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Wikimedia warns EU copyright reform threatens the ‘vibrant free web’

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Re: Wikimedia warns EU copyright reform threatens the ‘vibrant free web’

#41

EU builds a good reputation after setting a good standard with GDPR, some politicians started talking about copying it which made me happy. Now I'm scared again wondering what would happen if they go through with this and politicians everywhere start copying it.

Good reputation for what? Government interference in the free web? GDPR was just the first step. Open your eyes.

Succinct! Great reply.

Re: Wikimedia warns EU copyright reform threatens the ‘vibrant free web’

#43

EU builds a good reputation after setting a good standard with GDPR, some politicians started talking about copying it which made me happy. Now I'm scared again wondering what would happen if they go through with this and politicians everywhere start copying it.

Good reputation for what? Government interference in the free web? GDPR was just the first step. Open your eyes.

Lmao because we've seen how well a web operated on the free market works.

Re: Wikimedia warns EU copyright reform threatens the ‘vibrant free web’

#44
post #42

Can we just agree to silo off the EU? Why should foreign companies have to comply with these policies anyway? GDPR compliance has already had a negative impact on web UX.

>Why should foreign companies have to comply with these policies anyway?

Because they want revenue from EU citizens? Should a car company from China have to comply to US safety regulations when selling cars to US citizens?

>GDPR compliance has already had a negative impact on web UX.

Nah. I've switched off tracking on every website I use often via the popups and I've noticed much faster loading. Imo GDPR has made the web experience better.

Re: Wikimedia warns EU copyright reform threatens the ‘vibrant free web’

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wikipedia is about the only major non-ad supported website that normal people visit. Which costs $69 million per year to operate, has 300+ employees and requires six million donations. Your example also isn't free. > Most user content is probably on Facebook or Medium Medium is less than 1% the size of Wordpress, both in terms of traffic and amount of content. The majority of all content on Wordpress sites is ad fr…

There should be a better mechanism for funding sites like Wikipedia that provide what is effectively a global, common, public good. Perhaps a budget from the UN or something should be set aside for funding projects like Wikimedia, Archive.org, etc. It’s a bit ridiculous that something so important to so many people relies on donations from individuals.

Something like what the Brave browser is trying to do with crypto could be the answer but then again it's "crypto".

Re: Wikimedia warns EU copyright reform threatens the ‘vibrant free web’

#46

EU builds a good reputation after setting a good standard with GDPR, some politicians started talking about copying it which made me happy. Now I'm scared again wondering what would happen if they go through with this and politicians everywhere start copying it.

Good reputation for what? Government interference in the free web? GDPR was just the first step. Open your eyes.

Honestly curious what definition of "free" you're using here? Are you saying that anything moving away from uncontrolled anarchy is cutting away freedom and we therefore shouldn't do that?

The government forbids you to make a company spying in people bathrooms and sell the pictures, would you say that's interference in your free life as well?

Re: Wikimedia warns EU copyright reform threatens the ‘vibrant free web’

#47
post #42

Can we just agree to silo off the EU? Why should foreign companies have to comply with these policies anyway? GDPR compliance has already had a negative impact on web UX.

Imagine a scenario where this passes. Larger companies in the US and elsewhere are able to put in place "filtering" to comply with the mandate, but then other smaller companies simply turn off the EU.

When it comes to regulations, larger companies have the will and resources to meet them. Stifling competition and becoming dominant in the marketplace.

Sure, some commentators will argue that SaaS products can popup to fill the "filtering" requirements. But it could be something that companies just simply cannot afford to implement and again, we're back to blocking off the EU.

The knock on effect is that at least for EU content, startups will have yet another hurdle to get off the ground.

Now, when the rest of the world starts to block off the EU and EU customers start seeing their access being limited as time goes on. It may or may not cause a backlash. Who knows at this point.

As a solo-founder who is working on a startup that is hugely impacted by this. I really hope this does not pass. If it does, oh well. I'll shrug and postpone EU participation until my company is able to afford the extra cost.

Re: Wikimedia warns EU copyright reform threatens the ‘vibrant free web’

#48
post #42

Can we just agree to silo off the EU? Why should foreign companies have to comply with these policies anyway? GDPR compliance has already had a negative impact on web UX.

>Why should foreign companies have to comply with these policies anyway? Because they want revenue from EU citizens? Should a car company from China have to comply to US safety regulations when selling cars to US citizens? >GDPR compliance has already had a negative impact on web UX. Nah. I've switched off tracking on every website I use often via the popups and I've noticed much faster loading. Imo GDPR has made the…

> Should a car company from China have to comply to US safety regulations when selling cars to US citizens?

In your example, the car company is implicitly selling to a foreign country. When it comes to software/websites, a user from a foreign country is incidentally served rather than implicitly.

Re: Wikimedia warns EU copyright reform threatens the ‘vibrant free web’

#49
post #32

What's with all the comments supporting censorship all of sudden? Every social media site now has hordes of "people" defending censorship. Is it just more european users on social media now? Or is it just government funded trolling? I just don't get it. Saudi arabia just declared online satire as a cybercrime punishable up to 5 years in prison. https://www.france24.com/en/20180904-saudi-arabia-declares-o... We know h…

For real? I was with you until you started trying to sell me the US a good example - if your freedom is so exceptional why...

...do you have an abyssimal rate of reintegration of ex-prisoners to literally every other Western country?

...do you have a president who actively recommends violence against journalists?

...is an absolute majority of your news stations owned by one mega-corp?

But we don't even have to go there. It's even in your comment:

You are in the most free country, so the best path is to cut the freedom to communicate globally?

Of course, you're writing this from your US-made phone, no parts from China, no ressources from Africa/Middle East. It was delivered by foot I guess, since who needs cars (crappy German engineering)? It's also impressing how you write stuff in HackerNews without even needing THE INTERNET (filthy Brits)!

I actually believe that a lot of problem would be long solved if people would spend less time convincing themself how superior their random place of birth is!

Re: Wikimedia warns EU copyright reform threatens the ‘vibrant free web’

#50

Wikipedia is contributing to the slow death of what could have been, and almost was, a web of independent pages maintained by individuals and groups. I have had a recurring experience of skimming a Wikipedia article, only to get the feeling that the text is familiar - then tracking it down to the book or article that it was lifted from, without attribution. If a "vibrant free web" means routine copyright theft commit…

There's actually an, at least arguable, point in your first sentence before you get to the copyright infringement. And there's a whole round-robin of content (or just "facts") being lifted from Wikipedia to put on other sites and from other sites to be put on Wikipedia that's often hard to sort out.

There is a broader point that centralization of content being found by search engines isn't ideal--even if Wikipedia were more pristine than it is a lot of the time.

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