After months of debate on the regulation of the network of networks , the European Union has finally approved the new copyright directive, with 348 votes in favour, 274 against and 36 abstentions.
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What does the new regulation entail?
Its theoretical aim is to improve copyright regulations , but in reality it is seen as a serious threat to freedom of expression.
The most important and controversial changes are included in Articles 13 and 11 .
Article 13: The reform requires all content dissemination platforms, such as social networks, to implement copyright filters for all content published and shared on them. band phone number data The filters will check whether the content is subject to copyright and whether the user has permission to upload it. If not, it will be automatically blocked by the social network itself. If the user has the corresponding permission from the author, the content can be shared without any problem, as before.
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Article 11: The new regulations require search engines to pay media outlets for linking to their news , so that publishers of press publications will be able to manage their copyrights, charging those who link to them or use them as a source for using said copyrighted information.
A very controversial regulation.
The new directive has been widely criticised in recent months, including protests and campaigns against it from major companies such as Wikipedia, Google, YouTube, Twitch and Reddit.
One concern is that only the big platforms can afford to create and implement filters of this kind. In this way, we will be giving them even more power than they have on the network. On the other hand, small and medium-sized companies will be the most affected by the directive, since many will not have sufficient means to cope with the change.
Another major concern raised by these changes was whether memes based on copyrighted content could be shared. The regulations specify that “the uploading of protected works to the network for the purpose of quoting, criticizing, reviewing, caricaturing, parodying or imitating them is protected.” This guarantees that they can continue to be shared and published on social networks.
At the user level, if you don't have the permissions and the content passes, the platform will be penalized. If it doesn't pass, we will have to modify it or we will not be able to share it.
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When would the new regulations apply?
The European Council is due to ratify the result of the vote on 9 April.
Member states, including Spain, will have two years to apply this regulation to their national legislation.
Platforms such as Google, clearly affected by this reform, have issued a statement following the decision of the European Parliament. “The Copyright Directive has been improved but will continue to cause legal uncertainties and will harm the creative and digital economies in Europe . The details matter, and we look forward to working with policy makers, publishers, creators and rights holders as EU Member States move forward in implementing these new rules.”
Conclusion
There is no doubt that the Internet and the way we have used it up to now will never be the same again, as the new regulations mean imposing control over the information that we now share in a completely free manner. The Internet becomes more restricted and less creative, which makes it lose its essence to a certain extent .
