The Creative Commons, the international non-profit devoted to expanding the range of creative works available legally, summarizes how the EU's proposed link tax would still harm Creative Commons licensors. The proposed Copyright Directive legislation entered the final rounds of negotiation back in September, retaining the problematic articles that raised hackles earlier this year, notably articles 11, 12, and 13. The Creative Commons discusses the current stat of article 11, known informally as the link tax.
Article 11 is ill-suited to address the challenges in supporting quality journalism, and it will further decrease competition and innovation in news delivery. Spain and Germany have already experimented with similar versions of this rule, and neither resulted in increased revenues for publishers. Instead, it likely decreased the visibility (and by extension, revenues) of published content—exactly the opposite of what was intended. Just last week a coalition of small- and medium-sized publishers sent a letter to the trilogue negotiators outlining how they will be harmed if Article 11 is adopted.
Not only is a link tax bad for business, it would undermine the intention of authors who wish to share without additional strings attached, such as creators who want to share works under open licenses. This could be especially harmful to Creative Commons licensors if it means that remuneration must be granted notwithstanding the terms of the CC license. This interpretation is not far-flung. As IGEL wrote last week, [...]
Previously on SN:
Secretive EU Copyright Negotiations Started Tuesday: Here's Where We Stand
EU Copyright Directive Passes; "Terrorist Content" Regulation Proposed; Astroturfing?
How The EU May Be About To Kill The Public Domain: Copyright Filters Takedown Beethoven
European Copyright Law Isn't Great. It Could Soon Get a Lot Worse
(Score: 3, Insightful) by RandomFactor on Sunday November 11 2018, @04:19PM (3 children)
While this may be the case, it is not a given.
It is entirely possible to decrease visibility yet increase revenue as there are multiple factors in play
1) Taxation on the referring site [+$]
2) Reduced bandwidth costs [+$]
3) Reduced direct ad revenue [-$]
If it was a penny a referral, and ads generate a penny a referral, then even if visibility dropped 30% it still shows a revenue gain (all else being equal)
It would be necessary to control for other factors (time of year, news of particular consumer interest, industry trends) and then attempt to quantify each of the above (and probably a few I'm forgetting) before concluding the effect on revenues.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 11 2018, @05:19PM (1 child)
> all else being equal
Which won't be the case.
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Sunday November 11 2018, @05:30PM
No doubt, that's why I had to put it in there ;-)
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Lemming on Monday November 12 2018, @02:42PM
When the publishers said to Google: "you have to pay for each link," Google just stopped linking to these sites altogether. So they didn't get the taxation, and a lot less traffic.