thing totally unworkable even if the means existed to do the job. Those who drafted this either weren't thinking clearly, or are simply too stupid and / or ill-informed to be charged with writing laws.

    --
    'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
    1. Re:Utter stupidity by desdinova+216 · · Score: 1

      it's probably both, weren't thinking clearly and ill informed.

    2. Re:Utter stupidity by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Re "just how are they going to do that?"
      Never use an image from any nation in the EU. Never mention any author from the EU. No images from content created in the EU. No cartoons about EU politics. Any line of text from any nation in the EU is a legal risk.
      No links into EU nations.

      Anything EU or related to any nation in the EU is not worth the risk of publication and a later EU tax.

      A new movie gets made in the EU? Is the review worth using a frame from that movie in the review and getting an EU fine for the copyright "image"?
      Another nation makes a movie and sends out a press kit full of images ready for print, web, blog publication with movie clips.

      Put the effort into nations that support a publications freedom to publish and do reviews. With images. Support nations that support freedom of speech.
      Avoid EU that will use copyright laws to fine publications.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    3. Re:Utter stupidity by fafalone · · Score: 1

      Simple, just like YouTube, they won't make sure fair use is properly evaluated at first. They'll simply rely on software like Content ID and only ever consider fair use if the site is big enough and generous enough to have appeals (that will, in the best case scenario, take weeks). Not really worth it to care if you want to upload something that new internet overlords don't like.

  10. well us based systems will have hard time Content by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    well us based systems will have hard time doing an FULL Content ID on all internet without running into some 1st amendment issues.

  11. Re:#Resist by penandpaper · · Score: 1

    Don't let your memes be dreams.

  12. I patent the use of the letter E on line $.0005 by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    I patent the use of the letter E on line $.0005 per use.

    1. Re:I patent the use of the letter E on line $.0005 by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Think of the fun the EU could have had with the letter N and T in US trade deals.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  13. bad movie review = copyright infringement by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    bad movie review = copyright infringement

    1. Re:bad movie review = copyright infringement by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      For any EU movie just fill the review with big white spaces where images for a movie would go.
      Surrender to EU laws and ensure the review does not contain any images.
      For movie reviews from normal nations enjoy the press kit and all the included media to publish.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  14. Re:Popcorn ready... and stale by AHuxley · · Score: 1, Troll

    In the USA a person can make a funny cartoon. Comment on politics. Quote from a magazine, book, novel, speech.
    Publish a comment for the world to see with references without a EU tax per line and per link.
    In the USA a person is free to review a movie review and invite comments on the movie.
    The USA has freedom of speech and freedom after speech.
    The EU starts an investigation for every attempt at speech and a EU fine for attempting publishing links and using quotes.

    The EU then has a nice set of laws for political cartoons and memes that amuse internet users on aspects of politics in Spain and France.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  15. just ban/kill facebook by FudRucker · · Score: 1

    then hopefully something more benevolent will fill the void

    maybe inject pidgin or some other FOSS GPLed instant messenger service with some financial help to build a better alternative to facebook, something that does not see their users as a product and respects their privacy, and any advertising in non-intrusive, and no malicious or upsetting scripts to annoy people

    --
    Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
  16. Re:Censor Trump Haters by bobbied · · Score: 1

    Nobody believes the fake news anymore. Nothing but a bunch of haters hating on our beloved President. https://www.rt.com/usa/429956-...

    Be fair here with the press.. He obviously likes the attention and loves to poke the press bear. It's a strangely mutually dependent relationship where he gets to control the issue of the day and they get to decry his position and sell advertisements because of the controversy.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  17. Re:Crazy European Privacy Laws... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Yes, it's going to be fucking hilarious when Google stops linking and they disappear from the Internet.

    When that happens, I don't know if I will ever be able to stop laughing.

  18. And the EU ias going to enforce this how? by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

    All they can do is spend a fortune firewalling their part of the Internet, while vainly trying to ignore an avalanche of complaints from their own users, who will just resign themselves to accessing everything through offshore servers.

    1. Re:And the EU ias going to enforce this how? by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Social media will get a real time list of accounts to ban. An EU ban on social media will prevent EU wide copyright legal action. Globally.
      For a lot of people social media is the internet so EU social media law could shape the rules of digital publication globally.
      Say a US artist makes a funny cartoon about Spanish or French politics. Really funny and it gets shared a lot in France.
      An EU nation will have that image reported and banned by social media in the EU in real time.
      The social media account wont work in the EU. No further uploads and downloads will be allowed. No comments. No links to the art.
      Any person in the EU will be reported for trying to link, interact with that banned image.
      Police investigations for people in the EU who get reported for trying to upload banned content again.
      Social media will have to ensure that image will not be seen in the EU after a EU nation demands the cartoon is removed.
      Make too many political cartoons and the EU bans result in a social media account getting banned globally.
      The how is very easy. Report the image in the EU and social media bans the image. Attempts to upload banned content again result in the loss of a social media account globally.
      Social media will have to show they banned the cartoon quickly and fully from all EU users. When social media shows that ban was in real time, the EU will not fine the social media company per image per hour.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    2. Re:And the EU ias going to enforce this how? by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      Facebook, et. Al, will close their European offices and invite EU naval forces to try enforcing this in Silicon Valley. European social media users will all run VPNs to access the global sites.

