European Parliament’s New Copyright Law is a Potential Threat to “Open Internet”

What do you think is the best thing about internet or virtual world? Well, for us at Nesterz it is the freedom that allows us to write and share information that can help our clients and readers to grow exponentially in the digital market. And the reason we are connected with our users and potential target audience is because we live in the world where the virtual world is “Open”.

Although not everyone is using this freedom to do the greater good, but the world is slowly and gradually moving towards the Digital World just because of the reach and freedom of the information that travels across the world without any restrictions and boundaries.

But, on 12^th of September 2018 European Parliament passed a law under the Copyright Law that can prove to be a threat to what we call a “Open Internet.” The watershed vote was taken in the French City Strasbourg that can lead to huge loss up to billion to the Big Tech Tycoons like Apple and Google.

European Union has proved to be the strongest critic of the Silicon Valley and its anti-trust activities like the Privacy Act has already given huge blows to the giants of the Silicon Valley. When the Privacy act was passed, it was found that more than 90% of the virtual platforms were not compatible with the laws and they all had to pay a big price for it.

Now, the EU parliament has passed a new act that can directly associate the Techno Giants with the violation of the Copyright infringement and hold them responsible for the Terrorist Propaganda. It is believed that both the sides were backed by strong team of defence lawyers and although the virtual world put up a good fight, the law that was to be passed by the vote count was passed with 438 votes in favour of the law, 226 against the law and 39 abstentions.

While those in support of the law say that “The law is not in confrontation with the Internet but it is to make the digital world respect the Creators of the information,” it is believed that the MEPs were backed by the conventional news houses and media who are desperately in search of the income source that they are losing because of the millennial supporting and favouring the Digital media.

So how will this law affect the Tech Giants and how will it change the “Open Internet” phenomenon. Once the law will be active, it will make the tech giants apply many more Uploading Filters as they themselves will be responsible for the copyright violation caused by the information posted by their users. So, the tech giants like Google, YouTube and Facebook have to be more vigilant and have to delete a lot more content because of the law.

This will also affect the content creators who are trying to make a living by posting reliable information for their subscribers.  Also, it is believed that the content creators have to pay a fraction of the money that they make from their digital content to the source links that they use as the base of proof. (This part specifically is for the media and news houses who wishes to benefit from the content that is posted online using their link as reference)

These restrictions will not only hinder a lot of content to be published online, it will also empower many political agendas and help them have more control over the content that is posted against the government or the political parties and dignitaries.

These changes are specifically targeted towards the Sharing Economy and if it is implemented, it will hit right in the heart of the community who believe in free expression. Also, it is an attempt to put an end to one of the most common form of viral content called “memes.” There are still negotiations pending and the Tech Giants are yet hoping that the final outcome will be much lesser compromise than it is now.

Till the final results are out, we have to hope that the Internet stays the way it is for the artists who are using this digital world to shape the future of our Universe.