Following the defeat of article 11 and article 13, major corporate interests are saying that they will fight on to bring the laws back.
The debate surrounding article 11 and article 13 is far from over. Today, we are learning that corporate interests are vowing to fight on. This follows the critical vote by MEP’s voting to save the Internet and rejecting the copyright legislation.
While this represents a huge win for European’s, innovators, creators, and free speech, corporate interests are far from happy about the outcome. Generally, they felt that the rejection of an Internet free speech crackdown represents a missed opportunity. They also say that they will continue to fight on to resurrect their chance to control the Internet in Europe as they see fit.
The BPI released a statement on Twitter and it states:
We respect the decision by MEPs to have a plenary discussion on the draft Copyright Directive. We will work with MEPs over the next weeks to explain how the proposed Directive will benefit not just European creativity, but also internet users and the technology sector
PRS for Music, in turn, released their own statement say in part, “We will continue to fight for what we believe is their freedom and a fair use of their creative works.”
CISAC also made their comments, saying, “Our fight will go on, for the future of our culture and for a fair, modern well-regulated Internet.”
The corporations blame “unprecedented” lobbying from ordinary Europeans for the loss. At one point, one of the petitions reached 800,000 signatures. European’s also took to the streets to protest the legislation as well.
Internet organizations such as the non-profit Wikimedia foundation also opposed the legislation. They were joined by the Italian edition of Wikipedia followed by the Spanish and Polish editions as well.
The United Nations also chimed in calling the legislation a threat to human rights and free speech. Also, internet innovators and founders submitted their own joint letter opposing the legislation.
So clearly, the corporate interests are upset that Europeans widely opposed the legislation and basically decried it as not fair. So, with billionaires and professional lobbyists at the ready, they will continue to lobby the European government to resurrect the legislation. No doubt with their anger and frustration of the outcome, they will leave nothing to chance this time around.
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.
The idea of putting the onus on site owners is total madness. All but the largest sites will have to license content-recognition tech from the likes of FB & Google… so it is *their* algorithms that will decide what’s permitted across the entire planet.
Totally agree! I know with ACTA, there was always that possibility this would get rejected, but the morning I was looking to see if this went through or not, I actually started seeing my online career flash before my eyes. While I wouldn’t be directly affected by this, I would easily be indirectly affected by the laws just like everyone else. Just thinking about the ramifications if this went through even today sends chills down my spine.
Also, thank you for the comment!