The European Union has presented its reform of the Copyright Law, a proposal that could end the Internet's content as we know it now. One of the most relevant and controversial points in this text is 'article 13', a section that regulates the content published on large platforms and web pages.
In a first vote, the new measures have gone ahead in the European Parliament, but there is still room for action since, in January 2019, it must be endorsed in a second vote. Meanwhile, affected companies such as Google have started a campaign to pressure the European Union and try to modify this reform, which, for example, directly affects the type of videos admitted on YouTube.
We will explain what exactly Article 13 says, what is Google's position, how it affects creators, and what can happen from now on. A new regulation that many users view with suspicion as it would force a radical change in the type of content currently consume.
To date, for deleting a video to occur, there had to be a complaint from the owner of the rights, but the uploading of this type of content was not monitored. With this new law, Large platforms must monitor content on a massive scale and detect possible infractions.
Probably due to the cost of this type of monitoring, the requirement of Article 13 only applies to "large platforms that host a significant amount of content and promote it." There are, therefore, smaller websites, although the line between one type and another is not well defined.
Use of protected content by information society service providers that store and facilitate access to large amounts of works and other benefits uploaded by their users.
Information society service providers that store and provide public access to large amounts of works or other services uploaded by their users shall adopt, in cooperation with the holders of rights, the pertinent measures to ensure the correct functioning of the agreements concluded with rights holders for the use of their works or other performances or to prevent works or other performances identified by the right holders in cooperation with service providers from being available in their services.
Those measures, such as the use of effective content recognition techniques, will be appropriate and proportionate. The service providers will provide the right holders with adequate information on the operation and deployment of the measures, as well as,##### Member States shall ensure that the service providers referred to in paragraph 1 put in place complaints and recourse mechanisms to which users can access in the event of a dispute over the application of the measures referred to in paragraph 1.
The Member States shall facilitate, where appropriate, cooperation between information society service providers and rights holders through stakeholder dialogues to determine best practices, such as content recognition techniques adequate and proportionate, taking into account, in particular, the nature of the services, the availability of technologies and their effectiveness in the light of technological evolution.
Once the resolution is known, companies like Google have decided to oppose and campaign to change the law. Richard Gingras, VP of Google News, explains to The Guardian that this new regulation could affect Google News and YouTube services. And unlike the first, the video platform is an important source of income for Google.
The company gives an example of the video of "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi. They explain that the video contains various copyrights, from sound recordings to multiple publishing rights. Where does the problem lie? Although YouTube does have agreements with various entities to publish it, some of these rights are unknown. According to article 13, Google should block this video for a possible violation of rights. This is an extreme example where many actors are involved, but it shows the difficulty of establishing which videos should be blocked.
YouTube already has a huge database that collects licenses and usage policies through Content ID. What changes now? Basically, the European Union would be formalizing that this filtering tool should be used more exhaustively and block all content that has been identified as protected content. Google agrees on the substance and objectives of Article 13 but warns that " the current version as it is written could have serious consequences ."
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