Article 13

mwm

So the EU have passed article 13. What does this mean for VPN companies? Will they see a sharp rise is customers? Or is it likely to cause them more problems with copyright & DMCA's?

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/what-is-article-13-article-11-european-directive-on-copyright-explained-meme-ban

NaDre

I found this PDF on the europa.eu site interesting:

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/35373/st09134-en18.pdf

Some of the interesting bits:

The definition of "online content sharing service provider" on page 31:

Page 31 paragraph (37a):

"The definition of an online content sharing service provider under this Directive targets only online services which play an important role on the online content market ..."

Page 31 paragraph (37b):

"The assessment of whether an online content sharing service provider stores and gives access to a large amount of copyright-protected content needs to be made on a case-by-case basis ..."

I think the practical intent of laws does matter. I can't see how a VPN or seedbox provider (or VPS provider) would fit this description.

The target is clearly big streaming services such as youtube.

Although it probably has no impact on me or the services I use, I was still curious.

It seems that the heart of the issue is on page 57:

Page 57 paragraph 4. (a):

"it demonstrates that it has made best efforts to prevent the availability of specific works ..".

Page 57 paragraph 4. (b 😞

"upon notification by rightholders of works or other subject matter, it has acted expeditiously to remove or disable access to these works or other subject matter and it demonstrates that it has made its best efforts to prevent their future availability ..."

The keyword here is "prevent". That is, implement some sort of "upload filter", but still only "upon notification" and only for the specific works in the notification.

Then on page 58:

Page 58 paragraph 5.:

"The measures referred to in point (a) of paragraph 4 shall be effective and proportionate, taking into account, among other factors:

(a) the nature and size of the services, in particular whether they are provided by a microenterprise or a small-sized enterprise within the meaning of Title I of the Annex to Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC, and their audience;

(b ) the amount and the type of works or other subject matter uploaded by the users of the services;

(c ) the availability and costs of the measures as well as their effectiveness in light of technological developments in line with the industry best practice referred to in paragraph 8."

The phrase "the nature and size of the services" again clarifies who the target is.

But what I found especially interesting was "... best practice referred to in paragraph 8."

Which brings me to the point of my post:

Page 59 paragraph 8.:

"The Commission and the Member States shall encourage stakeholder dialogues to define best practices for the measures referred to in point (a) of paragraph 4. Member States shall also endeavour to establish mechanisms to facilitate the assessment of the effectiveness and proportionality of these measures and provide the Commission regularly with information on those mechanisms. The Commission shall, in consultation with online content sharing service providers, rightholders and other relevant stakeholders and taking into account the results of the stakeholder dialogues and the national mechanisms, issue guidance on the application of the measures referred to in point (a) of paragraph 4."

I think there is some considerable wishful thinking here.

Firstly, I think most people have unrealistic ideas about how "smart" the technology that folks like Google have for scanning and searching really is, or ever will be. Secondly, how likely is it that companies like Google will want to risk revealing their proprietary methods in order to "define best practices"?

EDIT: The final PDF is here:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-8-2018-0245-AM-271-271_EN.pdf