This is the core finding of my draft report for the European Parliament evaluating 2001’s copyright directive:
Although the directive was meant to adapt copyright to the digital age, in reality it is blocking the exchange of knowledge and culture across borders today.
Europe would benefit from a copyright that promotes creativity not just […]
more ›When a politican talks about security, they’re usually coming for your civil rights.
When a politican talks about security technology, they’re usually coming for your civil rights. Suspicionless mass surveillance, secret internet blocklists, arduous security theatre at airports: Safety and freedom are presented as trade-offs — and many politicians are all too willing to sacrifice more and […]
more ›At today’s debut meeting of the European Parliament’s copyright working group, digital Commissioner Günther Oettinger expressed his wish for an EU-wide ancillary copyright law for press publishers, citing it as an example area of copyright where action was required at an EU level.
Julia Reda, Pirate Party MEP and Greens/EFA representative in the working group, […]
more ›The newest leak on the TISA trade agreement once again confirms the danger that free trade agreements pose to our democracy. Like ACTA, CETA and TTIP before it, TISA demonstrates that these intransparently negotiated treaties are driven by the interests of multinational corporations and risk undermining the efforts of the European Parliament to ensure consumer […]
more ›Update: The draft report has now been published. This page is out of date!
The European Parliament’s first contribution to the upcoming copyright reform is going to be a report on the implementation of the previous directive on this matter from 2001 (the so-called “Infosoc Directive”).
The Parliament has appointed me rapporteur of the report. This […]
more ›More than 70 MEPs today established an interparliamentary group that will work on the Digital Agenda for Europe. Amongst the founders of the Intergroup are Michał Boni (EPP), Josef Weidenholzer (S&D), Marietje Schaake (ALDE) and Julia Reda (Greens/EFA). They all emphasize the need for an integrated approach toward furthering the digital market and discussing […]
more ›This is from the Department of Who-could-have-seen-this-coming:
As a reaction to a change in Spanish copyright law (Article 32.2) effectively requiring payment for the right to link to newspapers, for example as part of a news aggregator, Google has announced today it is going to shut down “Google News” in Spain and will remove links to […]
more ›Today the European Parliament passed a resolution introduced by the two large groups, EPP and S&D, on “consumer rights in the digital single market”. This resolution had caused quite a stir in the international press since last weekend – before it was even formally submitted to the Parliament. Multiple news outlets created the impression that […]
more ›In today’s issue of German newspaper Handelsblatt, Digital Commissioner Günther Oettinger has announced that he wants Google to pay for using copyrighted material in the EU:
When Google takes intellectual works from within the EU and works with them, then the EU can protect those works and demand a levy from Google.
The possible unintended consequences of such an attempt […]
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On July 15, I approved Jean-Claude Juncker’s mandate to form a Commission. Today I’m voting against his Commission in plenary – because it has already failed to live up to the expectations and announcements.
Few glimpses of hope on Internet policy
In his priorities paper Jean-Claude Juncker announced that copyright reform would be initiated within […]
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