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EU backs controversial copyright law | EU backs controversial copyright law |
(32 minutes later) | |
The European Parliament has backed controversial copyright laws critics say could change the nature of the net. | |
The new rules include holding technology companies responsible for material posted without proper copyright permission. | |
Many musicians and creators say the new rules will compensate artists fairly - but others say they will destroy user-generated content. | |
The Copyright Directive was backed by 348 MEPs, with 278 against. | |
The laws on copyright were last amended in 2001. | |
It has taken several revisions for the current legislation to reach its final form. | |
It is now up to member states to approve the decision. If they do, they will have two years to implement it once it is officially published. | |
The two clauses causing the most controversy are known as Article 11 and Article 13. | |
Article 11 states that search engines and news aggregate platforms should pay to use links from news websites. | |
Article 13 holds larger technology companies responsible for material posted without a copyright licence. | |
It does not include cloud storage services and there are already existing exemptions, including parody. | |
The European Parliament said that memes - short video clips that go viral - would be "specifically excluded" from the Directive, although it was unclear how tech firms would be able to enforce that rule. | |
'Step forward' or 'massive blow'? | |
Robert Ashcroft, chief executive of PRS for Music, which collects royalties for music artists, welcomed the directive as "a massive step forward" for consumers and creatives. | |
"It's about making sure that ordinary people can upload videos and music to platforms like YouTube without being held liable for copyright - that responsibility will henceforth be transferred to the platforms," he said. | |
However the campaign group Open Knowledge International described it as "a massive blow" for the internet. | |
"We now risk the creation of a more closed society at the very time we should be using digital advances to build a more open world where knowledge creates power for the many, not the few," said chief executive Catherine Stihler. | |
'Noble aims' | |
Google said that while the latest version of the directive was improved, there remained "legal uncertainty". | |
"The details matter and we look forward to working with policy-makers, publishers, creators and rights holders, as EU member states move to implement these new rules," it said. | |
Kathy Berry, senior lawyer at Linklaters, said more detail was required about how Article 13 would be enforced. | |
"While Article 13 may have noble aims, in its current form it functions as little more than a set of ideals, with very little guidance on exactly which service providers will be caught by it or what steps will be sufficient to comply," she said. |