The Copyright Industry Wants Everything Filtered As It Is Uploaded; Here's Why That Will Be A Disaster

The Copyright Industry Wants Everything Filtered As It Is Uploaded; Here's Why That Will Be A Disaster

2 years ago
Anonymous $FNmJglWnLu

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20211227/15395648187/copyright-industry-wants-everything-filtered-as-it-is-uploaded-heres-why-that-will-be-disaster.shtml

The history of copyright can be seen as one of increasing control by companies over what ordinary people can do with material created by others. For the online world, the endgame is where copyright holders get to check and approve every single file that is uploaded, with the power to block anything they regard as infringing. That digital dystopia moved much closer two years ago, with the passage of the EU Copyright Directive. At the heart of the Directive lies precisely these kind of upload filters – even though the legislation's supporters insisted that they would not be needed. When the law was safely passed – despite voting issues – only then did they admit that upload filters would indeed be required.

The parts of the EU Copyright Directive dealing with upload filters are so badly crafted that most of the EU’s Member States are struggling to implement them in their national laws in any coherent way. This means the full impact of the legislation's upload filters won't be known for some time.