Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/997322
11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 JUNE 2018 from media c o m p a n i e s before linking to their stories. Article 13 is referred to as the "upload fil- ter" which would require that everything uploaded online in the EU is checked for copyright infringement. This would work like YouTube's Content ID sys- tem but cover the whole inter- net. Grandayy, Malta's most suc- cessful YouTuber – a medi- cal graduate who has become one of YouTube's most prolific creator of memes – said that the legislation will restrict the open internet, and might bring about censorship of memes, parodies and other cases of transforma- tive content that falls under fair use. The Maltese vlogger has 880,000 subscribers on his You- Tube channel and also has the most followed local twitter ac- count, with 140,000 followers. His Instagram account is the second most followed locally, with yet another 140,000 fol- lowers on that platform. "The new law will basically en- courage or even force all web- sites that allow users to upload content on them – pretty much all social media websites – to install a u t o - m a t - e d filters t h a t scan all upload- ed con- tent, and block or cen- sor any detected copyrighted content," Grandayy said. "Since bots cannot distinguish fair use and parody from actual copyright infringement, this can mean that memes and oth- er transformative content will be blocked from the internet, restricting everyone's freedom of expression." But Zammit Dimech disa- greed. "I voted in favour of the di- rective to protect the interests of artists and creators because, contrary to what many are claiming, this legislation does exactly that," he told MaltaTo- day. He said that the main focus of Article 11 and 13 was to en- force a value cap on all creative content, be it writing, photos, videos or any other format and medium. "This law will now make sure that content creators get the recognition – and possibly, the financial remuneration – for their work," he said. "What sti- fling of creativity? This legisla- tion does exactly the opposite." Dissenters claim that Article 13 will affect each and every single internet user, by enforc- ing a copyright filter on every- thing uploaded to the internet. That means that cool meme you made of your favourite ac- tor. That'll be automatically blocked by a machine, even if the original author is OK with it. But MEP Axel Voss, rappor- teur of the European Parliament for the Copyright Directive and the man leading the charge for the new copyright proposal, in- sisted that the effects of Article 11 have been exaggerated and that it won't destroy the hyper- link. He said that one of the reasons why similar legislation failed in Spain and Germany was that news aggregators and big tech companies like Google could just circumvent it by dealing with publishers in other EU countries. The new Copyright Reform, however, would have the intended effect because all EU countries will be part of it. "Pretty much all internet- focused organisations, like the EFF, have opposed this law and yet the Legal Affairs Committee has voted in favour of it," Gran- dayy said. "Sadly, the only Mal- tese MEP on this committee, Francis Zammit Dimech, also voted in favour, just a day after boasting about helping Maltese Youtubers monetise their vid- eos. Which is hypocritical con- sidering that this law will only hurt all Maltese Youtube crea- tors." Zammit Dimech defended himself from the accusations and insisted that the directive was the only sure way to protect creators' copyright as happened in the music industry. "The law will introduce filters that will track al use of creative content and ensure that the creators are acknowledged and compensated," he said. "This is a positive development and even numerous Maltese artists have already contacted me to thank me for my vote." Widespread criticism But criticism has not been lim- ited to local dissenters and the directive is facing some stiff op- position, including from Wiki- pedia founder Jimmy Wales and the founder of the internet, Sir Tim Berners Lee. Julia Reda, an MEP from the Pirate Party and Vice Chair of the Green/EFA group, has vowed to continue to fight the proposal as it goes to a plenary vote in the European Parlia- ment. The European Broadcasting Union has expressed "deep dis- appointment" at the vote and said this would place "unprec- edented burden on the creative industries, at a time when they are already facing significant market disruption." Jim Killock, Executive Direc- tor of the Open Rights Group said: "Article 13 must go. The EU Parliament will have anoth- er chance to remove this dread- ful law," he said. All is not lost yet Both Article 11 and Article 13 were approved by the JURI committee but will not become official EU legislation until passed by the entire European Parliament in a plenary vote, which is likely to be held some- time between December of this year and the first half of 2019. Zammit Dimech confirmed to MaltaToday that the legislation will also be debated in closed- door trilogue discussions with the European Commission and Council. That the Copyright Directive has passed its first legislative hurdle without amendment is obviously dis- heartening. But there's every in- dication that EU lawmakers can be persuaded to vote against the law — especially as they face re- election to the European Parlia- ment in May of next year. "I think it's im- portant to spread the word about this, as virtually all internet users are against this and will be negatively affected by it, yet not many know what's going on," Grandayy said. "I just would like to see the internet remain open and free like it cur- rently is for the most part." NEWS EXPLAINER Article 11 Under Article 11, each member state will get to create a new copyright in news. If it passes, in order to link to a news website, you will either have to do so in a way that satisfies the limi- tations and exceptions of all 28 laws, or you will have to get a licence. This may not matter to people who only pay atten- tion to news in the moment, but it's a blow to projects that seek to present and preserve long-term records of noteworthy controver- sies. And since every mem- ber state will get to make its own rules for quotation and linking, posts will have to satisfy a patchwork of contradictory – and severe – rules. The controversial measures in the new direc- tive have been tried before. For example, link taxes were tried in Spain and Ger- many and they failed, and publishers don't want them. Indeed, the only country to embrace this idea as worka- ble is China, where manda- tory copyright enforcement bots have become part of the national toolkit for con- trolling public discourse. Article 13 Under Article 13 of the proposal, sites that allow users to post text, sounds, code, still or moving images, or other copyrighted works for public consumption will have to filter all their users' submissions against a data- base of copyrighted works. Sites will have to pay to licence the technology to match submissions to the database, and to identify near matches as well as ex- act ones. Sites will be required to have a process to allow rights-holders to update this list with more copy- righted works. Article 13 punishes any site that fails to block copy- right infringement, but it won't punish people who abuse the system and there are no penalties for falsely claiming copyright over someone else's work. It also leaves you out in the cold when your own work is censored thanks to a malfunctioning copyright bot. Your only option when you get censored is to raise an objection with the plat- form and hope they see it your way – but if they fail to give real consideration to your petition, you have to go to court to plead your case. Sir Tim Berners Lee Maltese MEP Francis Zammit Dimech (left) has been criticised by Malta's most prolific vlogger Grandayy (inset) for voting in favour of the Copyright Directive MEP Axel Voss is the rapporteur of the European Parliament for the Copyright Directive