MEPs reject controversial copyright law

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MEPs have voted to reject a controversial copyright law in its current form, deciding to return to the issue in September.

The law would have put a greater responsibility on individual websites to check for copyright infringements.

But the web’s inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee and others had expressed concerns about the proposed rules, which they said threatened internet freedom.

Opponents greeted the decision as a victory.

Julia Reda, a Pirate Party MEP who had campaigned against the legislation tweeted: “Great success: Your protests have worked! The European Parliament has sent the copyright law back to the drawing board.”

BPI Music, which represents UK record labels, had supported the bill and tweeted: “We respect the decision… 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.”

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales told the BBC he hoped that the music industry could find a way to compromise before the September debate.

“Don’t think about filtering everything everyone uploads to the internet. That’s a pipe dream but you are never going to get that,” he said.

Instead, he added, they should look to renegotiating deals with platforms such as YouTube to get “fairer remuneration”.

By Mark Savage, Music reporter

The combined clout of Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox Placido Domingo and David Guetta wasn’t enough to persuade MEPs to make sweeping changes to copyright law.

They were among 1,300 musicians who urged politicians to enact a law forcing sites like YouTube and Facebook to use filters that would stop users illegally uploading their music.

Musicians were being cheated out of money, they argued, even though websites were making huge profits off their work.

Critics said the laws would stifle creativity – with Creative Commons chief Ryan Merkley observing that The Beatles would have been prevented from performing cover versions under the proposed rules.

For you and me, it could have resulted in text, music and videos posted to blogs, social networks and comment sections being yanked from the net at point of upload – somewhat like YouTube’s controversial Content ID system on steroids.

In the end, MEPs decided the changes needed more debate; and sent the proposals back to Parliament. The two sides will undoubtedly step up their campaigns in the meantime.

 

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