People of the Internet , rejoice ! For today is truly one where common sense has prevailed , and the web as we know it will survive to contend another sidereal day . Unless you ’re in the US , soz people .
Today was the crucial voting in the EU when Members of the European Parliament ( MEPs ) were voting on thehugely controversialCopyright Directive . And in a surprising move , MEPs have decided to stall its implementation .
That does n’t mean it ’s deadened and entomb just yet . But it does mean the legislating will not be fast - tracked into jurisprudence . That means yourmemes are good , your small websitecan survive , and people wo n’t have topay for licensesto hyperlink elsewhere .
MEPs get the better of the legislation by318 votes to 278 , with 31 abstention , halting its progression into law . internet site let in Google , YouTube , and Wikipedia had all contradict the bill , with the latter retention aday of protestyesterday to foreground how it would affect the free and assailable net .
“ Great succeeder : Your protests have work ! ” Julia Reda , an MEP for the Pirate Party , wrote on Twitter . “ The European Parliament has sent the right of first publication law back to the drawing plug-in . ”
One of the main unfavorable judgment of the law washow vagueeverything was . Two fundamental parts , Articles 11 and 13 , seemed to evoke that websites would have to chair all content from exploiter , which would be disastrous for small businesses , and add more barriers to share information .
Prior to the voting , a group of experts , including laminitis of the World Wide connection Tim Berners - Lee , signed a letterthat said clause 13 specifically would translate the Internet into “ a tool for the automatize surveillance and control of its users . ”
When almost every expert seems to disagree , however , and with the actual enforcement of the rules themselves seemingly impossible , it ’s hard to see how it would have form . It ’s not over yet though , as the legislation will be voted on again in September . For now , the entanglement as we know it is saved .
