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Rather than updating copyright laws in Europe to promote the participation of all in the information society, it threatens online freedom. to the Net by imposing new barriers, filters and restrictions. If the proposal is approved, it may be impossible to share a newspaper article on social networks or find it on a search engine. Wikipedia itself could close.
The proposal has already met the firm disapproval of more than 70 computer scientists, including website creator Tim Berners-Lee (here), 169 academics (here), 145 organizations working in the fields of human rights. man, freedom of the press, scientific research and computer industry (here) and the Wikimedia Foundation (here)
For these reasons, the Italian Wikipedia community has decided to obscure all the pages of the encyclopedia. We want to continue to offer a free, open and collaborative encyclopedia with verifiable content. We therefore ask all members of the European Parliament to reject the current text of the directive and to reopen the debate by examining the numerous proposals of Wikimedia badociations, starting with the abolition of the articles. 11 and 13, as well as the extension of panorama freedom to the whole of the EU and the protection of the public domain. "
The document you are working on contains two controversial articles that could radically change the way we use the Internet which, according to the most pessimistic critics, is dangerous for the free flow of online content and could lead to unprecedented control of online content On 20 June, the European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) approved the proposals contained in the new Copyright Directive, which are necessary to introduce some updates to the rules on copyright. copyright protection
The problem is that the directive contains two articles – 11 and 13, also mentioned in the Wikipedia message – which, according to many observers, could have dangerous consequences for the free circulation of information online.Article 13 states that the content downloaded online in the European Union must to be checked in advance so as to prevent files containing copyrighted material from being posted online. The system should work more or less like YouTube's Content ID, the automatic video recognition feature, which checks to see if any copyright-protected and unregistered content has been downloaded, so that it can be removed immediately from the site or to display them only with advertising, revenue sharing with the current owners of the copyright. Content ID is a very refined system on which YouTube has worked a lot, but most experts believe that it is impossible to imagine a similar mechanism for online downloads made in the European Union.
Critics also point out that Article 13 would indeed impose a preventive control of content posted online, creating a real filter against the principles of openness and free flow of information on the Internet . Article 13 itself is extremely vague and does not indicate the possible technical solutions to achieve such an ambitious goal, nor does it specify precisely the responsibilities and rules of # 39; s application. Article 11 instead provides for the creation of some kind of "link fee" to be paid to large online platforms such as Google and Facebook to link information sites. In practice, Google and others should agree to a license with each publisher, paying an annual fee that covers their reporting activity and links to articles.
The idea stems from the long-standing comparison between publishers and major online platforms: the former accuses Google and others of showing their content through glimpses about news aggregators or within social networks, without permission and without offering a reward in return; they say that most of the traffic to information sites comes from the publication of previews and other elements of the articles in the aggregators. Google has, however, launched in recent years a number of initiatives to fund projects of news sites, to alleviate the problem and avoid more exaggerated demands from newspapers. online. Wikipedia calls on MEPs and members of the European Parliament to reject the current text of the directive and to reopen the debate. The call also invites users to exert pressure by calling MPs or sending them an email. However, the Wikipedia website is blocked while the application is running.
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