Friday, June 12, 2015

Internet Censorship



I received the following e-mail today.  Have any of you heard about this?

In just a few days, key lawmakers will vote on a new scheme that will facilitate the spread of a restrictive ‘link tax’1 online.  This backwards censorship plan is supported by a politician named Jean-Marie Cavada. A classic Internet villain who wants to hold onto the past.

We know Cavada hopes to usher in new powers that could see links and comments on Soundcloud, Facebook, and WhatsApp to your favorite blog redirected or blocked entirely.

Have you seen those “not available in your area” geo-block-like messages? Yeah, more of that sort of thing. We hate them too. 

If Cavada gets his way we’ll see much more of that frustrating Internet censorship and it will affect users everywhere. Let’s all send him a message he can’t ignore now.

Here’s the rub: Cavada’s link censorship plan is about to be voted on in a powerful EU parliamentary committee he chairs.2

Regardless of where you live many of your favourite websites and key web infrastructure will be covered by his irresponsible censorship scheme. 

As it stands, if Cavada gets his way you could see some of your favourite websites being forced to pay a ‘link tax’ for pointing to information that’s freely available elsewhere.3

Get this: he even tried to scrub the input from Internet users from this decision-making process.4 He then tried to block a UN free expression expert from talking to key decision-makers about the problems with his restrictive plan.5 Who does that?

For Cavada to back off he needs to hear from as many of us as possible right now. The vote is in just a few days. 

Every story has a hero and a villain, and this story is no different. We know which role Cavada is playing.

We have a hero: Pro-Internet champion Julia Reda has actually set out a positive roadmap5 for how to bring more of the Web we love to more people around the world.

Cavada is trying to ruin this forward-looking plan by inserting his censorship plan into the process. Let’s not let him do that.

-Meghan, on behalf of your OpenMedia team

PS: We need to make sure that Cavada hears our message loud and clear. And the more people who share this action, the easier that will be. Can you take a moment to share on Facebook and Twitter today?

 

Footnotes:


[1] 'Link tax' also known as 'ancillary copyright.' Find out more about it's effects here and here.
[2] Jean-Marie Cavada’s bio. Source: European Parliament.
[3],[4] What does Cavada want the future of copyright to look like? Source.
[5] MEP scuffle points to EU copyright controversy. Source: EU Observer.
[6] Copyright evaluation report - explained. Source: Julia Reda.

1 comment:

OldLady Of The Hills said...

It all sounds so overwhelming to me.....!

The man in the picture from "VERDIGRIS" is the Author and a very fine Actor, too, Jim Beaver. He has done a lot of Film and TV work..., He wasn't in the production as an actor, 30 years ago, but he is in this production......The woman in the Wheel Chair is a lovely actress named Sheila Shaw---she too has done a lot of film and TV.
I got the STARZ box, but did not see any of OUTLANDER. The amount of DVD's that are sent out in this first go-round are humongous!!! The problem is, you just cannot watch all of it. There aren't enough hours in the day---even for me, and I have more time than most people. I try to watch as much as I can, especially things I have never seen or do not watch, but, the STARZ Box of many things just got away from me. I should take a picture of ALL these elaborate packages that arrive----it's almost unbelievable---the money these Production Company's spend is really outrageous! The photo of the Showtime Box I got off the Internet and in truth--there are two more boxes, even bigger than the one I posted.....! I will check out OUTLANDER as soon as I can....!

I hope all is going well with your approaching move, my dear.....It sounds very daunting to me. And, sorry about the tension regarding your mom---that is very hard, I know.

For CK the book lover