Slashdot Mirror
European Commission Gives Final Seal of Approval To Copyright Law Overhaul (variety.com)
The European Commission, the European Union's executive body, has approved a long-gestating major reform to copyright law, which had already been passed by the European Parliament last month. From a report: The overhaul contains two controversial provisions that will make online platforms liable for illegal uploading of copyright-protected content on their sites, as well as force Google, Facebook and other digital companies to pay publishers for press articles they post online. "With today's agreement, we are making copyright rules fit for the digital age. Europe will now have clear rules that guarantee fair remuneration for creators, strong rights for users and responsibility for platforms," said European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker. According to the French newspaper Le Monde, six countries -- Italy, Finland, Sweden, Luxembourg, Poland and the Netherlands -- voted again the reform.
... and everywhere.
And then rapidly become a basic part of normal browsers, used by default. Not just for end users, but also hosting content.
Culture flows through free expression. People refer to well-produced works. Places like Youtube are already becoming nearly useless for sharing basic culture because of laws like this - seemingly any reference to a popular work is becoming forbidden - or just random information since anything can be claimed by almost anyone.
So - the answer isn't to not share culture. The answer is to openly disdain and technically dismiss these attempts to contain culture.
I have zero interest in defending EU legislation and much less one about copyright (e.g., all my public activity can be considered public domain). But I think that there is a lot of misinformation online, perhaps even provoked by some interested parties. I found this Q&A from the European Parliament very informative.
Custom Solvers 2.0 = Alvaro Carballo Garcia = varocarbas.
Honestly, anyone who legitimately thought Trump would 'drain the swamp' deserves a slap upside the head. Of all the things he promised, that was the most laughable.
Two countries, Germany and Spain, already tried to pull this stunt before. Germany was first, and Google retaliated by making companies sign a thing stating that if Google was to host those snippets they would do it licence free. Spain didn't like that so they made sure Google couldn't do that in their country. Google was like fine, guess what, we aren't hosting your news snippets at all. Spain complained, tried to take Google to court and told the judges that Google wasn't being fair, because them not hosting such content was hurting tons of business. Courts told Spain Google don't have to do business with anyone they don't want to do business with. In the end news companies in Spain were losing far far more money by not having their content hosted because Google wouldn't pay for license vs going license free.