EU cancels the final vote negotiations on EU copyright bill amidst massive protests

EU’s proposed copyright bill has received major oppositions from Europeans for its Articles 11 and 13, also known as the “censorship machines” rule and the “link tax” rule. Major European countries including Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, have been quite vocal about their resistance to support the latest version of the proposal. Following which, EU has canceled today’s negotiations for a final vote on the copyright directive.

Article 13 of the directive will require “information society service providers” – user-generated information and content platforms – to use “recognition technologies” to protect against copyright infringement. Article 11 gives large press organizations more control over how their content is shared and linked to online. It has been called the “link tax” – it could mean that you would need a license to link to content. According to news sites, this law would allow them to charge internet giants like Facebook and Google that link to their content.

Further reading: What the EU Copyright Directive means for developers – and what you can do

Apparently, multiple countries including Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Poland voted against the latest text put forth by Romania earlier this week. MEP Julia Reda has confirmed this news. In blog post, she writes, “A total of 11 countries voted against the compromise text proposed by the Romanian Council presidency earlier this week. All of these governments are known for thinking that either Article 11 or Article 13, respectively, are insufficiently protective of users’ rights. At the same time, some rightsholder groups who are supposed to benefit from the Directive are also turning their backs on Article 13.”

Last week, EFF also urged people from Sweden, Germany, Luxembourg, and Poland to contact their ministers to convey their concern about Article 13 and 11.

The outcome of today’s Council vote shows that public attention to copyright reform is having an effect. This means that the bill could receive a significant overhaul when it’s gonna come for vote, which would also result in a delay in implementation. It won’t, however, imply that the Copyright Directive is rejected.

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