As of July 4th 2018, the Internet as we know it might be dead for good.
The European Parliament is passing a new Copyright Directive. Article 13 #CensorshipMachine will impose widespread censorship of all the content we share online. Art, fanfiction, parodies, remixes, mashups, memes, etc.. Anything that you do not hold the rights over will be taken down.
Article 13 would force all online platforms to police and prevent the uploading of copyrighted content, or make people seek the correct licenses to post that content. Internet platforms hosting large amounts of user-uploaded content must monitor user behaviour and filter their contributions to identify and prevent copyright infringement.
Such filters will be mandatory for platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Tumblr, Reddit and Instagram, but also much smaller websites.
Last Tuesday (19th June 2018) a group of more than 70 people who have played important roles in building the internet and developing it (Tim Berners-Lee, Vincent Cerf,
Jimmy Wales, Mitchell Baker…) into what it is today addressed an open letter to the members of the European Parliament:
“As creators ourselves, we share the concern that there should be a fair distribution of revenues from the online use of copyright works, that benefits creators, publishers, and platforms alike.
But Article 13 is not the right way to achieve this. By requiring Internet platforms to perform automatic filtering all of the content that their users upload, Article 13 takes an unprecedented step towards the transformation of the Internet from an open platform for sharing and innovation, into a tool for the automated surveillance and control of its users. […] The damage that this may do to the free and open Internet as we know it is hard to predict, but in our opinions could be substantial.”
Europe is facing a huge problem, and unlike with Net Neutrality, the world doesn’t seem to care.
I got up this morning after six hours of sleep and thought – ok, today sucks already because I’m cold and tired but maybe I can get some writing done. I walked into work this morning to hear my most offensive coworker complaining about a professor very reasonably giving a young woman an extension on turning in some work because she’s dealing with a Title IX incident (for my non-US followers, that means that she’s either been harassed or assaulted). I – am currently sitting here trying not to clench my fists, or my teeth, because I’ve said what I could say without actually getting into a shouting match with the coworker in question (much as I’d like to), and yet I am still incredibly angry because no, you do not just “get over” fucking sexual harassment, it’s fucking traumatic, and GODS this woman is a piece of shit. Also, it’s the start of fall and I just kind of want to curl up and not deal with anything for the next six months or so because fuck winter and the cold and the dark, that’s why.
On July 27, the same day President Trump banned transgender people from serving in the military, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Department of Justice filed an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit arguing that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act did not — and should not — provide legal protection against discrimination based on one’s sexual identity.
“The United States submits that the en banc Court should reaffirm its settled precedent holding, consistent with the longstanding position of the Department of Justice, that Title VII does not reach discrimination based on sexual orientation,” the document reads.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act officially prohibits discrimination on the basis of “race, color, religion, sex and national origin.” The Department of Justice’s brief interprets that information with the following: “The essential element of sex discrimination under Title VII is that employees of one sex must be treated worse than similarly situated employees of the other sex, and sexual orientation discrimination simply does not have that effect.”
Meg's Mumbles 