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EU-INTERNET-MEDIA-COPYRIGHT
EU Parliament rejects copyright law in win for US tech giants
BRUSSELS, July 5, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The European Parliament rejected
Thursday a highly controversial EU copyright law proposal that has pitted
Beatles legend Paul McCartney against internet giants and the creators of
Wikipedia.
Lawmakers are now expected to return in September to the plans, which are
aimed at ensuring creators of creative content — whether music, movies or
news — are paid fairly in a digital world.
The draft law was firmly resisted by major US tech giants as well as
advocates of internet freedom, with some campaigners warning it could even
spell the end of viral “memes” or jokes.
“Today’s vote represents a victory for democracy,” said Siada El Ramly,
head of EDiMA, a lobby representing Google, Facebook and other US tech
giants.
Members of European Parliament meeting in the eastern French city of
Strasbourg voted 318 against the measure, 278 in favour, with 31 abstentions.
The vote would have given MEPs the mandate to start negotiations with
member states for a finalised law which Austria, holder of the EU’s six-month
rotating presidency, would like finished by the end of the year.
“Today’s vote is not a vote against the text itself but a vote to open new
discussions in parliament,” said Greens MEP Pascal Durand.
“We want a more balanced text that protects copyright, fundamental
freedoms and the indispensable freedom of the net,” he said.
MEPs from France who had staunchly backed fast-tracking the reform, were
furious after the vote. US tech giants “who steal from artists and pay no
taxes, have won a battle,” said MEP Pervenche Beres.
MEP Marc Joulaud denounced “a lobbying campaign of unprecedented violence
orchestrated by US tech giants.”
“Citizens were manipulated by playing on their fears, MEPs were equated
with military censors, insulted and received death threats,” he said.
– McCartney urges help –
The two most disputed aspects of the reform are an effort to boost revenue
for hard-up news publishers and a crackdown on the illegal use of copyrighted
material on tech platforms such as Google-owned Youtube or Facebook.
Major publishers, including AFP, have pushed for the news media reform —
known as article 11 — seeing it as an urgently needed solution against a
backdrop of free online news that has wiped-out earnings for traditional
media companies.
But opponents have called it a “link tax” that will stifle discourse on
the Internet.
Resistance has been especially heated to Article 13: the proposal to make
online platforms legally liable for copyrighted material put on the web by
users.
Music legend McCartney as well as major music labels and film studios had
lobbied politicians urging them to come together and back the changes.
McCartney wrote to MEPs accusing some internet platforms of refusing to
compensate artists for their work “while they exploit it for their own
profit.”
He added that the issue “jeopardises the music ecosystem”.
But critics said the reform will lead to blanket censorship by tech
platforms that have become an online hub for creativity, especially Youtube.
It would also restrict the usage of memes and remixes by everyday internet
surfers, they said.
Wikipedia went down in at least three countries on Wednesday in a protest
at the upcoming vote.
BSS/AFP/RY/1858 hrs