Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
EU The Internet Technology

Internet Luminaries Urge EU To Kill Off Automated Copyright Filter Proposal (theregister.co.uk) 40

A large group of Internet pioneers have sent an open letter to the European Union urging it to scrap a proposal to introduce automated upload filters, arguing that it could damage the internet as we know it. The Register: The European Parliament's Legal Affairs (Juri) Committee will vote on the proposal contained in Article 13 of the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive next week. The proposal would see all companies that "store and provide to the public access to large amounts of works" obliged to "prevent the availability... of works... identified by rightholders." Despite the inclusion of language that says such measures need to be "appropriate and proportionate," it has caused many to worry that the law will lead to a requirement for all platforms to introduce automated content filtering, and shift liability for any copyrighted material that appears online from the user that posts it to the platform itself.

"By inverting this liability model and essentially making platforms directly responsible for ensuring the legality of content in the first instance, the business models and investments of platforms large and small will be impacted," warns the letter [PDF] signed by "Father of the Internet" Vint Cerf, world world web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, as well a host of other internet luminaries including Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales, security expert Bruce Schneier and net neutrality namer Tim Wu.

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Internet Luminaries Urge EU To Kill Off Automated Copyright Filter Proposal

Comments Filter:
  • by Alwin Barni ( 5107629 ) on Tuesday June 12, 2018 @02:30PM (#56773334)
    How about getting rid of writable media tax first?
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
  • My invitation must have gotten lost in the mail.

    • by dissy ( 172727 )

      My invitation must have gotten lost in the mail.

      Actually I submitted the invitation hash-signature to the new copyright system claiming it as my own.

      Until the EU settles up the fine they owe me, they won't be allowed to upload it to you :P
      Sorry about that!

  • Next EU Problem (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SmaryJerry ( 2759091 ) on Tuesday June 12, 2018 @02:39PM (#56773420)
    Even if they win this argument and individuals are liable for their own copyright infringement, the next argument will be then as a website you have to be able to identify the person who uploaded to your service so the infringing person can be prosecuted. I foresee the days of anonymity gone soon (10 years or less) in the EU's internet.
    • Eventually the Internet will be restricted to access by only an approved set of devices and for consumption of media only by the end user. If you don't think that will happen, you haven't been paying attention. After all, think of the children, and the terrorists and the copyright holders.
    • So then it's time to re-invent the internet.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Yes but at least pointing to a user account is easy

      The problem with this copyright nonsense is that copyright holders pay very little for the privilege, and the government expects everyone else to enforce it for them on their own dime

      Screw that - if a copyright holder wants me to filter content on my site, they can pay me. Maybe they need , like , a copyright association that will make all these deals , instead of wasting time with cease and desist letters.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Actually they already won, they just don't seem to have realized it.

      I've been following these rules as they develop. The early draft did have a requirement for websites to actively filter new content for copyright infringement, based on submissions by copyright holders. That was removed ages ago, but people still seem to be panicking about it for some reason.

      There is a requirement to remove infringing material after it has been reported, the same as the DMCA. The DMCA isn't great, but it's main flaw is peop

  • If you host anything of relevance in the EU, you must have a death wish.

    • by Calydor ( 739835 )

      But where are we supposed to host things anymore? Between Net Neutrality going away in the US, the EU and UK wanting to clamp down hard on controlling what can and can't exist on the internet, which well-connected territory should we look towards for hosting today?

      • But where are we supposed to host things anymore?

        North Korea!

        They're (nuclear) tanned, rested and ready!

        This was one of the under-reported issue of the Trump / Kim summit . . . along with supporting ZTE in China, the USA will now promote Internet hosting in North Korea!

        As to halting its nuclear ambitions . . . Kim is "currently implementing plans to size the effort" . . .

      • Canada

  • by xanthos ( 73578 ) <[xanthos] [at] [toke.com]> on Tuesday June 12, 2018 @03:48PM (#56773708)
    I have faith in the Internet to perform its most basic function: to resiliently get a packet from point A to point B.

    Governments and corporations are welcome to erect whatever barriers they see fit to raise, but they will be effective only until they become onerous. Then, as has happened before, an enterprising geek will find a way to rip, decss, vpn, tor, p2p, IPV6 their way around or through the barriers.

    The Internet is not regulated, the Internet can not be effectively regulated and serve its intended purpose.
    • Then, as has happened before, an enterprising geek will find a way to rip, decss, vpn, tor, p2p, IPV6 their way around or through the barriers.

      A lot of policies aren't about stopping dedicated geeks, they're about raising the technical knowledge, time requirement, and risk level to the point where only a small number of geeks are doing it.

      • by Anonymous Coward

        And once the number is sufficiently low, it will be easier to detect and prosecute them. You cannot fine hundreds of thousands people for significant sums, but you can destroy the lives of a dozen nerds.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Actually, it can be if you control all the ingress/egress points.

      And that's exactly what is going to happen.

      So, at that point in time, you're going to be completely fucked with that line of thinking.

      (See china)

  • by Anonymous Coward

    The EU is about restoring the a Roman Emperor and the monarchies. Not blatantly but effectively. Don't think so? All countries except England were not democratic until the US won WW2 and basically humiliated them into it. France not until the 1960s. So, not long after an EU parliament turns up and acts effectively like the ancient Roman Senate. No one really gets a look in.

    Greek elections are overturned by Germany, in return France works a 20 hour week and Germany pays its bills. EU Laws prevent English fa

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • by Anonymous Coward

    Internet users tired of the EU being a collection of idiots, urges EU to kill itself off...

"The vast majority of successful major crimes against property are perpetrated by individuals abusing positions of trust." -- Lawrence Dalzell

Working...