EU Copyright directive
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Back to the Future: Activism, the copyright Directive and lessons for the present
The Copyright Directive marked a key moment in internet history. Civil society, and EDRi in particular, have reflected on the role we played in the political debate and what would that mean for future digital policy fights. In this blogpost, we look back to assess the success of the strategies we adopted and what are the takeaways we should keep in mind when challenging current human rights threats like chat control and facial recognition.
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What happens next with upload filters in the EU after the CJEU copyright ruling
On 26 April, the Court of Justice of the European Union delivered its judgement on one of the most relevant cases for freedom of expression in recent years: Case C-401/19- Poland v Parliament and Council. The case was brought by Poland after the adoption of the controversial copyright Directive, and specifically because of its Article 17 that, according to EDRi and other civil society organisations, academics and politicians, could lead to mandatory use of upload filters on most online platforms.
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European Parliament’s plans of a Digital Services Act threaten internet freedoms
The EU's Digital Services Act is a chance to preserve what works and to fix what is broken. EFF and other civil society groups have advocated for new rules that protect fundamental rights online, while formulating a bold vision to address today's most pressing challenges. However, while the initial proposal by the EU Commission got several things right, the EU Parliament is toying with the idea of introducing a new filternet, made in Europe. Some politicians believe that any active platform should potentially be held liable for the communications of its users and they trust that algorithmic filters can do the trick to swiftly remove illegal content
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How Austria wants to implement upload filters and ancillary copyright
EDRi's member epicenter.works sheds light on the Austrian implementation of the controversial Copyright Directive passed in the EU Parliament in 2019. As positive as some draft provisions regarding upload filters are, the Austrian implementation of ancillary copyright is poor.
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Looking back at digital rights in the era of a surveillance pandemic
2020 started as a year to build momentum to tackle various digital rights issues, including mass surveillance and freedom of expression online. Needless to say, the global pandemic disrupted not only these efforts but also our health, personal relations, basic survival needs and ways to organise around human rights. After 9 months of living and working in a pandemic, we look back at what we achieved and the ways forward from here.
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Walking from Luxembourg to Brussels in two hours
A public hearing before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) last Tuesday, November 10, dealt with the compatibility of Article 17, more precisely the provisions of Article 17 that require platforms to block copyright infringements, with the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
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European Commission derails copyright reform in South Africa
Last year, the South African parliament adopted a progressive new copyright bill that would have drastically improved access to educational materials, introduced a fair use exception, implemented the Marrakesh treaty for the benefit of people who are blind or print disabled, and strengthened the negotiating positions of authors and performers in their negotiations with publishers.
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Copyright stakeholder dialogues: Filters can’t understand context
On 16 December 2019, the European Commission held the fourth meeting of the Copyright Directive Article 17 stakeholder dialogues. During the “first phase”, meetings focused on the practices in different industries such as music, games, software, audiovisual and publishing. This meeting was the last of what the Commission called the “second phase”, where meetings were […]
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CJEU: Public documents could be censored because of copyright
On 29 July 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered a judgment that could have serious impact on freedom of expression. The case (C‑469/17) concerns Funke Medien NRW GmbH, the editor of the German daily newspaper Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, and Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany). It follows a request in […]
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The Netherlands, aim for a more ambitious copyright implementation!
All EU Member States are obliged to implement the newly adopted EU Copyright Directive, including its controversial Article 17. But how to interpret it, is up to them. In the Netherlands, there is currently a draft bill, which is unfortunately very disappointing. The government really needs to try much harder to protect the interests of […]
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Poland challenges copyright upload filters before the CJEU
On 24 May 2019, Poland initiated a legal challenge (C-401/19) before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) against Article 17 of the Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market. EDRi member Centrum Cyfrowe Foundation has previously tried to get access to the complaint using freedom of information (FOI) requests, without success. […]
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Re-Deconstructing upload filters proposal in the copyright Directive
This week we have published a new analysis of the proposal for upload filters in the Copyright Directive proposal. The paper is a new paragraph-by-paragraph analysis of relevant parts in the text adopted by the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (JURI Committee). The work complements our first analysis of the initial proposal by […]
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