[UPDATED 12.09.18] Threat of 'Link Tax' is now a reality

UPDATE AS OF 13.6.18: Update:

"Next week the European Union’s JURI committee will decide the fate of the Internet in the EU. If the lobbyists for the big publishers have their way, every website will be forced to pay a tax for every link to news content on the web. Added to that, they want to force sites to install "censorship machines" to filter and block uploaded content1.
This will hamper or outright break every site and service based in the EU, which means that the impact will be seen by Internet users all over the world.

That’s why the OpenMedia community, along with our partners and other organisations across Europe2, are making one last urgent push to Save the Link and stop censorship machines.

TWEET AT THE 9 MEPs
Just 9 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) will decide3, so we’re tweeting them to tell them the choice is clear. Today, June 12 is the day of action across Europe to #SaveYourInternet.

If these laws pass, it will be the end of smaller Internet operators in Europe. The automated content filtering technology the lawmakers are demanding will be hideously expensive, and will not be nearly as accurate as they claim.

The link tax is an unprecedented assault on the free and open web, it goes to the heart of what makes the Internet so powerful — the free sharing of information.

Even if you’re not directly represented by one of these 9 MEPs, they are deciding on a law that will affect all of us, in Europe and around the world.

SEND A MESSAGE TO
THESE 9 MEPs NOW
It doesn’t matter if you’re from a country represented by one of the 9 MEPs or not, we all need to stand together to put a stop to this dangerous and destructive proposal. Send a message to an MEP today and tell them to #SaveYourInternet.

After years of delays and debate, we’re at the critical point now. We can’t let up. Too much depends on this. Let’s take over the Internet today and make it a day the deciding MEPs can never forget.

Yours for the open web,

Dave, for the team at OpenMedia

P.S A tweet will take just a minute or two of your time, but will reach the people making this crucial decision. Send a tweet today. If you don’t use Twitter, you can email the MEPs here too.

Footnotes
1. Article 13 could "destroy the internet as we know it": What is it, why is it controversial and what will it mean for memes? alphr
2. Save Your Internet. #SaveYourInternet
3. Copyright JURI MEPs undecided. EDRi"


From my inbox:

"MEP Axel Voss is hell-bent on passing an EU link tax that would fundamentally change the Internet as we know it -- all to satisfy his big corporate lobbyist friends.

And now Voss is lashing out at OpenMedia on Twitter with Donald Trump-style attacks, accusing those who oppose the link tax of spreading “fake news.”1

Voss is attacking OpenMedia because we’ve helped spark a massive grassroots backlash -- and now he’s scared we just might stop him.

We won’t let Axel Voss bully us. But MEPs will be voting on the link tax within weeks, so we need to turn up the pressure NOW.
DONATE TO HELP STOP THE LINK TAX

Hyperlinks are fundamental to the ecosystem of the Internet. We share articles or interesting information with friends and family. We link to more in-depth information in blog posts. We add links as evidence for academic and professional work.

But if giant publishers and politicians captured by corporate interests like Axel Voss get their way, our ability to use links could be crushed -- killing the Internet as we know it.

A broad coalition of independent publishers, artists, and free-speech advocates are leading the fight to stop the link tax. But it’s being pushed hard by lobbyists for giant publishers, who are angry that the Internet has broken open their monopoly on the publication and distribution of content.

Axel Voss is the leader of the effort to pass the link tax, and now he’s pouncing on OpenMedia for one reason: We’re fighting back for free speech and the open Internet. And with the vote on the link tax expected any day, he wants to bully us into silence.

Here’s what your donation will help us continue to do as the big vote approaches:

Mobilise hundreds of phone calls to MEPs through our state-of-the-art call tool, and getting people to phone Voss and other MEPs.
Organise an open letter to Voss signed by 59 organisations opposed to the link tax.
Use our EU-wide membership to spread the word about how toxic this idea really is and make sure the MEPs hear us loud and clear.

Will you chip in to help stand up to Axel Voss and his lobbyist friends and stop the link tax?
DONATE TO HELP STOP THE LINK TAX

Thanks for all that you do,

Dave, and the whole team at OpenMedia

Footnotes:
[1] Tweet by Axel Voss: Twitter
OpenMedia


We work to safeguard the possibilities of the open Internet, and toward informed and participatory digital policy.
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[UPDATE 12.09.2018}

"Awful news: This afternoon, the EU Parliament passed a massive overhaul of EU copyright law that threatens to ruin the Internet as we know it, including the Link Tax and upload-filtering Censorship Machines. Now the EU Council is the only thing that can stop these attacks on the Internet.

Websites like Reddit and Wikipedia might no longer be able to operate as they do today, because automated censorship filters will block user-generated content before it even goes live.

Big corporate publishers are lobbying furiously to pass the Link Tax to line their pockets and protect their dying business models. That's why we're staging an all-out grassroots push to bury these attacks on the Internet once and for all.

...

The Link Tax would affect not just Europe, but the entire Internet ecosystem.

Requiring websites to use automated content-filtering technology would costs millions of dollars and thousands of manpower hours, likely decimating small online businesses and startups while not even helping artists to get paid.[1]

Our massive public pressure forced MEPs to reject these anti-democratic copyright reforms once before. In July, MEPs rejected similar proposals by a vote of 318 to 278.[2]

After their July loss, the big corporate publishers that would profit from these attacks on the Internet didn't give up. Instead, they wrote reworked versions of the Link Tax and Censorship Machines that MEPs will vote on tomorrow.[2]

That's why OpenMedia is continuing to drive strong messages to MEPs from Internet users across the continent, so that the EU Parliament hears loud and clear: NO LINK TAX, NO CENSORSHIP MACHINES–OF ANY KIND

[1] Mandatory upload filters in the EU?: Janos Pasztor - https://pasztor.at/blog/mandatory-uploa ... -in-the-eu
[2] A Key Victory Against European Copyright Filters and Link Taxes - But What's Next?: Electronic Frontier Foundation - https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/07/k ... whats-next
[3] ‘Internet is under threat’: what you need to know about the EU’s Copyright Directive: ]Polygon - https://www.polygon.com/2018/9/11/17843 ... e-fair-use