Wikipedia goes on for 36 hours to protest the new law on the Internet

Wikipedia, the popular collaborative digital encyclopedia, decided to stop working for 36 hours to protest a copyright law that will be voted in the European Parliament on July 5th.

According to a statement on the website of the encyclopedia, the regulations would significantly damage the open Internet as we know it to this day.

"Instead of updating copyright laws in Europe and promoting the participation of all In the information society, the law would threaten freedom online and impose new filters, barriers and to access the Web, "the statement said.

According to Wikipedia, if the law is approved with its current wording, actions such as sharing a news item on social networks or the Internet can be used. access via a search engine would become more complicated on the Internet and the encyclopedia itself would be in jeopardy go

The initiative has been criticized by various industry players, including Tim Berners -Lee, considered the creator of the World Wide Web

"We want to continue to offer an open, free, collaborative and free work with verifiable content. We call on all members of the European Parliament to vote against the current text, to open it for discussion and to consider the numerous proposals of the Wikimedia movement to protect access to knowledge. "

Freedom of expression

However, the law is supported by several sectors as a solution to the unfair competition faced by the media in the new digital economy, where the majority of revenue generated by its content remains in the hands of other actors, such as social networks, shattered many media, which poses a serious threat to freedom of expression and freedom of the press.

"We simply want that those who create content receive their share, we want to protect authors in the virtual world Real world. But the great technicians do not seem ready to stop being multimillionaires, "Rozière said, quoted by the Spanish media Marca

The law contains two particularly controversial articles, 11 and 13. According to the first, quote an article as a source should always ask permission from the publisher, which would make the task difficult.

The second, meanwhile, states that all web pages should have automatic filtering tools to identify copyrighted content 19659003] An amendment to Article 13 establishes an inalienable right to receive payment for content provided, critics say that this wording would even affect popular memes.

European parliamentarians who promoted the initiative say that a news campaign is being triggered false, promoted by lobbies serving large technology companies such as Google. s, German Christian Democrat Axel Voss, points out that Wikipedia is expressly excluded from this legislation.

Proponents of the rule have even denounced death threats.