Today was the final vote on the infamous article 13 and 11 law proposals of the EU, and the results are in. 348 to 274 voted in favor of the law, which will now lead to the law proposal to be presented to the European Council, who has said it will approve the measure.
So what's going to happen now? First of all, after the European Council will approve the law, it will take 2 years for the law to be implemented, after which it will be in effect. Until then, we're free to do as we always did. After that, no-one is sure what it'll truly mean, as you probably are well aware of by now, critics fear this will lead to internet censorship.
As for what it means for the UK in terms of article 13 considering the Brexit, that is still unknown.
As a summary, the fear surrounding article 13 (which has now been renumbered to 17 due to the legal numbering system) stems from the fact that now platforms have to monitor the content users post to check for copyrighted content, giving the platforms the responsibility of blocking out copyrighted content, rather than the user.
From this, one can deduce that possibly, the only way for this to happen could be constant monitoring. Considering using actual humans to do this is not only very time intensive, it's also very expensive, and is very likely to be impossible. So the next most reasonable method would be automatic filtering.
Now this automatic filtering is where the fear stems from. Critics claim that we currently lack the technology to make a perfect filter system. In fact, the most advanced filter system is YouTube's system, which is far from perfect. It constantly gives false positives, and also allows copyright-infringing content through. Due to the repercussions platforms may face, critics fear that they'd rather be safe than sorry, and rather put up with the false positives rather than risking letting copyright-infringing through.
Now, what is feared is that in this way, content such as memes, fan art, music remixes and covers, code sharing, game streaming and let's plays, discussion, parody, writing and such may be picked up by this filter and blocked out. This is why the article 13 proposal has also been dubbed the "meme ban." That is a fear I personally and definitely share.
Now, there ARE exempts from this law. Any platforms who comply to the following will be exempt from this law:
1. A startup that has been active for less than three years 2. A Website with an annual turnover below €10 million 3. A website with less than 5 million monthly unique visitors
Please note that the platform will have to comply to ALL of these three points, meaning that in practice, truly any platform older than 3 years will have to comply to article 13.
Which brings us to the next point. The cost. As you may know, YouTube is owned by Google. In order to develop YouTube's filter system, it cost Google $100 million, and even then the filter is still imperfect. As you may be aware of, a startup simply does not have the means to develop a filter system of their own, considering the cost. Ironically, part of the reason this law was proposed was to limit Google's power in the market, but critics claim that making such a filter system virtually mandatory will just lead to Google licensing their filter system to other platforms, possibly giving Google even more power than it had before.
However, that is not the main reason. The main idea is to protect the copyrighted works of artists, whose works are being hosted on many platforms without permission or compensation. Most notably, the music corporations support article 13.
While the attempt to rework the copyright law to give proper compensation to those who deserve it are admirable, the possibilities of the aforementioned fears coming true make it not the ideal revision. That's why I've been trying to spread the information around article 13, have contacted MEPs made sure to vote for a party who were against article 13, and even invested money in advertisement to raise awareness. Because if there is one thing I fear, limiting freedom of expression would be it. Whether it would be for someone else or for me, I cannot sit idly by knowing that artists are endangered. There are not many things I would report about to the online public, but I felt mentioning article 13 was warranted considering I truly love being an artist, and there's nothing that hurts me more than seeing other innocent artists being tormented or even being shut down by factors out of their control. And I will not stand for anyone or anything that'll cause them to do so.
I do wish to reiterate that this all is ultimately speculation, and that no-one really knows for sure exactly what's going to happen. I am, however, of the opinion that this matter should not be taken lightly, and that it would be better to consider the worst case scenario as a definite possibility. It's always better to voice your concerns early on than when it's too late. After all, you can never avoid a possibility if you never see it as a possibility. When it comes down to your way of life, always be critical of change. What may not seem like a big deal and unlikely to happen may very well be the very thing that will ruin your life later on if you choose to overlook it.
As this will be my final report on article 13 until major developments, I would like to give my thanks to anyone and everyone who supported the endeavors against article 13, no matter how big or small. Thanks to all who commented on my article 13 the past few months expressing concern. And a special shoutout to Julia Reda, who pretty much spearheaded this entire movement and kept us all up to date on the developments.
Thank you very much for reading, and may we all get mercy, and not shut down.
... this law and the EU will burn... they have made dissent on the internet illegal... and violence will become the only option left... but if the EU elections get rid of everyone who voted for the law and reverse it forever... that will be good... but if that doesn't happen... god help us all
... this law and the EU will burn... they have made dissent on the internet illegal... and violence
