Tl;dr
Freedom of Panorama, ancillary copyright and text & data mining seem to be
firmly on the agenda. The ePrivacy Directive might be revised, covering
things such as location data, spam and cookies. The Commission is also
testing the waters on intermediary liability. The options being re-opening
IPRED, attempting some sort of non-binding recommendation or defining
notice-and-action procedures.
This and past reports: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Monitor
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Consultation on Publishers Right and Freedom of Panorama: We have until 15
June to submit our responses. The FKAGEU answers are practically
finalised.[1] We’re just wondering if Q4 isn’t a question addressed to the
people who license their art/buildings only.
In parallel, for individuals, third parties and the general public there
will be an answering guide at youcan.fixcopyright.eu. [2] It will go live
tomorrow and I will make sure to make sure to poke you again, including on
this mailing list. Keep in mind, that the results will be reviewed on a
respondent category basis.Which means that we have to focus our
mobilisation not only on the “consumer/end user/citizens” category but need
to mobilise professional clubs & associations as well as painters and
photographers. If Wikimedia movement groups decide to participate, they are
invited to use the FKAGEU answers as examples, but please don’t just copy &
paste, as identical sets will be collapsed in the final results.
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Freedom of Panorama: On one hand the questions asked are specific and
well-ordered. On the other, they are asking for specific examples of
problems we’ve had. Wikimedians and photographers should really make an
effort to communicate their personalised experiences here. This has the
potential to set us apart.
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Ancillary Copyright Publishers Right: This is a part of the consultation
that is optional and is about proposing an ancillary-copyright-like law on
the EU level. The FKAGEU will answer this part of the consultation, mostly
in line with the answering guide on youcan.fixcopyright.eu. Individuals are
welcome to do the same, but if you feel unsure about what you are being
asked you may as well skip it.
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Text and Data Mining: The third subject that will almost surely be included
in the Commission’s future copyright plans is a Text and Data Mining
exception. There was an event in the European Parliament co-hosted by a
Socialist and a Conservative MEP. [3] The general takeaways are that the EP
imagines an exception for academics and research that should also somehow
cover SMEs, while the Commission finds it challenging to square the circle
between a more generous exception (which is desirable for SMEs) and a
non-commercial one (which is politically easier to pass). During the
discussion, most parties agreed that research regularly falls outside of
the NC spectrum. A fresh new perspective was brought into the Brussels
debate by Ada Homolova, [4] a data journalist supporting the case for a
comprehensive exception in order to be able to do her job safely.
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ePrivacy Directive: It is not exactly clear where this is heading. A
“better regulation” argument is being floated by stakeholders who would
like to get rid of parts of the Directive. The logic is that since we have
the General Data Protection Regulation, the ePrivacy Directive has become
obsolete. However, it covers specific aspects not included in the the
Regulation, such as location data, traffic information, spam and cookies.
Some of these things are directly linked to online privacy, which we deeply
care about. A consultation was recently open by European Commission. [5]
The FKAGEU will participate [6] reflecting Wikimedia’s Public Policy
position on privacy. [7]
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AVMS: A revision of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive [8] has been
announced. I am expecting the legislative proposal to come in June or July.
The policy options laid out in the review of the current text seem to point
towards an attempt to somehow promote European content online (currently
there are quotas for TV, radio, cinema). It would at least theoretically be
possible to use the Directive to improve cross-border access to content.
[9]
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Platforms leak: A leaked communication [10] proposes the creation of a
European Innovation Council that helps EU based companies scale up their
businesses. It also criticises that de facto competing services have to
comply with different rules, which distorts the market (e.g. SMS services
vs. Whatsapp messages, cable TV vs. YouTube).
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The definition of platforms still seems to be vary vague, saying something
like “exclusive reliance on information technology” to “facilitate and
extract value from direct interactions between groups of users”.
Single-sided distributions (read Netflix) do not fall under the
Commission’s definition of online platforms, while Google, Bing, Facebook,
YouTube and eBay are even cited as examples of such.
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On a positive note, there seems to be talk of guaranteeing that users can
take all their data with them if they decide to leave a platform. Also, the
idea of “giving preference to the procurement of open service platforms by
public authorities" is again being floated. An idea that has recently been
on the loosing side. [11]
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Leaking a communication is a very “soft” way for Brussels bureaucrats to
test the waters for future initiatives. The text appears to be assembled
from several competing ideas and tactics. In Brussels it has been described
as “a lot of fluff”. It is still unclear whether Wikipedia would be
affected by such future initiatives. But there’s plenty of talk about
liability, so we should remain vigilant. More info here: [12]
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[1]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/FoP_Consultation
[2]http://youcan.fixcopyright.eu/
[3]https://twitter.com/C_Stihler_MEP/status/725339912715776000
[4]https://twitter.com/naberacka
[5]
https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/public-consultation-eval…
[6]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/ePrivacy_Consultation#Previous_Re…
[7]https://policy.wikimedia.org/policy-landing/privacy/
[8]
https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/audiovisual-media-services-di…
[9]
http://ec.europa.eu/smart-regulation/roadmaps/docs/2015_cnect_006_cwp_revie…
[10]
http://www.euractiv.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/04/2917_001-1.pdf
[11]
http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/2016/04/anti-innovation-eu-excludes-op…
[12]
http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/2016/04/eu-online-platform-regulation-…