  19. Copyright = BAD intentions. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The whole point of "copyright" (actually distributor's privilege) is to enable *distributors*, *not* creators, to create an artificial scarcity monopoly, so they can leech on the actual creators, and leech on the consumers too, getting free money without working, (to, judging from my career in said inustries, keep their *massive* cocain addiction going).

    It is, in the literal sense of the word, organized crime, and factually the biggest enemy of all creators.
    Prison or extradiction are the only acceptable treatments.

  20. Those provisions are crazy by atrex · · Score: 1

    A "link tax" is absurd, the site publishing the link is doing the linked site a favor by driving traffic to their site and potentially increasing ad revenue. It's the sites that repost entire news articles verbatim that are stealing content.

    An "Upload Filter" that checks all uploaded content for copyright infringement? Is the EU also going to provide a web service with an insanely extensive database and develop the content verification system and APIs with which to check uploaded content against? If not, this is an absurd barrier to entry for any start-up, particularly when it has fines attached (which I believe last I read about this article it did, those the linked story doesn't mention them so maybe I'm wrong).

  21. Everything Is Copyrighted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Where can I submit all my stuff so it'll become part of what gets reported when scanned? I have about 1tb of home videos and photos as well as all my writing assignments from since high school and I can go through all my old accounts and submit all the posts I've written. I use a desktop email client so submitting all the email I've written should be easy.

    1. Re:Everything Is Copyrighted by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      To what end? No one cares about your crappy little TB. It'll get fingerprinted, checksummed and compressed to nothing. The end result is you've wasted a lot more time than the equivalent American style of protest: simply not voting.

  22. Clinton couldn't have stopped DMCA by tepples · · Score: 4, Informative

    President Clinton could not have stopped the Digital Millennium Copyright Act from becoming law.

    The Constitution allows 20 percent of either house to force a recorded vote or 34 percent to uphold a presidential veto. If a bill lacks enough dissent to force a recorded vote, there certainly isn't enough to uphold a veto.

    In 1998, Newtros Newtros-Gingy's crop of Republicans still controlled the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. The DMCA passed both houses by unanimous consent, also called a voice vote. Which if any Republican members of Congress went on record as opposing the DMCA?

  23. Vanilla Sky by TheStickBoy · · Score: 1

    First Trump wants a Space Force, now we pay to link to web sites!

    I feel like my Vanilla Sky dream is going bad!

    "TECH SUPPORT.....TECH SUPPORT!"

    1. Re:Vanilla Sky by djinn6 · · Score: 1

      What's really surprising is that Trump is the more sane one right now.

  24. Re:Trump / Russia - Treason, Propaganda by Tulsa_Time · · Score: 1

    In what sense do you believe that Trump is a puppet of Russia?

    How can that even make sense in an America first mindset and policy agenda ?

    --
    5 out of 6 people enjoy Russian Roulette & 6 out of 7 Dwarfs are not Happy
  25. Re:Popcorn ready... and stale by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

    We keep being told how much better the EU is than the US - but then they do something awful like this, which is much, much worse than anything that would be seriously proposed in the US.

    There's copyright infringement enforcement, and then there's "fascism disguised as protecting copyright."

    And it's so wasteful. In the US we just outsource the fascism to be handled by Facebook and non-profit agitating groups, for free!

    You're welcome, taxpayers :)

  26. Re:Crazy European Privacy Laws... by houghi · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Some laws are good. Some are bad.. Here one gave power to the people, the other takes it away, (not the same thing they gave.) GDPR is a good one, this is a bad one if this is the final form.

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  27. Re:Crazy European Privacy Laws... by Joce640k · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If I were Google I'd be working on my new price list:

    How much should they pay me to go back to linking to their news sites ... ?

    --
    No sig today...
  28. Mis-summarized by argStyopa · · Score: 1

    They'll never censor the internet, that's the joy of it.

    They'll only censor their little corner of it, and if the regulations become too troublesome to adhere to, they'll just lose functionality for their citizenry as various vendors decide compliance is economically more painful than simply refusing service.

    That's their (the EU's) choice as a nominally-democratic entity; they elect (again, ostensibly) representatives to enact their will and if their will is to be in a carefully-managed little dead-end of the interwebs ('to protect people from bad stuff' of course), that's what they'll end up getting.

    --
    -Styopa
  29. Are you trying to get copyright abolished? by Sloppy · · Score: 1

    Because this is how you get copyright abolished.

    Even if people support the idea of copyright, if this is what it costs to have it, giving it up is the most reasonable and practical choice.

