EFF just sent this letter to every official negotiating the EU's Copyright Directive

[doctorow]

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/10/23/unsafe-at-any-speed-4.html

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[Ghost]

First off: thank you EFF for this initiative! Your voice will hopefully be heard more clearly than mine was…

One remark though.
The following strikes me as too weak:

@doctorow

In the event that rightsholders repeatedly make false copyright claims, online service providers should be permitted to strike them off of their list of trusted claimants, such that these rightsholders must fall back to seeking court orders – with their higher evidentiary standard – to effect removal of materials.

I would actually go for a stronger version that automatically strikes abusers from the trusted claimants list. Not merely ‘permitting’ them to be stricken. You know, like the ‘three strikes’ rule, but now for the abusers.

Additionaly, I still see no real legal consequences for abuse.

If there is one thing that the DMCA has tought us, it would be that if there are no real legal consequences, the abuse will continue.

Balance the directive by including provisions that will give abusers a hefty fine (or other punishment like placing the contested work into the public domain)! And make it hurt enough to disincentivize the rightsholders from abusing the system in the first place. For comparison: if I am accused of copyright infringement, I face a fine that can potentially destroy me financially. Make copyright holders (and not the intermediaries they employ) face a similar fate if they abuse copyright.

[flowerchild]

Thank you Cory for writing this. Let’s hope it will make them see sense.