For several years now, the European Union has been taking tech companies to task and trying to hold them accountable for their actions by imposing restrictions and attempting to regulate their behavior in some way. The most recent addition to this frenzy of activity involves a controversial bill that had reached the floor of the EU Parliament, a bill that defines copyright laws in a much more in depth manner. Basically, a new copyright law has come into play, and the unique thing about this law is that it will affect internet based content as well. One way in which it’s going to affect internet based content is that Google will have to pay a tax for every link that it adds to its search engine results, ostensibly in an attempt to give news agencies more control over where their content ends up going.
This bill has come under quite a bit of criticism because of the fact that a lot of observers have noted that it might lead to a form of censorship that the internet might not be all that ready for. Basically content hosting platforms are going to be held responsible for the content that users upload, which might make them take extreme measures to regulate this content. All in all, this bill does not bode well for the future of the internet, because it seems to indicate that the internet is going to end up becoming a lot less free than it used to be.
Infographic source: edima-eu.org
EDiMA, a tech lobbying group recently explained that the new reforms will affect a wide range of technology giants from social media platforms like Facebook and Reddit to video hosting services like YouTube and Twitch. While in a recent press release the EDiMA said that:
This bill has come under quite a bit of criticism because of the fact that a lot of observers have noted that it might lead to a form of censorship that the internet might not be all that ready for. Basically content hosting platforms are going to be held responsible for the content that users upload, which might make them take extreme measures to regulate this content. All in all, this bill does not bode well for the future of the internet, because it seems to indicate that the internet is going to end up becoming a lot less free than it used to be.
Infographic source: edima-eu.org
EDiMA, a tech lobbying group recently explained that the new reforms will affect a wide range of technology giants from social media platforms like Facebook and Reddit to video hosting services like YouTube and Twitch. While in a recent press release the EDiMA said that:
"The adoption of the EU Copyright Directive in the European Parliament does not create copyright rules fit for the digital age and will prevent Europe’s consumers and creators from making the most of the online world."
“This legislation does not achieve what it set out to: modernise copyright for the digital era. It undermines existing law, tries to force a licensing business model on open platforms, weakens fundamental privacy and freedom of speech rights of citizens” 👉https://t.co/Hgu32yGl2X pic.twitter.com/ZgZiHxb1eI— EDiMA (@EDiMA_EU) March 26, 2019
