Just wrote a letter to Members of European Parliament from six countries asking them to reject Article 13. Two of them host my projects and I just like other four. I honestly believe things like Copyright Directive have global impact no matter where you live. You can write your own letter.

It is a bit too long and certainly not perfect.

Subj: Concerning Copyright Reform and Article 13

Dear Member of the European Parliament!

To make things clear from the start - I am not one of your constituents as I live in Russia. However recent developments concerning Article 13 of the copyright Directive will have global impact which will also directly affect me so I decided to reach out.

You are probably aware of the critique of Article 13. While these proposals might be acceptable to large platforms they will decimate smaller social services because the cost of implementing upload filters will be prohibitive. Also these technologies will have to be outsourced to existing Big Data giants (mostly US based corporations) which will not just raise costs but also affect independence of social services forced to use them.

But I am pretty sure you are already aware of all that.

What I am more worried about is the precedent EU is about to create. Let me be frank - these days EU is beacon of progress and humanitarian rights. When it comes to freedom, privacy, social rights the world looks at you. Article 13 goes against these values. If it gets implemented governments of the rest of the world will see it as a green light to follow with even harder censorship and other restrictions of freedom of speech and expression. And they will already have the technology pioneered by Article 13 compliance - which won't be working good, which will misfire, which will be expensive and most likely under control of corporations like Google and Facebook. And as recent history of my country shows - if there is a restrictive control tool in place, it will be misused at one point or another.

Also there will be economic consequences for European IT companies. Right now a lot of projects are hosted in EU because of legal stability and respect of human rights Europe provides. With Article 13 in place it will change and these projects will move out to minimize potential liability. I am hosting two Internet projects in EU space myself, one in Germany and one in Italy. Please think what makes European hosting companies different from the rest. Also consider the fact that currently there is very little pirated material openly hosted by them - EU companies are known for low tolerance for piracy.

Please consider the overwhelming amount of critique towards Article 13. A good selection of points is here: https://saveyourinternet.eu/statements/

As a part of World Wide Web community I ask you to reject Article 13 of the copyright Directive.

Sincerely Yours,
Alexander

#article13 #EU #copyrightreform #CensorshipMachine #SaveYourInternet #digitalresistance #copyright #privacy #freedom #activism