Wikimedia Warns EU Copyright Reform Threatens the 'Vibrant Free Web' (techcrunch.com)

The Wikimedia Foundation has sounded a stark warning against a copyright reform proposal in Europe that's due to be voted on by the European Parliament next week. From a report: In the post, also emailed to TechCrunch, Maria Sefidari Huici, chair of the Wikimedia Foundation, writes: "Next week, the European Parliament will decide how information online is shared in a vote that will significantly affect how we interact in our increasingly connected, digital world. We are in the last few moments of what could be our last opportunity to define what the Internet looks like in the future. The next wave of proposed rules under consideration by the European Parliament will either permit more innovation and growth, or stifle the vibrant free web that has allowed creativity, innovation, and collaboration to thrive. This is significant because copyright does not only affect books and music, it profoundly shapes how people communicate and create on the internet for years to come."

Backers of the reform proposals argue they will help European creatives be fairly recompensed for their work. But critics argue the proposals are not balanced and will chill the creative freedoms of web users to share and comment on content online.

Comments

Re:That's a doozy

[Anonymous Coward]

IP Owners don't like the phrase "vibrant free web." They hate it. They want precisely the opposite, as they believe this is how they will maximize their profits.

Re:Bad stuff

[BlueStrat]

The creative internet well see EU censorship then create routes around EU gov controls.

The "creative internet" is not hardware and networks, it's the people building and using those resources. The "creative internet" can be prosecuted, imprisoned, or simply taken out back and shot in the head by TPTB. When the government is more powerful than those it governs and has no fear of them, bad things always happen eventually.

"Left" and "Right" is not what we should be talking about, but "Up" and "Down", where "Up" is more authoritarian, bigger government, and "Down" is smaller, less intrusive and micro-managing government.

With a smaller, less powerful government, "Left" and "Right" do not matter as much to the population and does not impact their liberty nearly as dramatically. It also means political Parties have far less power and there would be far less government corruption, as why pay someone who doesn't have the power to help you or harm you?

Get Down and get free!

Strat