The extra copyright for news in Germany was a failure – yet the Bulgarian EU presidency now presents it as a good compromise for all of Europe

Should the EU introduce an extra copyright for news sites, restricting how we can share news online? The controversy around this plan continues to brew – this time in the Council, where the member state governments are trying to find a consensus.

The member states have failed to reach an agreement in the Council’s expert group on […]

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MEPs from across the political spectrum resist the plan to make “censorship machines” mandatory in the EU

MEPs from all major political groups in the European Parliament joined me for a campaign video warning of negative consequences of a provision of the planned EU copyright reform.

We are sending a message to today’s meeting of the Council’s working group on intellectual property, in which the EU member state governments are seeking […]

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Commission to scientists: Stop ruining our copyright plans with your facts and your research!

While several factors have driven the decline in newspaper revenues and in the number of legacy newspapers, news aggregation has an opposite effect

The risks that may be created by news aggregation platforms for media plurality in news consumption cannot be addressed through copyright.

These quotes are not from the Pirate in the European Parliament […]

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EU offers cash bounties to improve the security of VLC media player

Just in time for the end of the year, the European Commission announced the start of a first bug bounty within the Free and Open Source Software Audit (FOSSA) project. You can now submit bugs you find in VLC Media Player on HackerOne, where bounties ranging from $100 for low-severity bugs and up to $2,000 […]

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Breaking the web and killing innovation: Now even lobbyists admit that’s the plan behind the extra EU copyright for news

For months now I’ve been raising the alarm about the plan to limit the freedom to link that has been slowly but surely making its way through the EU legislative process.



The European Commission and the publishing lobby have accused those of us fighting to save the link of exaggerating the danger that the planned extra copyright […]

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How some are spreading confusion about scientific evidence to push through an extra copyright for news sites in the EU

Is it a good idea to introduce an extra copyright for news sites in the EU, which would make sharing news articles with little snippets of their content illegal, unless licensed? The Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament commissioned an independent academic study to find out.

The results came back crystal clear. But if […]

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Civil Liberties Committee joins the opposition against automated censorship machines

Good news in the latest chapter of the fight over whether the EU should mandate the installation of “censorship machines” on internet platforms as part of the upcoming copyright reform:

The Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament today threw its weight behind a more sensible way forward than the one demanded by media conglomerates and proposed […]

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New EU law prescribes website blocking in the name of “consumer protection”

Today, the European Parliament passed the Consumer Protection Cooperation regulation. Unfortunately, it contains an overreaching general website blocking provision. Additionally, consumer protection improvements were watered down or removed completely in last-minute trilogue negotiations with the Council.

According to the new rules, national consumer protection authorities can order any unspecified third party to block access to websites without requiring judicial […]

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Leaked: These 3 EU governments want to give record labels control over what we can and can’t post online

The Internet is our greatest and most egalitarian public sphere: Never before was it possible for everyone to publish their creative works worldwide, at no cost, without seeking anyone’s approval. But some want to change that.

The open and participatory internet was made possible by laws that protect internet providers and online platforms from liability: […]

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EU study finds even publishers oppose the ‘link tax’ – and some journalists are afraid to speak out

A new study conducted upon request of the European Parliament finds that the planned extra copyright for news sites is a terrible idea. But MEPs may not learn about it until after they have voted on the controversial proposal.

The study concludes:

“There are real concerns surrounding the rather uncertain effects of the right. […] We [advise] that the press publishers’ […]

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