EU Copyright Directive may affect internet-based businesses

What is the EU Copyright Directive? Long document made short, it’s a long set of rules aimed at updating copyright laws for the digital age.  It’s largely meant to give content creators and publishers more control over how their content is used and even more money for its use.  However, a part called the ‘link tax’ might affect any web platforms out there. Article 11 in the directive states that web platforms and news aggregates will have to pay publishers when they use portions of their content in their search results. Article 17 is another that has come under fire.  It states that for-profit websites will be held responsible for any infringing content that appears on their site. Now, the truth is that these make a lot of sense and are actually pretty helpful for the masses.  If I want to create a video and it becomes popular, I’ll be paid accordingly for it and those that try to steal it will suffer.  If someone does steal my content, it even rightfully puts some of the blame on the website it appears.

What might need to change?

For starters, these changes won’t affect the vast lot of you.  In fact, it’ll pretty much only affect platforms that offer content to be uploaded or those that link other people’s content in search results.  If your website does allow content to be uploaded, just apply a filter.  Try to make sure that all content is original or has the necessary links to support the creator/publisher.]]>