Poland: Help Save the Internet from the Copyright Directive

Inside of the Directive are two disastrous new rules: Articles 11 and 13. Article 11 would make online platforms pay for linking to news sites, but fails to define crucial terms like “news sites,” “commercial platforms” and “links.” Additionally, the “linking right” can’t be waived, so open-access, public-interest, nonprofit and Creative Commons news sites can’t opt out of the system. The result will be that 28 European nations create 28 mutually exclusive, contradictory licensing regimes, and everyone—even those that don’t wish to profit—must try to follow.

Article 13 would require online platforms to use algorithmic filters to unilaterally determine whether content anyone uploads, from social media posts to videos, infringes copyright, and would penalise companies that allow a user to infringe copyright, but not companies that overblock and censor their users. The outcome will be censorship of massive proportions.

Not only have four million Europeans signed a petition opposing the Directive’s passage in the current form; it has also been roundly condemned by Europe’s largest movie companies and sports leagues and the Internet’s most esteemed technical experts, including the Father of the Internet Vint Cerf, and the inventor of the World Wide Web Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

This is the time for Poland to act: a rare moment when the country’s left and right agree on something: that ACTA2 must not be crammed down the throats of Europeans who do not want it.

Please write to the ministers and officials responsible for Poland's position, and urge them to vote against Article 13 and Article 11.

Remember: supporters of the Directive claim that anyone who opposes it are "bots" -- please customize your letter with who you are, and why you care about Article 13 and 11.