    --
    As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
  30. Re:well us based systems will have hard time Conte by terrycarlino · · Score: 1

    Right 1995 McIntyre v. Ohio:

    Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority.

    Let's see how many companies follow that rather than bending to the will of the EU. I don't have much confidence

  31. Re:Trump / Russia - Treason, Propaganda by cayenne8 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Moreover, Trump has acquiesced to Russia's invasion of Crimea

    Look, I"m no huge Trump fan, but didn't the Crimea invasion and occupation take place under Obama's watchful eye?

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  32. Re:Crazy European Privacy Laws... by terrycarlino · · Score: 1

    I remember it well. Local affiliate of networks called me requesting I call the cable company telling them I wanted to ensure they paid to keep carrying their signal. The shill didn't know what to say when I told them their stuff was dregs and I'd be glad if the cable company stopped carrying them all together.

    Most of the networks have been living off of sports broadcasting for years, but the leagues are starting to get smart. They can sell access directly to viewers and not have to deal with the networks at all. Once that happens the major reason anyone wants live access is gone. Goodbye networks.

  33. Re:Trump / Russia - Treason, Propaganda by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    And Russia was kicked out of the G-8 and sanctioned Russia.

    Now Trump, flush with Russian bribes and money laundering wants to let Russia back in the G-7, remove sanctions, and declare that Russia had a right to invade its neighbor (our ally Ukraine) and steal its land.

    Treason, bribery, money laundering, and the pee tape have given Russia total control over our country's executive branch. It's time to lock him up!

  34. WWIII by TimMD909 · · Score: 1

    Considering the first two World Wars started in Europe, I fully expect the third to start there as well. That said, I didn't expect it would play out this way.

    The malevolent EU leaders seem to want to build up their own Great Firewall of Europe, as if they're jealous of China or North Korea's "internet." This will simply make it harder for European companies to do business with other parts of the world. That will gravely wound their economies for years to come. Add in a ton of refugees/immigrants who have no intention of ever assimilating to the local cultures to create ever more No-Go zones. Also keep in mind that mostly tied together via the Euro, so that some countries can hurt other countries' economies (like how Greece's problems hurt Germany's economy, etc).

    Will that mixed together, I don't think it'll take a large match to ignite another conflagration.

  35. Nobody anticipated the level of DMCA abuse.Counter by raymorris · · Score: 5, Informative

    I was involved in multiple drafts of the DMCA before it became law, discussing the draft with people involved in many different aspects of the internet. People had different concerns and things were changed in the drafts to improve it.

    Three major categories of people had different concerns:
    Content producers
    Hosting companies and ISPs
    Web sites using content

    Previously, when a content producer saw their content was being unlawfully copied on a web site, they would contact the hosting company. The liability of the hosting company was questionable - probably AFTER having received notice, they would most likely be liable if they didn't take it down, but that was murky. Different hosting companies had different policies. Some shut the site down right away. Some ignored the notices, which meant content producers would contact their upstream providers, who would often put pressure on the hosting company. Different companies had different policies about protecting their customers from invalid complaints (fair use etc). Most would just shut it down - they didn't want to get involved in a legal fight. It was all very inconsistent and messy.

    Here's the process we ended up with:

    Content provider would notify the site or hosting company, identifying exactly what infringed copyright.

    Hosting company would inform the site owner, who had three options:
    A. Deny the infringement (counter-notice)
    B. Take down the content
    C. Ignore the notice

    If the site owner / poster denies there is infringement, that's the end of it. The hosting company is not liable, because they've received a statement saying there is no infringement. For some reason we didn't anticipate, very few people choose this option. It's the best and easiest option if you have content that isn't infringing.

    Once the site owner or the person who posted the content says it doesn't infringe, the DMCA notice process ends and the content producer has to sue in federal court in order to move forward.

    If the site owner sees there is likely infringement and takes the content down, that resolves the complaint process also. (Though the producer *could* still sue in federal court).

    If the site owner ignores the notice and doesn't say "nope, not infringing", the web host will take down the content. This is the worst option. We didn't expect it would be the most common. Much better for the web site to respond to the notice somehow - either by taking down infringing content if they agree, or by sending back a note saying it's not infringing (a counter notice).

    That seemed like a good, fair process, to most people. It's not exactly what content producers would choose if they got to pick, and not exactly what people re-using content would pick, but it's a fair compromise, we thought.

    Two things didn't work out the way we expected. First, very few people send back a counter-notice. I can't explain why this is. It's so easy to just send back an email saying "nope, I disagree. This isn't infringement because it's educational fair use. That essentially nullifies the original DMCA notice.

    Secondly, perhaps BECAUSE almost nobody responds to a DMCA notice, some producers started sending out way too many notices, not being sufficiently careful that they are accurate. Nobody anticipated that at the time the law was written. If I had an opportunity to do it over again, I would have suggested adding penalities for recklessly sending noticed, but that possibility never came up in the discussion.

