Peak insanity.European Commission Wants to Repress Internet Freedom
by Don Quijones
WolfStreet.com
July 15, 2015
Unbeknownst to most EU citizens, their ability to use and enjoy the Internet freely and unmolested by penny-pinching, power-hungry authorities may soon be coming to an end.
The European Commission is preparing to launch new sweeping copyright legislation this fall. As part of that process the rather Orwellian-titled EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Günther Oettinger, is mulling the possibility of adopting a new ancillary copyright law that would essentially force websites to pay a special fee for linking to other websites.
To wit, from Euractiv:
Oettinger has praised ancillary copyright laws several times in recent months, as the European Commission gets ready to propose EU copyright legislation this fall. He was speaking yesterday at a meeting of the European Parliament’s culture committee.
Asked about the prospect of a European ancillary copyright law, Oettinger replied: “I’m open to it.” Ancillary copyright laws essentially force internet search engines (DQ: and potentially other websites, including blogs and social media) to pay fees to news publishers when they post snippets from articles in search results.
“In Spain, the development and the awareness process seem to be further along than in Germany. We’re assessing that and will integrate it into our copyright proposal,” Oettinger said.
The Rest…HERE
