New EU Internet Censorship Law Heads Into Secret ‘Trilogue’ Talks

A new European Union internet law supposedly designed to protect the rights of copyright holders online—but which critics say could lead to widespread censorship and even mass surveillance of internet users—is headed into its next stage before approval: secret negotiations among the heads of European governments. As AVN.com reported, the new “EU Copyright Directive” which was approved by the European Parliament last month, contains two provisions that have alarmed internet freedom advocates. One, Section 11, establishes a “link tax,” which would require online platforms to pay each time a third-party article or other work is shared on their sites. The other controversial provision of the bill, Section 13, requires sites that accept third-party content—such as YouTube, for example—to use algorithms known as “upload filters” to screen out copyrighted content, something the Electronic Frontier Foundation warned could quickly become “a tool for the automated surveillance and control of (internet) users.” Now that the bill is approved by the EU Parliament, it must be presented to the heads of the various European goverments, who will debate and possibly alter the wording of the law along with the EU parliament and European commission. According to digital civil liberties advocate Cory Doctorow, these three-way talks, or “trilogues,” take place behind closed doors. “The trilogues are not held in secret because the negotiators are sure that you'll be delighted with the outcome and don't want to spoil the surprise,” Doctorow wrote on Sunday. “They're meetings where well-organized, powerful corporate lobbyists' voices are heard and the public is unable to speak.” “Trilogue negotiations are worrisome mainly because only a very limited number of participants negotiate for over 500 million of people and their names are usually not disclosed,” explained the advocacy group European Digital Rights. “Negotiations are conducted behind closed doors; trilogue documents are not released to the public as a general rule; Lobbyists can get an insight of trilogue negotiations if they become friendly with the negotiators. What about the general public? Wouldn’t you like to also have access to documents that will likely affect your life?” But in the case of the controversial “Copyright Directive,” one EU Parliament member has pledged to shatter the secrecy that encases the trilogue talks. Julia Reda, an EU Parliament member from Germany, according to Doctorow, has pledged to publish transcripts of the Copyright Directive trilogue talks as they happen—under a recent court ruling holding that the content of trilogue talks should be made public upon request. “Articles 11 and 13 are so defective as to be unsalvageable; when they are challenged in the European Court of Justice, they may well be struck down. In the meantime, the trilogues—if they do their job right—must struggle to clarify their terms so that some of their potential for abuse and their unnavigable ambiguity is resolved,” Doctorow wrote. Image by Carlos Latuff / Wikimedia Commons Public Domain