Wikipedia closed to protest the new regulations of the European Union

In protest, in a statement on his website, he announces that it will be closed every Wednesday and Thursday until the time of the vote. The proposal, more generally, triggers fierce controversies that transcend the European Parliament: badociations of creators, record companies, digital giants like Google or Facebook, freedom activists on the Internet, academics, etc., have been defending for months arguments for or against. All are trying to influence the uncertain vote on Thursday in Strasbourg.

The Spanish Wikipedia community claims that if the reform is approved, "it would significantly harm the open Internet we know today" because "it threatens online freedom and imposes new filters , barriers and restrictions to accessing the web ". If the current version of the reform project is approved, the initiative will result in 'actions such as sharing a news item on social networks or access by a search engine become more complicated on the Internet, "and that" Wikipedia itself would be risky. "

The reform provokes controversy, especially for two articles, 11 and 13, which concern the rights of publishers of media to be paid when they use fragments of their publications, and the creation of a filter to control the loading of the content "which violates the copyright." Articles 14, 15 and 16, for their part, reinforce the authors against intermediaries who manage their works (producers, record companies, publishers): the EU calls for more transparency, fairer remuneration for creators and facilitates arbitration or exploitation rights ;they are not agree with intermediation.

MEPs responsible for the initiative said that "Wikipedia is wrong because this proposal would only affect web pages for commercial purposes". The initiative also has detractors in the Eurochamber: "This regulation does not include what is the Internet. If even Wikipedia decides to shut down, what it does not do often, if ever, is that something important is in jeopardy, "said Julia Reda, MP for the Piracy Party He added: "It would be a nuisance for MEPs, we all use it a lot."