Between proponents of copyright on the Internet and giants of the web (Facebook, Amazon, Google …), the battle was tough. However, last month the European Parliament rejected the “copyright” directive.
What does this directive mean? The main goal is to modernize and update copyright in the digital age. In fact, the directive is an update of a 2001 existing legislation. Improving the remuneration of creators of content is the main measure: they have been able to take advantage of the Internet to broadcast their content more widely and reach a more heterogeneous audience. Moreover, the use of their works especially on streaming platforms without no compensation cause their loss and puts their business models at at risk.
What is the debate? Are involved the articles 11 and 13 related respectively to neighboring rights and automatic filtering.
On the related right, it would regulate the use and access to content. While this rule seems to be one way to contend hacking, opponents of the directive argue that it would be complex to obtain authorization before citing the content of a publisher or hyperlinks redirecting users to these contents.
Automatic filtering is a mandatory behavior for platforms: they must be able to block certain types of content before these can be seen by Internet users. This would constitute a real legal change: the e-commerce directive of June 8, 2000 required the platforms to perform this filtering but only once the content posted (therefore a posteriori), and not before publication (a priori).
But could algorithms perform this automatic filtering effectively? Would they be able to distinguish between contentious content and exception of parody or of quotation?
Yet this directive seems essential to strengthen the rights of content creators.
And thankfully, this is always possible. The rejection of the European Parliament has the effect of modifying the substance of this directive and allowing a new examination in September. There is one thing which is certain, amendments will be made to try to find a compromise and allow this directive to see the light of day.
