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Press Release: EU Parliament flip-flops backwards on copyright

The Parliament’s today vote represents a backwards flip-flop to supporting measures which it had previously dismissed.

By EDRi · September 12, 2018

On 12 September 2018, the European Parliament (EP) adopted amendments to the European Commission’s draft EU Copyright Directive, as a result of the EP’s previous rejection of the Legal Affairs Committee’s proposals as basis for negotiations with the EU Council.

The Parliament’s today vote represents a backwards flip-flop to supporting measures which it had previously dismissed.

Negotiations will start between the Parliament and the EU Council: a proposal that coerces internet companies into monitoring, filtering and blocking our uploads versus one that more explicitly forces internet companies into monitoring, filtering and blocking our uploads. The result will be a cocktail of both poisons, to be put to a final vote just a few short months before the 2019 European Parliament elections.

– said Diego Naranjo, EDRi Senior Policy Analyst

The aftermath of a law that regulates all internet companies in Europe as if they were Google and Facebook is clear: an internet in Europe where only Google and Facebook can survive. If such policies are approved, the Copyright Directive reform will be an act of outstanding self-harm for both European citizens and European businesses.

EDRi will continue to follow closely with the file’s next steps and advocate for putting Europeans’ rights and freedoms at the forefront of the negotiations with EU’s Council on the Copyright Directive reform. Next step: the final vote on the agreement between the Council and Parliament – expected in January 2019.

 

 

Read more:

Copyright: Compulsory filtering instead of obligatory filtering – a compromise? [4.09.2018]
https://edri.org/copyright-compulsory-filtering-instead-of-obligatory-filtering-a-compromise/

Press Release: EU Parliamentarians support an open, democratic debate on Copyright Directive [05.07.2018]
https://edri.org/press-release-eu-parliamentarians-support-open-democratic-debate-around-copyright-directive/

Moving Parliament’s copyright discussions into the public domain [27.06.2018]
https://edri.org/moving-parliaments-copyright-discussions-into-the-public-domain-2-0/

Copyright reform: Document pool
https://edri.org/copyright-reform-document-pool/

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