In two days, an EU committee will vote to crown Google and Facebook permanent lords of internet censorship

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/06/18/asymmetric-information-war.html

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I have never been first to the comments. Have the trolls already copyrighted all the entries?

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These laws seem so bad that they can’t possibly survive.

Email your MEPs: https://www.mysociety.org/wehelpyou/contact-your-meps/

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Didn’t Spain attempt a form of Article 11 that so quickly borked everything that it was soon repealed?

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Yup – here’s how that’s playing out this time around:

I emailed mine this morning. I’ve got back two autoreplies, a bounce (from the UKIP MEP), and a human replying from Jill Seymour’s office:

Article 13 of the Copyright Directive is a major concern as it will impose privatised censorship of all types of content and it is incompatible with fundamental rights and the E-commerce Directive.
Additionally it will prevent the availability of content before it is uploaded; it could cost you money in a stealth tax and if this tax is not paid then your content probably will not be uploaded. There are further concerns in that it is technically infeasible as it covers all sorts of creations ranging from literary works, music, software, pictures and graphics just to name a few.
In light of the consequences that this Article will cause to freedom of expression, independent creators and discouraging investment in user-generated content start up, I will not be supporting this.

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It seems Many MEPS are not supporting this bill and some have change there stance already thanks to public outcry.

Out of interest, you emailed your MEP about what, exactly?

It does sound bad, but having read multiple Cory articles with ever more excitable, and ridiculous, headlines, I still don’t know what 11 and 13 are actually about.

I mean, I’m not going to write to any of them to oppose ‘EU committee will vote to crown Google and Facebook permanent lords of internet censorship’, because I suspect they will answer, if they bother to reply (as in turn up, UKIP there), with ‘what the fuck are you on about?’

I sympathise with this question, as it is one I often ask myself when reading these articles.

That said, I know he means well, and it sorta sounds like a bad thing. Therefore, what are you words are you writing to your MEP? I will happily echo it.

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Honestly, if you haven’t read beyond the headlines in anything Cory has written, why should I think you’re going to get anything from my scribblings? You’ve had the opportunity to read the posts and follow the links, think about them, and decide what you want to do, if anything.

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That is… fair enough.

Really I am looking for a way to write to all the MEPs where my words will not be placed into the ‘hyperbole - ignore’ bucket.

That said I will take your advice and once again read all of the Cory posts and links an see if something stands out as useful text to include. Skipping the Hulk one though.

Actually, hidden (in that I missed it, it isn’t actually hidden) at the bottom of the Julia article is a Mozilla link that looks good.

https://juliareda.eu/2018/05/censorship-machines-link-tax-finish-line/

Thanks for your help.

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