According to two civil rights and public freedoms defence organisations, the new Commission proposals on copyright (see EUROPE 11624) are unsatisfactory. On Wednesday 2 November, EDRI and Communia published a guide in which they present counterproposals.
Communia, the European Thematic Network on the Digital Public Domain and EDRI, the international digital rights association stated: “We believe that the current reform is a chance to empower users across Europe to access culture in ways that have been proved not to undermine authors’ revenues. This would boost the creation of new business models that will support authors, creators and journalists, and not only powerful intermediaries such as book publishers and record companies”.
Their short guide concentrates on three provisions that the two organisations consider problem areas. First, EDRI and Communia criticise the limited number of exceptions to copyright rules which implies that, “users will continue to enjoy different rights according to the country in which they reside”. They are also opposed to the proposals that seek to make it mandatory for the platforms to use the technical resources that would help them detect content protected by copyright. In a reference to rulings by the European Court of Justice in the Scarlet/Sabam and Sabam vs. Netlog cases, EDRI and Communia claimed that mandatory uploading filters lead to censorship. The guide also denounces introduction of a new similar law for press publishers and claims that the Commission is proposing a solution that fails to deal with the problem of falling press revenues, whilst restricting users’ access to information. The two organisations are concerned that services facilitating access to certified content would simply choose to reduce their supply of this content in response. For further information, see: http://www.communia-association.org/2016/11/02/copyright-reform-guide-perplexed/ (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)