    Initially, the law was welcomed by most people in all the different areas. It set up a consistent, fair process that almost everyone used. Most people running sites and posting content were reasonably happy with it - they didn't violate copyright anyway, at least not much (maybe some clip art), and if they received a notice they'd gladly swap out any infringing content. They were glad to know that in a dispute, the hosting company would back them up - as long as they notified the hosting company that there WAS a

  36. They're utterly clueless like most politicians by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    They can 'legislate' anything they want but they can't enforce anything on any country that doesn't agree to have it enforced on them. They're wasting their time, they're clueless idiots, and they should listen to their technical advisors who are doubtlessly telling them "This won't work".

  37. technical discusssion? by fish_in_the_c · · Score: 1

    Does the law mention how this should be accomplished? will it fund an agency the provides and API and allows me to check if an uploaded file contains copywriter material? I assume you would have to send all files? will the files need to be encrypted? Is there some master database of copyrighted material or can I just grab everything on you tube and claim it as mine? Is there an expectoration that you-tube will stop me from uploading video recording of myself singing happy birthday or reading curious George? how deep a look at the data is needed? No ? This looks a lot like Americas AHS ( we don't really understand , so we will give a group of bureaucrats enough power to take control over a large sector of the economy,strip people of all kinds of natural and legal rights and call it good, .)

        Of course that is what you get for electing people who believe the government should provide every service that citizens need, because if your served everything you consume then you can expect that everything you consume is also controlled because finances will never be infinite. Or as the saying goes,' the problem with socialism is sooner or later you run out of other peoples money to spend'. So what do you do , grab more power and money until you virtually control all means of consumption and production. When it still isn't enough you encourage the less valuable people to go away , by removing the services they don't need and ensuring their 'right to die'.

    --
    âoeTolerance applies only to persons, but never to truth. Intolerance applies only to truth, but never to persons.
  38. Re:Popcorn ready... and stale by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    Re "be able to make money off their content."
    Did the big internet make EU publishers move to the net from paper publication AC?
    To have content outside their own pay sites?
    EU sites can select to not be part of the net. Not be searched. Not be linked into.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  39. A link tax. . . . lol by nehumanuscrede · · Score: 1

    I'm quite sure they'll rethink this idea when Google simply delists them from the search engine.

    When their site traffic drops off to near zero, those companies will end up begging to be relisted soon enough.

  40. Publishers just can't stand ... by Qbertino · · Score: 1

    ... the thought that now everyone is a publisher. They've been pushing this as a last ditch effort to save their stuff.

    As a result of this law there's going to be some "content sharing" initative in like 6 hours ago, basically voiding this law just about instantly for all participants. Everyone is going to sign up except for them and the world will move on. Without them. And they will finally die.

    Good riddance.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
  41. Re:Nobody anticipated the level of DMCA abuse.Coun by loonycyborg · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Counter notices are rarely sent because existence of such a possibility is rarely advertised. More people would use it if, say, youtube would present you a form to contest the takedown automatically once it started blocking you.

  42. If we just expired copyright after 17 years by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    If we just reverted to the original copyright system, which had copyright for only 17 years, ascribed to a human person, not a corporation, and not renewed, all of this would go away.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
    1. Re:If we just expired copyright after 17 years by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      I suppose that couple happen if the voters ever stop reelecting Disney representatives to congress.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  43. Re:Crazy European Privacy Laws... by mrbester · · Score: 1

    Along with "some results have been removed due to privacy concerns" we can have "most results have been removed due to licensing issues. Specifically, we're not going to pay for them"

    --
    "Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
  44. Can't arrest them all by Miser · · Score: 1

    Everyone should just "not comply". Can't arrest everyone, and it would tie up the courts for years if they try to "fine" folks.

    That's the easiest way IMHO to deal with unjust/idiotic laws. Break them. By sheer numbers they won't be able to enforce it.

    -Miser

  45. Re:Crazy European Privacy Laws... by iampiti · · Score: 1

    I don't know what will happen in this case, but in Spain a few years ago a law was approved that required content aggregators to pay a fee to news sites for linking their stories. It also said that the content creators couldn't opt out and refuse being paid. It was very obviously designed for Google News and the like to pay for linking. Google just shrugged and said "we can't accept those conditions" and closed Google News in Spain. The news site owners even had the gall to complain after that. The idiots thought Google needed them more than viceversa and didn't expect Google to just shut down the service.

  46. Re:The first rule of Leadership by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

    What? Just wrong. That works for officers in a military. For congress critters/cops, having the entire population being criminals is a _feature_.

    Everybody commits 3 felonies/day. Once you accept it, it's much less stressful.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  47. Actually we asked you to participate, on Slashdot by raymorris · · Score: 2

    > I was correct. Of course, nobody asked me.
    > It was obviously written by big copyright owners who were writing it for their own purposes, rather than being a general-purpose law

    If it were "written by big copyright owners for their own purposes", you wouldn't be able to end it by simply saying "I disagree, I don't think I'm infringing", and have the content stay up.

    We DID ask you for input, we DID ask you to participate. Specifically *I* asked right here on Slashdot.

