The Electronic Frontier Foundatoin (EFF) has a detailed explanation of the proposed changes to EU copyright law, specifically the current version of the European Digital Single Market directive, and why it is a big deal.
EFF has been writing about the upcoming European Digital Single Market directive on copyright for a long time now [eff.org]. But it's time to put away the keyboard, and pick up the phone, because the proposal just got worse—and it's headed for a crucial vote on June 20-21.
For those who need no further introduction to the directive, which would impose an upload filtering mandate [eff.org] on Internet platforms (Article 13) and a link tax in favor of news publishers [eff.org] (Article 11), you can skip to the bottom of this post [eff.org], where we link to an action that European readers can take to make their voice heard. But if you're new to this, here's a short version of how we got here and why we're worried.
From the EFF's web site: European Copyright Law Isn't Great. It Could Soon Get a Lot Worse. [eff.org]
Earlier on SN:
Censorship Machines Are Coming: It’s Time for the Free Software Community to Use its Political Clout [soylentnews.org]
Compromises on Copyright Maximalism are Clearly No Longer on the EU Agenda [soylentnews.org]
Mulled EU Copyright Shakeup Will Turn Us Into Robo-Censors [soylentnews.org]