# The EU has approved a copyright law that could change the internet as we know it



## Arranah (Sep 14, 2018)

I'm posting this for your information.  For sometime Google and Amazon etc. have been trying to use intellectual property without the creators' permission and without compensating the creators.  The EU is taking steps against that theft.

The EU has approved a copyright law that could change the internet as we know it


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## Ban (Sep 14, 2018)

Might be good, might be bad, but overall I think a lot of people online are imagining  the impact of this law as far bigger than it in all likelihood will be. A similar law has previously been passed in Germany (I hope I am remembering correctly) , without too much happening as a result of it. And I want anyone who has been reading up on the doomsday theories to remember that this law is still subject to the principles of the EU treaties, and therefore won't spell the end of the internet as we know it.


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## Arranah (Sep 14, 2018)

This is only a beginning.  It had to start somewhere.  What the EU does has no impact on me in the US...at least not at first.  We have to fight for what's right.  I am an author of eleven published books.  No one has the copyright to my books, except me.  No one.  No one has the right to make money off of my work, but me.  No one has the right to do what they want with them, but they will if we don't stop them.


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## Ban (Sep 14, 2018)

I study Europe and I can promise you that this law will not lead to any need to fight for your rights. The court of justice is a powerful institution and will not tolerate any breeches of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, or any of the many articles meant to protect consumers and the european market.


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## Devor (Sep 14, 2018)

Based on my limited reading of the matter, the primary concern is whether this laws puts a burden on EU tech companies that will hold them back when compared to companies operating in other countries.

Everything that I've seen about the law looks like a (possibly overreaching?) effort to protect copyright owners, not infringe on them.


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## Arranah (Sep 14, 2018)

Like I said, I am in the U.S.  Copyright infringements are happening here, now.


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## Ban (Sep 14, 2018)

Alright, but you raised the issue of EU copyright.

I'll just leave it at that.


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## ascanius (Sep 14, 2018)

Ban said:


> Might be good, might be bad, but overall I think a lot of people online are imagining  the impact of this law as far bigger than it in all likelihood will be. A similar law has previously been passed in Germany (I hope I am remembering correctly) , without too much happening as a result of it. And I want anyone who has been reading up on the doomsday theories to remember that this law is still subject to the principles of the EU treaties, and therefore won't spell the end of the internet as we know it.



I don't know about Germany but I know in Spain google news shut down after the link tax went into effect.  I don't remember exactly but I remember reading that the German link tax produced no revenue, people stopped linking.
The biggest problem is the content filtering which simply put are crap.  Go upload public commons, or public domain works to youtube and tell me how long before they are blocked.  This Music Theory Professor Just Showed How Stupid and Broken Copyright Filters Are  will need to pay a tax for that link now too, well mythicscribes does.  


Arranah said:


> This is only a beginning.  It had to start somewhere.  What the EU does has no impact on me in the US...at least not at first.  We have to fight for what's right.  I am an author of eleven published books.  No one has the copyright to my books, except me.  No one.  No one has the right to make money off of my work, but me.  No one has the right to do what they want with them, but they will if we don't stop them.



Lol this is laughable.  In what way does this prevent someone from making money off your work?  Legitimate companies are not pirating your work.  This does nothing to prevent sites that do publish pirated works from disseminating such material.  Where I am TPB is blocked, however I can still get on, there are so many workarounds that it's simply a very long game of wack-a-mole.  

Now lets take the other point of view, you run a small book review site, have 5 employees, keep overhead to a minimal etc, and what profit you do make is paltry compared to expenses, IT services, book costs etc.  Now your site does expose potential readers to new books, such as yours, it may not be on a massive scale but it does it's job.  Scale this up to every individual, and site that does similar ie thousands.  Now this law goes into effect, your are required to pay a link tax, so up goes cost, but the biggest cost is getting software for the web content filter something that only very large tech companies can manage.  I doubt the majority of small sites can absorb such costs especially when they are hobbies for most individuals.  Or imagine running your own site, making no profit and having added costs like this.  I can tell you right now I can't afford it.  All this does is screw the little guy.
You want a better example.  After the EU passed those new privacy laws last year, there are numerous sites I can lo longer access in the US and elsewhere from the EU.  It's simply cheaper and easier to simply block access to EU users.


Devor said:


> Based on my limited reading of the matter, the primary concern is whether this laws puts a burden on EU tech companies that will hold them back when compared to companies operating in other countries.
> 
> Everything that I've seen about the law looks like a (possibly overreaching?) effort to protect copyright owners, not infringe on them.



That is exactly what this is.  It is an attempt by large copyright holders to legislate out the competition.  Look at who this benefits the most, its not the author who gains by exposure that small sites generate.  it's the big companies that get a little extra money and get rid of the small exposure sites.  Look at who is behind this law, it's not the authors, or indie film makers, nor individual small time bands, no its major record labels, Publishing houses and Movie studios.  They have been trying this same crap with the TTP, SOPA, and a whole bunch of other laws in the US, EU, and elsewhere, thankfully they have not passed in most cases.  All the while I can still go to numerous torrent sites, or the dark web and get whatever I want.  

This has far reaching consequences and none of them are good.


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## Devor (Sep 14, 2018)

ascanius said:


> That is exactly what this is.  It is an attempt by large copyright holders to legislate out the competition.



It's common knowledge in the business world that regulation just about always favors big existing companies over small new entries. It's full of rules and fines that bigger companies can adjust for, while every penny spent adjusting for the law counts for the little ones.  Large companies also get a say in these laws, not just because they lobby, but also because they have a huge stake in the industry and society as a whole that politicians have to consider.  Smaller companies, startups and entrepreneurs, the whole thought of future investment, often gets overlooked.

A link tax does sound onerous to me when you consider how easy it is to set up a website outside their jurisdiction.  Although taking your facts for granted, the EU may be large enough to have a big enough impact on the internet that Spain alone couldn't.


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## Demesnedenoir (Sep 17, 2018)

Dunno about this law, but in almost all cases regulations are simply crony capitalism in one form or another. It's funny as hell to watch people yammer about needing to regulate business while at the same time complaining about crony capitalism. That's just one hand shaking another with a shared wink.


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## skip.knox (Sep 17, 2018)

The "web as we know it" has transformed in fundamental ways multiple times since 1990. While I respect Berners-Lee and Cerf (more than the other opinions given in the article), I'd argue the battle was lost long ago. 

As for copyright, that has never been a solid lock. Copyright violations go back as far as copyright law itself. 

I can't judge the law by reading an article, so I won't try. It's good that people watchdog this sort of thing, but no amount of careful arguing and earnest pleading kept governments from changing things in 1993-95. I tend to regard all this as an on-going experiment of trying to build the airplane as we fly it.


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## Steerpike (Sep 18, 2018)

Arranah said:


> I'm posting this for your information.  For sometime Google and Amazon etc. have been trying to use intellectual property without the creators' permission and without compensating the creators.  The EU is taking steps against that theft.
> 
> The EU has approved a copyright law that could change the internet as we know it



This is a bad law. The people pushing this sort of thing are doing so at the behest of big-money legacy content owners, and at the expense of smaller creatives and the public at large. Cory Doctorow does a decent take-down here:

Not in our name: Why European creators must oppose the EU's proposal to limit linking and censor the internet

There are other places to read up on this as well, including the EFF and TechDirt.


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