  48. Re:Trump / Russia - Treason, Propaganda by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You're not up to date my friend.
    Allegedly during the G7 summit, Trump said to other world leaders that Crimea belonged to Russia because everyone who lives there speaks Russian. Acknowledging that it was quite ok for Putin to integrate it into the Russian Federation.
    Now I can imagine that England really loved to hear that kind of logic. But that's not quite how things work in this world. So I'm sorry England, you can't just make the USA part of your Commonwealth of Nations like that.

  49. Link tax ? Whwe us the logic? by bn-7bc · · Score: 1

    But hol on, a link deluvers oeople to your site and ss a tesolt shows ypur ads etc, why would you make people that send you traffic pay you for that favor? I’m shore I’m missing something here, unless this is about those sites thst previo a bit of the lnked aticle, which us of corerse somwjat of an other matter, but demanding paimrnt for a plsin old link is just plain silly imho

  50. Re:Nobody anticipated the level of DMCA abuse.Coun by tepples · · Score: 2

    One practical problem with the counter-notification process is that the complainant learns the alleged infringer's home address. That sort of breaks operational security for any fan project that isn't 100% certain that its use is a fair use.

    Another is hosts being slow to react. I sent a counter-notification back in 2009 for a video reporting on a video game publisher's policy toward fans. YouTube took longer than the legally allowed 14 business days to reinstate my video, though I initially suspected the timing relative to the Memorial Day holiday was partly the culprit. (Three years later, I voluntarily retracted that video after the publisher won a lawsuit against another fan project.)

  51. Re:Nobody anticipated the level of DMCA abuse.Coun by tepples · · Score: 1

    Thanks for your thoughts on section 512. As for section 1201, did the balance of "circumvention device" vs. "interoperability" work as anticipated?

  52. licensing links by mapkinase · · Score: 1

    I have no words to describe the sheer idiocy of the euroimbeciles who came with this megashitpie measure. American FCCing idiot is an Einstein compared to this debilitic mongoloids.

    --
    I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
  53. Re:Actually we asked you to participate, on Slashd by JD-1027 · · Score: 1

    Thank you for the thoughtful input on this. Do you have links to what you asked on Slashdot? I couldn't find it after looking a couple places. I'm happy to accept my failure to find it with a "lmgtfy" response : ) It would be very interesting to see the analyze the comments in those threads.

  54. Bye internet by TJHook3r · · Score: 1

    It was nice knowing you. I would love to see Google redacting pages for the EU market... just disable and block anything on YouTube that isn't a homemade cat video!

  55. Re:Nobody anticipated the level of DMCA abuse.Coun by sjames · · Score: 1

    Part of the problem is that most people simply cannot afford to be sued, even if they are obviously in the right. Compounding that, confidence in our civil court system is at an all time low. Many simply don't believe that being obviously in the right will result in a finding in their favor.

    So, they get a doom and gloom nastygram and their content has already been pulled down. They can either move on or they can spin the wheel and pray it doesn't come up bankrupt. About half the wheel looks to be "bankrupt". They have kids to feed and a house to pay for. They have a job to go to and little ability to take unpaid time off to be in court, much less pay a lawyer several months worth of their paychecks.

    Let's be honest, given that, what would you do? Would you care to send the complainant your full name and address?

  56. Re:Actually we asked you to participate, on Slashd by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 1

    > I was correct. Of course, nobody asked me.
    > It was obviously written by big copyright owners who were writing it for their own purposes, rather than being a general-purpose law

    If it were "written by big copyright owners for their own purposes", you wouldn't be able to end it by simply saying "I disagree, I don't think I'm infringing", and have the content stay up.

    That doesn't "end it" - that simply means that you go to court if the supposed copyright owner wants to. It was considered a concession at the time to ISPs.

    I believe the DMCA is a good law, but an infringement claim should be sworn with specific criminal penalties if the claim isn't upheld by a court. It should be a misdemeanor for some small number of them, with transition to a felony after 10 or 15 of them. The actual copyright owner - if different - should also have a civil claim against the fraudulent claimant. This is actually pretty normal stuff in the legal world.

    But since the DMCA was written by big copyright owners for their own purposes, they didn't care to put any of that in.

  57. Re:Trump / Russia - Treason, Propaganda by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

    February 2014. About a year into Obama's second term. There wasn't much either president could have done about it though - you can't approve military conflict with Russia due to the likelihood of escalation.

  58. Re: Crazy European Privacy Laws... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    What I am more scared about in the GDPR is that it is training legal consent. The GDPR is a button pushing exercise to make people to say yes to any legal agreement brought before them. The ramifications of this is that corporations and governments can slip in the fine print, and we unconsciously all say yes. The GDPR is fucking scary because we will be lulled into a false sense of security.

