Copyright Directive Panic

[actualWeeaboo]

I can honestly empathise in being terrified of how the freedom of the internet may get censored or abused from here on. After the Net Neutrality stuff that happened in the US recently, I got really concerned about how that sort of thing might actually go through and spread to other countries.

Because of how much the internet means to me, and does for me, I shudder at the idea that it could become a restricted place.

I'm bad at keeping up with worldly events, so I generally don't know much about this EU situation at the moment apart from the 'memes are actually going to be banned!!!' junk I've been hearing - which sounds both horrifying and hilariously ridiculous at the same time - but I really don't think it's gonna be that crazy. I may just be talking out of my butt with all this, but I see this whole thing as negative, though not particularly alarming yet. I mean, what can they do? Shitposters and creators aren't gonna stand idly by and let THAT sort of thing happen - it's guaranteed that people would find workarounds.

Besides, like... I know barely anything about law-related stuff, but unless a piece of fan media is being used for monetary gain, shouldn't a lot of creations fall under fair use anyway? Memes, particularly, would without a doubt fall under 'parody or satire' - fair use! Otherwise, censorship often comes from direct wishes of a creator, so unless every media studio on Earth decides they no longer want their fans to have fun with their works, I don't think you should worry about that too much.

Unless you like some of those really stingy game companies, ahahah~

I mean, if we're looking at copyright censorship, YouTube's been doing that forever. YouTube's video removal already happens, no matter what country you're in. If a company doesn't want your content up, they'll strike it. How ridiculous, unnecessary and difficult is it gonna be to keep track of every piece of content on every part of the web? It'll take a long time to sort out even just what the big tech have on their sites alone. Ahaha~

Also, don't VPNs allow users to 'change' a region they're in? Surely if it actually becomes insanely impossible for EU users to retain online freedom, they can utilise those sorts of services. Heck, people will continue to make more of these services available (and better!) to combat that sort of insanity. The amount of online content is incomprehensibly huge and the internet is chock-full of clever folks who want to use it!

[FrankT]

I haven't even started on what kind of effect this'll have on the economy. It'll come crashing down!

[nomorepanic]

I really don't think that is going to happen Frank.

[Fishmanpa]

I really don't think that is going to happen Frank.

Exactly. Do you really think Europe or any other country or continent would accept that?

Positive thoghts

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yes, that is entirely possible. But that's an easier thing to solve - unlike this.

GDPR wasn't much of anything and I'm unsure why some sites are having trouble with it. It is annoying though, constantly being asked to approve cookies every time you go onto certain sites.

I think with this one it will be a matter of seeing what comes out as the final agreement because I just can't see how they can police billions of people linking to any site in the world unless they are going to start blocking non EU sites and even then it's easy enough for someone inside the EU to infringe this over the top element of copyright by linking to an image without permission.

I suppose one way they can get around that is just ensure their site disclaimers are up to date. That covers all material on the site and whether you can copy. They could just add some extra text about whether they allow links or not.

The whole meme and mixing copyrighted music I'm less clear on. We already have copyright laws for the music and if those laws already state you can't do this, what is the issue with this legislation? Is it infringing on personal use?

The tax part is an area to be concerned about because it could affect every internet user. I link to tons of information on here and will continue to do so. But will sites I post, the NHS is one, just add it to their disclaimers that I am entitled to do so hence I avoid being taxed? How on earth can they collect it? What about the revenue chasing side chasing a new pence of billions of users?

That element sounds a bit like the government's mad announcements about chasing small traders for black market work...which is ludicrous.

[FrankT]

Exactly. Do you really think Europe or any other country or continent would accept that?

Positive thoghts

Yes, I do!

The whole meme and mixing copyrighted music I'm less clear on. We already have copyright laws for the music and if those laws already state you can't do this, what is the issue with this legislation? Is it infringing on personal use?

Yes, it is!

[MyNameIsTerry]

I haven't even started on what kind of effect this'll have on the economy. It'll come crashing down!

It really won't. The economy is a lot larger than this. And besides, the economy got on well enough long before the internet.

[FrankT]

But... all those start-ups! Those little ma-&-pa businesses? All trampled underfoot by the big guys!

[axolotl]

I'm struggling to see the logic of how Article 13 will do anything to the economy? It's shortsighted legislation that will hopefully fall by the wayside to a certain degree when people realise just how unworkable it is in real life.

I work with copyright to a certain degree in my line of work and it's a complex business already. But these articles will be interpreted by lawyers in member states. It's not like people will go "no, we have to slump into an economic decline because subclause seven on paragraph three of Article 13 says we have to!".

People are bothered about this because the wording is vague and how it could be interpreted could lead to a crackdown on certain innocent online practices. But theres been many instances of what sound like insanely tight copyright laws that have been softened and clarified by case law.

So by all means write to your MP or MEP about your concerns and add your voice to the dissent, sign petitions, etc., but don't be unduly scared by this. Your anxiety has allowed this to be blown out of all proportion and the dystopian vision of society it's popped in your head is overblown and unnecessary.

[FrankT]

What's the point, it's not like they're going to listen...