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EU Countries Back Copyright Reforms Aimed at Google, Facebook

reuters.com

11–20 of 183 posts

Re: EU Countries Back Copyright Reforms Aimed at Google, Facebook

#11

This is sad and disgusting, our speech is being limited completely unfairly and without our consent and we're being told that it's a good thing. The fact that they're trying to package it as some sort of well-deserved revenge against silicon valley big tech is just tasteless. The EU's big gripe against these companies is their tax situation, if they really wanted to change that then they'd be looking into a unified a…

I wanted to add that, in the US, it isn't primarily the constitution that protects its freedoms, but rather the structure of their government and how it's been setup for gridlock among all the parties involved (not that that property has been preserved too well of late). Antonin Scalia explained it really well in one of his appearances in front of a Senate Judiciary Committee: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggz_gd--UO0

I admit to not fully understanding the intricacies of the EU system but, on the surface, it does appear to be setup for much lower friction when attempting to pass sweeping legislation like this one.

Re: EU Countries Back Copyright Reforms Aimed at Google, Facebook

#13
post #5

I have been searching for this but couldn't find any answer, let's say a company has a generic public platform where people can upload text, images, videos, audio, ... how are they supposed to be able to check for copyright infringment against every single upload? I know that Youtube has its own content id system, but for anyone without YT's resouces, is ther any 3rd party service to which you can pass content and ge…

I heard that voiced as a worry, and the logic goes something like this: A small organisation that does not have the capability (money or otherwise) to implement their own content filter, have to look elsewhere for it. Where to go? Probably Google, etc, once they start selling those services. So the net effect will not be negative for the big companies (if those now are the actual target for the copyright directive), since they will now instead have a new market to exploit; small organisations burdened by the content filter requirements demanded by the copyright directive.

Re: EU Countries Back Copyright Reforms Aimed at Google, Facebook

#14
post #11

This is sad and disgusting, our speech is being limited completely unfairly and without our consent and we're being told that it's a good thing. The fact that they're trying to package it as some sort of well-deserved revenge against silicon valley big tech is just tasteless. The EU's big gripe against these companies is their tax situation, if they really wanted to change that then they'd be looking into a unified a…

I wanted to add that, in the US, it isn't primarily the constitution that protects its freedoms, but rather the structure of their government and how it's been setup for gridlock among all the parties involved (not that that property has been preserved too well of late). Antonin Scalia explained it really well in one of his appearances in front of a Senate Judiciary Committee: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggz_gd--…

> I wanted to add that, in the US, it isn't primarily the constitution that protects its freedoms, but rather the structure of their government and how it's been setup for gridlock among all the parties involved

That protects established injustices as much as it protects established freedoms. Perhaps more, since the fundamental structure incorporates a number of injustices.

Re: EU Countries Back Copyright Reforms Aimed at Google, Facebook

#15
post #5

I have been searching for this but couldn't find any answer, let's say a company has a generic public platform where people can upload text, images, videos, audio, ... how are they supposed to be able to check for copyright infringment against every single upload? I know that Youtube has its own content id system, but for anyone without YT's resouces, is ther any 3rd party service to which you can pass content and ge…

This is still not final, but startups and small business should be exempted from the law. But I guess there are still many platforms in the middle: big enough to not fall in the exempted category, but too small to build their own content id system. Paradoxically, Google/Facebook could profit A LOT from this.

Re: EU Countries Back Copyright Reforms Aimed at Google, Facebook

#16
This is what I despise about "news". If this was china or russia or venezuela, etc, the headline would be "China tightens grip on their people" or "International community concerned as China becomes more authoritarian" or "Pro freedom activists protest against China's draconian censorship". It would be spun as something more ominous than "reform". But reuters being reuters and also a major supporter of censorship, of course spins it in a pro-censorship manner. Also, considering that google and facebook support these "reforms", how are they "aiming" it at them? These laws will entrench google and facebook and secure their monopoly positions. The biggest beneficiaries of these laws are google and facebook and of course large media companies, like reuters.

I wonder what the headline would be if reuters and the news industry was against these "reforms".

Re: EU Countries Back Copyright Reforms Aimed at Google, Facebook

#17
post #5

I have been searching for this but couldn't find any answer, let's say a company has a generic public platform where people can upload text, images, videos, audio, ... how are they supposed to be able to check for copyright infringment against every single upload? I know that Youtube has its own content id system, but for anyone without YT's resouces, is ther any 3rd party service to which you can pass content and ge…

> how are they supposed to be able to check for copyright infringment against every single upload?

With an upload filter, which is obvious to technically inclined people (I'm not talking about you) and is denied by the supporters of this

BTW thank France for wanting ridiculous exceptions and Germany (#Merkelfilter) for caving up to them

Re: EU Countries Back Copyright Reforms Aimed at Google, Facebook

#18
post #5

I have been searching for this but couldn't find any answer, let's say a company has a generic public platform where people can upload text, images, videos, audio, ... how are they supposed to be able to check for copyright infringment against every single upload? I know that Youtube has its own content id system, but for anyone without YT's resouces, is ther any 3rd party service to which you can pass content and ge…

> how are they supposed to be able to check for copyright infringment against every single upload? They aren't. You can't. I'm not sure if this is an oversight, or deliberate -- the law was written by lots of people, so the truth is probably in-between -- but your best bet is to avoid the EU, or stick to major hosting providers like YouTube.

i deeply hope, as a EU citizen, that reddit, youtube, and all other platforms kill access by EU citizens the day this law takes effect.

Shouldn't take longer than a Week to get this rolled back.

Re: EU Countries Back Copyright Reforms Aimed at Google, Facebook

#19

This is sad and disgusting, our speech is being limited completely unfairly and without our consent and we're being told that it's a good thing. The fact that they're trying to package it as some sort of well-deserved revenge against silicon valley big tech is just tasteless. The EU's big gripe against these companies is their tax situation, if they really wanted to change that then they'd be looking into a unified a…

Europe has a long history of shooting itself in the foot with respect to copyright. No need to blame the EU in this case.

Relatively short copyrights are good for culture. You need a common understanding to build upon to produce new works. A long time ago, Europe moved to have lifetime-plus copyright terms.

Its not all bad though. For a long time, the reproduction and distribution of copyrighted material was expensive. Digital media and the internet mostly solved those issues.

Long copyright terms remain a problem, but there are plenty of opportunities for smaller parties to distribute content.

Re: EU Countries Back Copyright Reforms Aimed at Google, Facebook

#20
post #9

Create. Produce original content. Keep the copyright. Don't consume canned content.

Fair use exists. This law makes it illegal to use clips of a movie in critiquing it, or cut snippets of images to form a collage, or point to examples of art, film, and music in an educational setting.

Copyright was never intended to be pervasive and absolute. Copyright is supposed to protect the commercial potential of the original work by keeping people from making copies that supplant the market for the original, ie, piracy. Content filters and link taxes are a bastardization of Copyright.

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