  59. Re: Nobody anticipated the level of DMCA abuse.Cou by TheDarkener · · Score: 1

    Agreed

    --
    It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
  60. Re:Popcorn ready... by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

    I doubt it. Maggie II will probably come up with something even worse.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  61. There is another reason counter notie are not used by aepervius · · Score: 1
    The reason being the assymetry in pwoer and that would have ben predictable from the get go. Big media company have big lawyer team. most people have none. So if they get a notice claim, it cost them too much to make sure they in their right and contest/counter notice, the risk to get it wrong and sued into oblivion is too high. That is most probably WHY most people do not send coutner notice. This assymetry was known from the start and you were naive to not see it.

    But then again, Look at the group invovled you cited :

    Content producers
    Hosting companies and ISPs
    Web sites using content

    NONE are representing the general public interrest. Funny, uh ?

    --
    C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
    visit randi.org
  62. Re:Trump / Russia - Treason, Propaganda by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    It's true. The process of deciding who governs you decided by family connections is just too big a difference.

    The limeys will never stand for it!

    DrabadabbaTISH!

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  63. Legalese DMCA by del_diablo · · Score: 1

    Or is it?
    The current scenario is one where content hosts is colluding with possibly IP owners, instead of forcing everyone to walk the talk and go to court.
    Then again, legman law is basically crippled by poor understanding of law, and how harmless going to court is(assuming signed papers can be produced, and a rough outline of laws can be gathered)

  64. Interenet censors EU by roc97007 · · Score: 1

    Film at 11.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  65. I might Google it by raymorris · · Score: 1

    I might find it later, if I don't have something else higher priority to do. I'd use Google's date filters for 1998 and early 1999, with my username and site: slashdot.com

    It would probably be easier to find on some other forums, like GFY.com, if posts that old are still available there.

  66. My focus was web sites by raymorris · · Score: 1

    My focus at the time was web sites, so I wasn't paying much attention to circumvention devices.

    I owned a web hosting company and this was when there wasn't yet the content-producing industry that exists today, so some of our customers could well be using content with questionable licensing rights. In fact, for adult content, there were basically five provides - Dave Lace, Dave Thompson, another Dave whose last name I've forgotten, Gabe, and a Suze Randall. Two of those content producers were also our customers. So I owned a hosting company, and had customers who were both content producers and users of content. My interest was in a good process for all of us to handle copyright issues related to web site content.

  67. Soon obsolete by manu0601 · · Score: 1

    We should not worry with EU anymore. One by one, people of member countries elect government hostile to the Union. At some time one will manage to destroy the whole structure. Latest challenger is Italy.

  68. Agreed, for reckless claims by raymorris · · Score: 1

    > I believe the DMCA is a good law, but an infringement claim should be sworn with specific criminal penalties if the claim isn't upheld by a court. It should be a misdemeanor for some small number of them, with transition to a felony after 10 or 15 of them.

    I tend to agree in principle. I would point out some cases are close calls. I'd penalize recklessly sending DMCA notices, or require "ordinary care" (a legal term). I wouldn't penalize a good-faith claim where the content producer did their due diligence.

    Because a reckless DMCA claim that is brought to court harms a specific, easily identified person, there is an easier, cheaper, faster, and perhaps more appropriate way to handle it. You don't need to have a completely separate criminal trial, with proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Instead it could be done faster, easier, and probably more fair by allowing (treble?) damages to be awarded to the *defendant*.

    So suppose I sue you for $50,000 for copyright infringement. The court can rule any of these three ways:

    1. I'm right, you violated my rights wholesale, selling my work without a license. You owe me $50,000

    2. I'm not quite right. Your use was infringement, but the infringement is allowed under fair use. You don't owe me anything.

    3. I'm completely wrong. You didn't infringe at all. I have to pay YOU $150,000

    That would resolve the issue without an extra trial, and the penalty would be paid to the person who was harmed.

  69. Good point by raymorris · · Score: 1

    I see your point

    > Let's be honest, given that, what would you do? Would you care to send the complainant your full name and address?

    I'm probably not the person to ask. A) I'm not hard to find, especially if you already know my web site and B) I actually really, really enjoy going to court. I was headed to law school, because I love that stuff, when my web business unexpectedly took off. I see your point though.

  70. YouTube doesn't seem to quite follow it by raymorris · · Score: 1

    I haven't extensively researched YouTube, but my understanding is that their most-used process doesn't exactly follow DMCA. That would mean they don't get the benefit of DMCA safe harbor when they don't follow the process. It's not a "violation" in the sense that DMCA doesn't tell them they MUST follow the process, but rather IF they follow the process they are protected from liability on either side..

    Your comment also reminded me of something else that I think was overlooked in DMCA. Remember this was before YouTube and Facebook. User-generated content was forums, and Slashdot. When I was looking at it, I was thinking in terms of a web site you're making a significant amount of money from, and a web hosting company. You'd know if your site was taken down, so I don't think there is actually a legal requirement that the host notifies you. The hosting companies I was familiar with did notify customers, because that's just basic customer service. My hosting company would call a customer if we got a complaint - specifically I would call, as the president of our small hosting company. I've heard through the grapevine that YouTube isn't always good about notifying people.

