If Article 13 goes through:
It won’t end the world. It will make things extremely tedious and may end popular areas that have major input into our digital culture, but we will still go on.
In it’s most basic terms the Article will mean: you CAN STILL make a meme, and show it to friends, just NOT over social media. As long as you don’t do anything that means you will get profit from something that’s not yours, you will still be able to create stuff. IT JUST HAS TO BE YOURS AND NO ONE ELSES.
This can be seen in many different ways. For creators who actually have original characters and original stories…. nothing will change. But those that make fan art, write fan fiction, play games, do song covers will be highly effected by the Article. In a positive light this means more people will have to be creative and make their own stuff, but in a more realistic light… not everyone is as creative, and most people see that there is more recognition and value to using and creating from already created material.
And that is true nowadays: fan art of something gets waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more recognition than OC art.
In meme terms, you can still make memes and send them to people over WhatsApp and snapchat, it’s just if you post that same meme online, it won’t get through.
In youtube sense, this is what Youtubers will have to do:
Stream more- If they can’t get the copyright permission of a company, they’ll have the live-stream more in order to get exposure with the copyrighted content they’re using. The streams will no longer be achieved as copyrighted content will be detected and the stream video will be taken down. = This means we, as the viewers, will have to be well timed, Youtubers will need timetables to set by in order to stream and there will be timetables for when Youtubers can be watched. You’ll have to watch more streams and deal with the fact that it won’t be achieved.
Ask for permission from the copyright holders- in terms of Youtube Gamers, they’ll have to contact the game company of the game they want to make a video of and ask for copyright permission. If they say no, no video. But they’re more likely to say yes to popular Youtubers, like Game Grumps, Jacksepticeye and Markiplier, as the majority of their game’s exposure is through Youtubers, so there’ll be advertisement to the company’s advantage, so they’ll most likely allow Youtubers to play their games, but ONLY IF the Youtube pays for the copyright permission. Yet again for famous Youtubers this isn’t much of a problem as they can afford it= This means starting Youtubers won’t make it, as you need the money to pay for the permissions to play the game. In the long run this will lead to a depletion in content creators and will mean Youtube won’t last long and will probably go out of business within the next decade.
Make their own content- … easier for some and harder for others, they’d have to make their own music, play a game that they made themselves, use products they’ve made themselves, it may succeed to the point where they become copyright holders themselves; they’ll become the enemy Article 13 works for.
It’s worth baring in mind… we already have something similar to Article 13 in place.
Clips from films and montages from TV shows never last long of Youtube as they’re found out and taken down. They can even be re-uploaded again for a while. What Article 13 does is it stops the video being posted in the first place. In a politicians mind this means less people will be breaking the law (consuming copyrighted material and taking profits from the material that you have no permission for is technically breaking the law). We already have copyright restrictions, Article 13 is just a more stringent version of it.
Also Article 13 is seen as a good thing the companies and politicians because the article stops people making money off something that isn’t theirs. It is over their heads, however, that the majority of memes made are almost completely non-profitable; the owners of cats used in memes probably don’t make any money off their meme, but they’ll get fame for sure which can lead them to getting money over their own fame. And the people who use TV shows and film screenshots in a meme probably aren’t getting money from their meme, but the film or show in their meme is getting more coverage as more people see the meme and wonder what the screenshot is from. The people who DO earn money from content that isn’t theirs are social medias; tumblr twitter, Facebook etc. They earn money for posts that people put on their sites, so the site will get money from the copyrighted material used in memes. THAT is why copyright holders and politician will be in favour for Article 13; because it’s stopping the wrong people getting money and prevents breaching of copyright laws.
But it’s also worth noting that not all breaches of copyright laws are ever prosecuted. If you hold a house party and charge people $5/£5 to watch a movie so the money can pay for the snacks and drinks that are consumed while the movie is being watched, you are technically making profit from the movie illegally… but hardly anybody who does that get prosecuted in court; they only can if someone who partook in the evening has evidence against you, and that does happen because… friends don’t sell friends out.
Everything has a loop hole and everyone takes advantage of that. If Article 13 has a loop hole, we will take that to our advantage, whether it’s illegal or not. And because we have a backing of trust from friends, we may be able to return to how it currently is without getting prosecuted for breaching the Article.
I say all this to numb the fear of the Article. This post seems propaganda-ish and rather blind to the Article’s actual bad intentions. I am completely aware that this article will have negative social impacts and will highly just how detached from reality politicians are, and how the rest of us are STILL living in austerity.
but I have to say it this way because the matter of the fact is:
There is a 80% chance that we will lose this battle.
Because politicians don’t listen to the common people anymore, and corporations are always on politicians backs because THEY are the real money makers of capitalist societies, so the corporations will see Article 13 working in their favour and will keep politicians in their pockets to support them.
The only way we could win so that Article 13 isn’t passed is:
Completely overthrow the EU government…. which is dangerous and seem like a big step just for the sake of an internet based article (but while we’re at it we could sort out other problems that haven’t been solved).
OR, more likely
Get populations of over 2 million per MEP to write in strong opposition to the Article. This is more likely to work as capitalist government politicians’ actions are based on their popularity, not their skills. If they are approached with the article they will not think ‘What is the right thing to do?’ they will think ‘What decision will get me more supporters?’. If they vote for Article 13 and a very very large majority of the people they represent say they want a vote against the article, they are under pressure as nearly everyone will hate them for their actions and that politician will be voted out due to lack of popularity. A politician who has big ideas and wants to make a change for the area they represent wouldn’t want to have to resign, so politicians are more likely to follow the voices of the people they are meant to represent. BUT that’s only if over 80% of the people they represent are making their voices heard and they all say the same thing.
SO… if you REALLY REALLY REALLY want your internet saved from Article 13, EVERYONE IN THE EU (UK INCLUDED) CONTACT YOUR MEPs. And I mean EVERYONE, we’d need nearly 10 million voices heard to make ANY sort of impact.
If not…. well, just buckle in for a future under Article 13.
