PRESS RELEASE – [ Europe / Democracy / Censorship / Economy / Copyright ]
Brussels, 29 March 2019 – FFII is calling on angry protesters against internet upload filters to reverse the position of their country by calling for a vote in their national parliament. Council of the Ministers is an undemocratic institution where decisions on this particular subject are made by officials of the Member States’s ministries of culture. FFII call on national parliaments to ‘take back control’.
The adoption of internet upload filters is a strategic mistake that will fuel the eurosceptics game at the coming elections. Boris Johnson’s reaction to european parliament vote yesterday left no doubt about it. Internet upload filters are a slippery slope. Another directive will extend automatic filtering to ‘terrorist’ content, ‘fake news’, and finally, political speech. Where does it end?
The Council of Ministers is expected to formally adopt the directive as an A-item at the next meeting on Tuesday 9th of April.
Benjamin Henrion, President of FFII, says: “It’s time for real European Democracy. You have next week to change the outcome. Call your national parliament now, and ask for a vote on internet upload filters!”
He remembers 15 years ago: “Poland saved SMEs from the harmful software patent directive, any country can do it again. Merkel and Macron sold SMEs for a Russian gas pipeline, it’s time to fix the European democratic deficit and replace diplomats by a network of national parliaments. Ministers of Culture should not be allowed to dictate the position of a country. The CETA debate was the same undemocratic mess, it was barely discussed in 3 national parliaments out of 28, and a few unelected ministers decided on the positions of their countries.”
Internet companies are already looking to relocate in Switzerland to avoid the unsupportable liabilites created by the European Filternet. And the copyright lobby is also pushing for Switzerland to copy/paste the same absurd legislation that small companies cannot comply with.
He finishes: “Macron’s dream of a French startup nation did not last long. His guiding principle appears to be: “Leave business to big business!” ”
Links
* Poland removes the “A-item” of adopting the “Software Patent Directive” from the agenda of the Agricultural Council meeting on December 21, 2004 https://thankpoland.info/
* Poland saves the EU once more: https://lists.ffii.org/pipermail/news/2005-January/000258.html
* FAZ: Altmaier opfert Start-ups im Urheberrecht
https://edition.faz.net/faz-edition/wirtschaft/2019-03-26/f30a5870c08cc1e1b4524c1be19d1faf/
* Techdirt: Germany Caved To France On Copyright In A Deal For Russian Gas
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190325/14404641865/new-report-germany-caved-to-france-copyright-deal-russian-gas.shtml
* Techdirt: After Insisting That EU Copyright Directive Didn’t Require Filters, France Immediately Starts Promoting Filters
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190327/17141241885/after-insisting-that-eu-copyright-directive-didnt-require-filters-france-immediately-starts-promoting-filters.shtml
* European Parliament rushes towards Soviet Internet (Telecom Package in 2008) https://blog.ffii.org/european-parliament-rushes-towards-soviet-internet/
* Pf-pf: Leave business to big business https://twitter.com/zoobab/status/1108672462517084162
Contact
Benjamin Henrion, FFII Brussels, bhenrion at ffii.org, +32 484 566109