The Spanish Wikipedia closes until Thursday to protest the proposed changes in European legislation

Those who enter the Spanish version of the


Wikipedia
will be surprised: no matter which article you want to access,
the site shows only one text, in which he explains that until 7 o'clock tomorrow, the site will remain inactive.

The reason? Request the elimination of Articles 11 and 13 of
the new EU Copyright Directive, which will be voted tomorrow morning in the European Parliament

"Instead of updating the copyright laws in Europe and the promote the participation of all citizens in the information society, the directive would threaten freedom online and impose new filters, barriers and restrictions to access the Web. If the proposal is approved in its current version, actions such as A news item in social networks or access via a search engine would become more complicated on the Internet, the same Wikipedia would be threatened, "says the Spanish version of the community encyclopedia.

Article 11 of the directive to vote tomorrow provides that the sharing of an appointment The text, audio or video (that it is a line) , paragraph, animated GIF, photo, etc.) is prohibited for 20 years, unless the author does not grant a paid license. As the text of the law is written, sharing a link to a note on Facebook or a discussion forum is a crime; In addition, the fine must pay for the site that allows this (Facebook, etc.). That is, it's a tax to put the link to one site in another.

A reissue of the Canon AEDE that we tried to enforce in Spain a few years ago, and which required the payment of a fee for each link that links one site to another (including, for example, those who make up this article). The new directive leaves in each country the decision of its implementation, which makes even more complex the operation of the sites with multinational presence.

Article 13, for its part, requires companies that publish content to be confirmed, before making public, the publisher of the content has the right to do so. The problem is that in the vast majority of cases (a home video uploaded to YouTube, a photo posted on Twitter or Facebook) that is virtually impossible because there is no reference to take to contrast; it also affects satirical content, musical coverage, criticism, etc.

"Article 13 seems to create such legal uncertainty that online services will have no choice but to monitor, filter and block communications from EU citizens. if she wants to have a chance to stay in business, "warned the Electronic Frontier Foundation in a statement.

The two articles were approved in June by the Legal Affairs Committee by a few votes, and now they should be discussed. the plenary session of the European Parliament; The Spanish, Italian and other Wikipedia took the decision to close as a form of protest; several other European sites follow similar paths.

If the proposal is approved, it will go to the European Council (composed of all the Presidents or Heads of State of the Member States of the European Union), who will have to decide whether to approve the text or if you request changes; many of the activists who spoke proposed alternatives to defend the copyright of European content without affecting the possibility of showing it on other sites.