This post is most likely not going to be viewed by a lot of people, if none at all. Regardless, I feel it is important to raise awareness wherever I can, as the Internet in the EU is currently faced with the danger of becoming a hellscape of censorship as a result of article 11 and 13 presented in the copyright law reform. Below is a quote from savetheinternet.info, explaining the situation in more detail.
On July, 5th the European parliament voted on the reform of copyright law in the digital domestic market. Part of this reform were the already heavy criticized articles 11 & 13. These articles would’ve paved the way for massive censorship on the internet. That’s why we started a pretty successful petition which we, thanks to a personal invitation from MeP Julia Reda, personally delivered to the representatives together with all our 736.000 signatures we had back then.
The first reform proposal to the new copyright law (articles 11 and 13) has been rejected with a 318 (53%) to 278 (47%) majority!
But this threat is not off the table right now! The plenary rejection means just that the reform has to be revamped and submitted again. A new vote is to be expected in January.
Despite a million signatures, thousands of handwritten letters to the parliamentarians, protests on the streets, flyer distributions and enlightenment work in social media the parliamentarians passed the paper to the trialogue. There it was accepted on September 12th with a 438 (62%) to 229 (33%) majority. This means that the next step to a binding guideline is reached. Amendments adopted by the European Parliament on 12 September 2018
Now only two more meetings of the responsible EU-representatives with the ministers of the countries will be held, in which changes can be brought to the table, or be fought for compromise.
After this the parliament is expected to vote one last time in January. Each nation of the European union has to adjust it’s own laws to the guideline. This means national laws are expected to be released in 2019/2020
Long story made short, it appears we are currently facing our own version of Net Neutrality. As a fellow citizen of the EU, I urge you to consider signing the petition. It might be a long shot, but it is definitely better than doing nothing.