    Of course on a forum, or Slashdot, how would Slashdot notify you if someone said your posting of their poem violated their copyright? I guess email, which isn't normally considered acceptable for legal notice, and was less so in 1998.

  71. The Internet is Safe by Scarletdown · · Score: 1

    It is highly unlikely that this will tear the Internet apart. What is more likely to happen is that the Internet will simply reroute itself around the damage (aka the EU).

    --
    This space unintentionally left blank.
  72. Copyright owners don't need protection by hlavac · · Score: 1

    Why should copyright owners, a miniscule portion of the population, get a preferential treatment? Who will protect the rest from them? Why would they deserve their profits to be protected? I want my profits to be protected too!

  73. Re:Crazy European Privacy Laws... by houghi · · Score: 1

    Fuck the companies. The companies are there for the people. The people are not there for the companies.
    And all they need to do is not sell the data, see that it is secure and if there is a leak, notify people.

    This should not be a law, this should be common sense. And no, they can not just outsource it, because THAT would make it expensive.

    I work in a high user-data environment and we are directly impacted. You know what we had to change? Replies to the customers where we refer to the new law instead of the old one.

    I have friends in similar situation and most of them had to do nothing. Some had to do a bit and one had to do a LOT because they where handing out their data as if it was free beer.

    And I already agreed that the copyright law (and for me ANY copyright law) is bad. People can do good and bad at the same time. Hitler was kind to his dog. (Did I now lose the debate?)

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  74. Re: Popcorn ready... by Maritz · · Score: 1

    I'd take them over a smelly, sad, bitter, neckbeard cunt from Idaho any day of the fucking week.

    --
    I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  75. The US is better ... not .... by mischmerz · · Score: 1

    This is not EU law yet. It just left a committee but faces strong opposition from various political groups. Meanwhile, in the US, the "classics: act is about to extend the copyright protection of pre-1972 recordings to 2067. This is not liberals vs. conservatives - it's about media companies such as Sony or Disney who pay and push politicians. It's the way to re-define the framers idea of a "limited time" protection for intellectual property. The method has been use countless times: Hey let's extend the copyright (retroactively) for another 30 years. What? Sure it's still "limited time" . A few years later: Hey - we need to extend the copyright for another 25 years. Don't worry - it's still "limited time". This has been done 3 or 4 times already and now, with the classics act, some songs will enjoy more than 100 years of copyright. So folks please: The consumers and users in the EU and here in America are on the same side of being f*cked from behind. The dark side just uses different methods here and there.

  76. Paywalls exist by tepples · · Score: 1

    Do you have evidence that more than a miniscule percentage of the internet is behind a paywall ?

    It depends on whether "minuscule percentage" counts number of distinct domains or web usage time. I find it dishonest to count number of distinct domains, as this includes throwaway domains used by phishing campaigns.

    As for web usage time, a lot of popular news sites have switched to a subscription model, either metered or hard. These include Wall Street Journal, The Times (London), Financial Times, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Boston Globe, numerous Gannett-owned local newspapers, and even some Medium-hosted blogs. Professionally produced video is also strongly associated with paywalls, with Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Video being big players in the United States, and most major cable TV channels put their web presence behind "TV Everywhere" authentication partnerships with traditional multichannel pay TV providers.

    1. Re: Paywalls exist by bingoUV · · Score: 1

      Still no evidence, or timeline. Almost as if you don't want the evidence examined.

      https://www.statista.com/stati...

      https://www.weforum.org/agenda...

      Your paywalled examples don't appear prominently in these lists. So by your own metric (time spent) , we are far from being in a paywall internet business environment.

      If we talk about nerd sites : /. , reddit , wired are free . Stack* sites have a declared policy of not minding even if users block ads.

      --
      Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
  77. Re:Crazy European Privacy Laws... by thegarbz · · Score: 1

    GDPR is not a good law. It will make handling personal data prohibitively expensive for small companies.

    If your company is small then the simple solution is don't collect personal data.
    If your company relies on the collection of personal data, fuck it, I hope you go out of business and have to spend the rest of your life on the street corner of the red light district to make ends meet.

    People who think that the GDPR is somehow a major burden on small companies haven't read the GDPR.

  78. WIRED has a paywall now by tepples · · Score: 1

    One of your sources is "Most popular digital brands in the United States in from May to July 2017, ranked by monthly user engagement (in hours.minutes)" on Statista. #4 is Amazon, which I mentioned. Video on Amazon is either pay-per-view or included with an Amazon Prime subscription. #1 is Google, and Google Play Music is also a subscription service.

    If we talk about nerd sites : /. , reddit , wired are free . Stack* sites

    In order: Correct, correct, outdated, and correct. On February 1, 2018, WIRED put up a metered paywall.

    1. Re:WIRED has a paywall now by bingoUV · · Score: 1

      Still no timeline ? When exactly, in your considered opinion, was an overwhelming move to paywalled internet completed ?

