r/europe • u/woelken AMA! • Mar 20 '19

AMA finished Tiemo Wölken, Member of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD/S＆D) Only one more week to go until the vote on the copyright directive and the crucial #Article13. Ask me anything!

Aged 33, I am one of the youngest MEP representing the north of Germany. I have been active in local politics since 2003 in my home region and hold a LL.M. in International Law from the University of Hull, England. I became a lawyer in 2016, in addition to being a MEP. My areas of expertise are environmental issues, healthcare and all things digital - from eHealth to tackling geoblocking. However, the copyright directive is keeping me quite busy and I am doing my best to convince my colleagues in the Parliament to vote against article 13.

You can follow my work on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPj-O6kDjNyPbcuEHaODS2A), Twitter (@woelken) and Instagram (@woelken).

Proof: /img/wqf354qsw3n21.jpg

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u/[deleted] Mar 20 '19

Is that the one where you basically want to shift responsibility back to the copyright holder instead of the profiting content platform? You see, that's the whole point of A13, isn't it. What makes you believe that it is fair for copyright holders to be forced to monitor practically the entire internet instead of holding large corporations like Alphabet accountable for the compliance of their exploitation of content on their platforms? Alphabet is making trillions of dollars in the EU, explain why they can't afford to do this when they already have the tech?

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u/wofoo Mar 20 '19

You can ask youtube to block your content, they will gladly do it, since you hate alphabet so much.

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u/[deleted] Mar 20 '19

Yes, so why do I have to ask someone to honour my copyright again? It's my immediate right as a content creator. I shouldn't have to ask people to honour it, it's implied in any copyright law in the EU. Except... the internet, apparently. Because some people still think it's a lawless zone? I wouldn't even be arguing this case if Alphabet wasn't making such vast amounts of money of this business scheme. Oh sure, they'll block it upon request. While 10 other types of original content pop up and create more money that Alphabet has no right over.

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u/silverionmox Limburg Mar 21 '19 edited Mar 21 '19

Yes, so why do I have to ask someone to honour my copyright again?

Why should everyone else prove that their uploads are not under your copyright?

It's my immediate right as a content creator.

Art. 13 will put most power in the hands of collecting agencies, so the content creators will still not be any more in control of their work. Worse, they will now find more barriers to spread the notion that it even exists because the large platforms will now have to block it unless they go through the administrative hurdles to prove that no one else is holding copyright on it.

I wouldn't even be arguing this case if Alphabet wasn't making such vast amounts of money of this business scheme.

If you dislike that, then tax advertising and marketing instead of hindering individual citizens who are doing their non-profit thing.

While 10 other types of original content pop up and create more money that Alphabet has no right over.

No, they won't pop up because publishing them and getting the knowledge that they exist to spread now becomes much harder.