James Delahunty
22 Jan 2019 20:34
The European Union's controversial copyright reforms came to a stall this week after member states failed to agree to the changes.
A meeting had been scheduled for Monday between European Commission officials, member state representatives, and MEPs but was canceled after member states rebuffed the latest directive. That happened on Friday when eleven countries opposed the latest draft as had been written up by Romania.
At the core of the objections are the notorious Article 11 and Article 13. In summary, Article 11 could see search engines and social media platforms forced to pay publishers for snippets of content and links - a so-called "link tax." Article 13 mandates the use of content upload filters similar to YouTube's Content ID in order to prevent copyright infringement.
The changes have been strongly opposed by web giants like Google and Facebook, who argue that they are likely to harm creators. Digital rights' activists and web entrepreneurs argued that the filtering required by Article 13 is beyond the resources of smaller web firms and start-ups. There are also concerns that content that should not be filtered out for copyright purposes, such as memes, could be affected by content upload filters.
Andrus Ansip, the digital affairs commissioner, said he was disappointed at the delay and added that reform is crucial.
"All involved parties have a huge responsibility: Playing lightly now with a 'No deal is better than my own maximalist position' as I read sometimes from position statements, is dangerous and irresponsible," he said, reports Reuters.
The European Publishers Council, European Newspaper Publishers' Association and the European Magazine Media Association all accused Google of scaremongering in its opposition to the changes.