      #4 is Amazon, which I mentioned. Video on Amazon ... Google Play Music ...

      Is your statement that more than a minuscule percentage of internet companies, of which other, free, services are used for a large amount of time by users in general, have at least one paywalled service - irrespective of the amount of usage the paywalled service gets in comparison to the free service from the same company ?

      In order: Correct, correct, outdated, and correct. On February 1, 2018, WIRED put up a metered paywall.

      Great - not checked Wired for a while, although with your non-falsifiable lack of a timeline makes it unclear whether a change in February 2018 is enough or not. Wired gets a minuscule percentage of the internet traffic as compared to Reddit, even lower than a minuscule percentage if compared to Slashdot , Reddit and Stack* combined. So even in nerd sites, where the chances of ad-blocking are highest - paywalled websites hold a less than minuscule percentage of market share.

      I take it that the answer to my original question "Do you have evidence that more than a minuscule percentage of the internet is behind a paywall ?" is an overwhelming NO.

      --
      Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
  79. 45 percent paywalled video already in 2015 by tepples · · Score: 1

    Netflix is paywalled. In 2015 it boasted 37 percent of Internet traffic in North America according to Sandvine. The same article states that iTunes, Hulu, and Amazon Video were tied at 3 percent each, for a total of 45 percent. This didn't change much in Sandvine's 2017 survey, though Hulu and Amazon Video declined to 2 percent each.

    1. Re: 45 percent paywalled video already in 2015 by bingoUV · · Score: 1

      So now time spent had been replaced by video as a metric of internet usage ?

      --
      Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
    2. Re: 45 percent paywalled video already in 2015 by tepples · · Score: 1

      I never meant anything as a "percent of video". Slashdot limits the length of comment subjects, and I thought the comment body would clarify that I meant "45 percent [of all North American Internet traffic is] paywalled video already in 2015". So in light of my failure to communicate, I'll switch from conversational language to rigorous language for a moment.

      The traffic mix from Sandvine's survey of North American Internet traffic in 2015 is as follows:

      • 45 percent is four major paywalled video sites (Netflix iTunes, Amazon Video, Hulu)
      • 55 percent comprises non-paywalled sites, paywalled non-video (such as newspaper and journal articles and paid Steam game downloads), and minor paywalled video sites (such as erotic paysites and individual TV channels' sites)

      In order for the majority of traffic to be paywalled, the mix would have to be as follows (hypothetical):

      • 45 percent is four major paywalled video sites
      • 5 percent or more is other paywalled traffic (non-video and minor video sites)
      • 50 percent or less is non-paywalled traffic

      Thus the sum of paywalled non-video and minor paywalled video sites would need to exceed 5 percent of all traffic or (equivalently) 10 percent of non-paywalled traffic. I lack statistics as to whether this is the case. But text-based sites, such as Slashdot, Reddit, and Hacker News, probably contribute a lot less to traffic than video does.

      Or are you arguing that eyeball minutes, not gigabytes transferred, is the appropriate metric of Internet usage?

    3. Re: 45 percent paywalled video already in 2015 by bingoUV · · Score: 1

      I am not arguing that. I remember someone recently saying :

      " I find it dishonest to count number of distinct domains, as this includes throwaway domains used by phishing campaigns. As for web usage time, a lot of popular news sites have switched to a subscription model, either metered or hard."

      Maybe i remember incorrectly. Otherwise I would assume that eyeball minutes is the metric being considered.

      --
      Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
    4. Re: 45 percent paywalled video already in 2015 by tepples · · Score: 1

      I asked because now I'm no longer sure as to whether eyeball minutes, as I believed before, or traffic volume, as Sandvine's survey uses, is a more honest metric.

    5. Re: 45 percent paywalled video already in 2015 by bingoUV · · Score: 1

      For my question, only the evidence you had for making your original claim matters. Whichever process you reached the conclusion that we are in a paywall world : I was asking what was that process.

      Of I were to come to such a conclusion, since business is being discussed, I would consider neither eyeball time, not bytes transferred. Money earned is the best measure of business in general , and this case is no exception.

      Is more money being earned by paywalled internet than by providing "free" websites / web services ? I don't think so at all, but i didn't make the claim about it. You did - apparently without evidence.

      --
      Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
  80. Reinvented by NewYork · · Score: 1
  81. Re:Nobody anticipated the level of DMCA abuse.Coun by KingBenny · · Score: 1

    the decision was basically made the day the estonian dictatorship proposed it ... just like with the piracy report any arguments to the contrary , even if they came from the internet god itself are swept under the rug ... the votes are cast during world cup footy and by the time anyone wakes up it's "law" ... the actual extent is that every single country can decide, basically paving the way for geo-localized and blocked internet, which won't work, and with great frustration lead to cops scoring massive results statistically while they round up all the copyrrists

    --
    Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?
  82. Should have blocked the whole site by xack · · Score: 1

    I notice the german, french and spanish Wikipedias arent protesting.