Wikipedia closed until Thursday. Protest against European copyright law

Wikipedia, the most famous online encyclopedia, has blacked out all its entries for a protest that will continue until Thursday, July 5, 2018, when the European copyright law will be voted on (it is against that law that the protest is directed). If you try to consult one of the Wikipedia entries, you will be redirected to a communiqué below:

Dear Reader, Dear Reader,

On July 5, 2018, the European Parliament in plenary session will decide whether to accelerate the approval of the Copyright Directive. This directive, if enacted, will significantly restrict Internet freedom.

Instead of updating copyright laws in Europe to promote everyone’s participation in the information society, it threatens online freedom and creates barriers to access to the Web by imposing new barriers, filters and restrictions. If the proposal is approved, it might be impossible to share a newspaper article on social networks or find it on a search engine. Wikipedia itself would be in danger of shutting down.

The proposal has already met with the firm disapproval of more than 70 computer scholars, including web creator Tim Berners-Lee, 169 academics, 145 organizations working in the fields of human rights, press freedom, scientific research and the computer industry, and the Wikimedia Foundation.

For these reasons, the Italian Wikipedia community has decided to black out all pages of the encyclopedia. We want to be able to continue to offer a free, open, collaborative encyclopedia with verifiable content. We therefore call on all Members of the European Parliament to reject the current text of the directive and to reopen the discussion by considering the many proposals of Wikimedia associations, starting with the abolition of Articles 11 and 13, as well as the extension of the freedom of landscape to the entire EU and the protection of the public domain.

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/SaveYourInternet

The Italian Wikipedia community

In particular, there are two measures that are the subject of much criticism from the entire web community. The first concerns the possibility for publishers to demand a fee every time one of their news items is shared: for critics, this would be a measure strongly contrary to the very nature of the web, which was born as a free network of hypertexts, and could lead to the closure of many sites (especially norizie aggregators) that would not be able to pay the required disbursements. The second, on the other hand, makes online platforms liable for any copyright violations in them: platforms would thus be forced to create bots to monitor user behavior. Critics therefore see the European law as severely limiting and restrictive, capable of undermining the freedom of the Internet and subjecting it to the mercy of algorithms. Therefore, Wikipedia is asking users to raise awareness among politicians in their countries so that they will vote against it in Parliament.

Wikipedia closed until Thursday. Protest against European copyright law

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.