So, after last time, things have become worse. Article 13 breezed through the initial group of politicians judging it, and it's being raced into service. This is bad for obvious reasons, the least of which is that it would end everything as we know it. If you didn't get the memo- This act would ban the upload of anything which was not wholly owned by you. Parodies would no longer be permitted, images or clips which were used for reasons of criticism would be barred. Livestreaming would be ended for good, fan creations would be shut down before they even start and memes would become a thing of the past.
However, that is just the tip of the iceberg. Linking articles, using social media, online platforms, even blogs like this would be made impossible by this. I could try to run this purely on personal commentary and fan theories, and the chances are that I could no longer fulfill this. The entire internet would be run by bots, the likes of which have all but ruined Youtube. All of that abuse, all of those problems, all the ineffective, ill advised and damaging measures implemented out of laziness would plague every part of the online space. To be blunt here, if we lose this one, we lose everything.
If you value any part of the internet and wish for it to continue within Europe, then click here. The website there is dedicated to opposing this. It offers you full information on these measures, and does most of the work for you by showing who you should contact to sway their opinion. Your e-mails matter, and even if you cannot type it for yourself (though I highly advise that you do), then there is a pre-written design ready to use. Write to them - but do not spam them - and make your opinion known in a polite but extremely clear manner.
We have until the 4th of July to object to this. We cannot allow outdated and easily abused laws such as this to ruin livelihoods and a new wave of media which has opened so many doors to others.
Stuff like this makes me extremely glad that I do not live in Europe (I'm a Canadian) but of course that doesn't mean this won't affect people like me. I really don't see why people as a whole think that the world will become better by trying to safeguard the internet. Even if we want to boil it down to the smallest of excuses, that of making sure people and criminals cannot visit sites that help them circumvent/break the law, all that happens is they'll just turn to using proxy servers.
ReplyDeleteFor a good example of this all we need to do is take a look at China. They currently attempt to restrict the internet, yet there are many people who've found ways around that thanks to their proxy servers which allow them to look up whatever they want, while becoming much harder to track in the process. Article 13 will force these people to use these services, in short causing them to become better criminals in the process. I can think of no reason to support any bill that would take away an individual's ability to share what they think/make, and especially not when it unwittingly forces criminals to become better at what they do.
oh it's not about safeguarding anything, it's just about control, that's it. Some companies dislike the internet, hell a fair few do now, and the fact it robs them of power. So, things like this are rushed through to prevent them from getting away from that power, no matter how mishandled and ill suited these laws are to actually do what's suggested. I mean, hell, the one thing they keep harping on about is how this will "protect creators" and further defend their works. If anything, it's going to destroy a fair few thousand full-time jobs, and an essential source of additional revenue for those either hunting for new jobs, or to supplement their low wages. Not to mention those who actually use social platforms to try and stay sane, and in contact with friends and family with schedules, jobs or distances which makes it unfeasible to contact them through any other means.
DeletePerhaps the worst thing is that even if this gets rejected the UK itself is still going to try and push through its own means. The incompetent joke of a leader we have is still harping on non-stop about how the internet is the source of all our problems.
Them claiming it's meant to protect creators is exactly what I'm getting at when I'm referring to how this won't safeguard the internet from people who want to capitalize off the popularity of others or attempt to stop derivatives from being made. In no way is this going to prevent derivative works from being made, they'll just have to be shared in a way that prevents them from being adequately tracked and punished if the original creator takes issue with them.
DeleteAs for the UK, yeah I don't get how she was even elected. It's rare that you can look at a country that had a good option and a bad option when it comes to an election; yet that was exactly what happened and people still chose Theresa May.
Ah, sorry. I honestly should have guessed by this is the specific kind of mistake where it seems there's multiple layers to it. Just as soon as you look at one bad part of it which could ruin lives, you realise that it's a combination of six others which are equally bad. Sorry, but it's still surprising this has received so little proper coverage.
DeleteWell, there's a reason for that - She wasn't. She's an unelected Prime Minister we have been lumbered with who would have never gotten in otherwise. When Cameron managed to screw things up so badly with the original Brexit vote, he decided to abandon his position early, retire from politics, and is now trying to sell all of his knowledge to Chinese investors. May was sworn in because she was the next in line, rather than going with an actual election. To give a brief insight into why this was so bad - This is not only the person who screwed up immigration so badly that the entire thing has become an absolute mess of a system, but also someone whose nickname among her party prior to getting into power was "the submarine". Why? Because she would cause some huge disaster, and promptly disappear to avoid being caught up in it.