All photographers around the world who are trying to control and earn money from their work should watch, very carefully, what the European Parliament does with
Article 13 of its Copyright Directive. The final EU decision could greatly benefit all photographers whether they live in the EU or not.
Tech industry leaders, like
Google and
YouTube, strongly oppose this legislation, because it could force them to use automated content filtering systems to insure that copyrighted material is not being distributed without permission on their platforms. The law states that digital companies should put "effective content recognition systems" in place.
On September 12th, despite massive controversy, and after over 100 amendments, the European Parliament voted in favor of the
Copyright Directive with 438 yes votes, 226 no votes and 39 abstentions. The Directive must go to a final vote in January 2019.
Article 13 calls on internet giants to take "appropriate and proportionate" measures to prevent user-generated content that infringes a rights holder's copyright.” And would require tech giants such as Google, Facebook and Twitter to filter copyrighted material such as songs, images, and videos uploaded on their platforms, unless they were given directly licensed permission to do so. This would range from memes using stock photography to music videos, remixes, and more.
There Is A Simplier Solution
For still imagery and illustration Google could easily set up a system like the
Image Creator Locator I have outlined
here,
here and
here. The ICL t could solve most of their problem. But the tech companies are fighting to keep from doing anything.
Those who want to use others work should be required to check the Google ICL site first to determine if using the work requires permission. If it is included in the ICL collection of copyrighted work, then there should be a link enabling any potential user – individual or small organization – to easily determine if compensation is required, of if certain free uses are permitted.
Dealing with the issue for video, songs and text may be a more complicated, but I’ll let the tech giants find a solution for those problems.
The tech giants want everyone using the Internet to be totally fee to spread any meme, regardless of whose property they might use, or the truth or falsehood of what they have to say, because the tech giants make their money by selling ads that are attached to every piece of content produced. For them, the more the merrier.
Meme
An Internet meme is a concept or idea that spreads "virally" from one person to another via the Internet. An Internet meme could be anything from an image to an email or video file; however, the most common meme is an image of a person or animal with a funny or witty caption.
Examples of memes include beliefs, fashions, stories, and phrases. In previous generations, memes typically spread within local cultures or social groups. However, now that the Internet has created a global community, memes can span countries and cultures across the world. Memes that are propagated online are called "Internet memes."
Critics say the Article 13 will spell the end of the meme, and affect smaller entities harder than major players, as they will be required to sweep material in the same way as multibillion-dollar corporations. But, if an organization like Google sets up an efficient system for visually checking images it should take no more than a minute or two for any user to determine if an image is free to use.
Others worry that “copyright trolls” will tirelessly monitor the web for activity that could infringe on the new laws. But, if most users make a minimal effort to obey the law, they should have no problems. The goal is to make it easy for everyone to do the right thing so there will be minimal need for “copyright trolls,” or “pursuing infringers.”
Some users worry about “Free Speech,” but free speech doesn’t give anyone the right to use another persons property as if it was their own.
The tech companies are worried that they will be “forced to use filtering systems that block copyrighted content,” but if they set up a system enabling consumers to “filter” content that could eliminate the need for blocking content and leave the transaction up to the user and the content creator.