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EU To Give Internet Firms 1 Hour To Remove Extremist Content (go.com)
European authorities are planning to slap internet companies like Google, Twitter and Facebook with big fines if they don't take down extremist content within one hour. From a report: European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in a speech Wednesday that the Commission is proposing the new rules as part of efforts to step up the bloc's security. He said that removing material within an hour is important because it's "the critical window in which the greatest damage is done." The EU's executive body said "propaganda that prepares, incites or glorifies acts of terrorism" must be taken offline. Content would be flagged up by national authorities, who would issue removal orders to the internet companies hosting it. Those companies would be given one hour to delete it. The proposal, which still needs approval from EU lawmakers and member states, would be a departure for the EU, which until now has allowed online companies to a take a voluntary approach to battling extremist content. The one-hour rule was among a series of recommendations the Commission made in March to fight the spread of extremist content online.
Yeah, good luck with that!
Of Europe.
Yeah, that is what I thought.
Personally I think it is insane that a search engine or indexing company should be in any way responsible for pointing to content that is publicly available on the Internet. I can see take down orders to ISPs hosting content (assuming the content is illegal in the jurisdiction where the servers are), but going after people telling you where the content exists is scary.
It's a slippery slope and not that far from making the statement "If you go to the library, you can learn out to build a bomb" illegal.
"He said that removing material within an hour is important because it's "the critical window in which the greatest damage is done...Content would be flagged up by national authorities, who would issue removal orders to the internet companies hosting it. Those companies would be given one hour to delete it."
So the hour after national authorities find it is this critical window? Everything before that is fine? The greatest damage is only done after the national authorities have flagged it?
It sounds good, but who defines "extremist content" or worse "incites acts of terrorism". It might be clear to you and me what this would be, but how about if you don't agree with what people say who are in control of this definition? You don't think a huge government entity will use it's power to remove content against it's view or agenda? Especially since in their point of view it could "incite acts of terrorism". How about the term "hate speach"? Say something someone doesn't like and it's "hate".
I hope people wake up soon. Rarely do rights get given back by a government body. They usually have to be ripped from their cold dead hands.
The countries the AC has listed are governed by right-wring governments, one of them more or less a dictatorship, and all of them take down terrorist content and incitements to violence as fast as they can right now, without the need of any EU directive. Turkey has put tens of thousands of citizens into prison under vague terrorist accusations and there are currently, as we speak, EU actions against Hungary and Poland, because their governments have stifled the press and interfered with the judicial system. Last but not least, the UK has enacted extensive internet surveillance laws and is known to barely protect journalists. In a nutshell, these countries belong to those within the EU that are for more censorship, not against it.
So yeah, the AC's post makes zero sense., even if some US Slashdot mods don't understand that.