More than likely this might not pass.

I may not be able to contact, but can try and spread this around

Thank you!

I am american and sadly I don't think I can do anything, but I hope that article 13 gets shot down. I can't even fathom what those guys in Europe are thinking. ._.;

Thanks for reading!

Well, you can help by spreading the word if you'd like. Tell your friends, and make a Journal if you want. Feel free to copy the contents of my Journal if you wish.
The media also don't seem to spend much attention to it, if at all.

A MEP who's also against this law mailed me back, so that's something, at least.

I also have no idea what those guys are thinking, but it seems to favor the corporations, but I disagree with giving them even more power.
Imagine not being able to access 90% of YouTube. It's just blatant censorship packaged in some nice wording that makes it sound like it's okay, while it's really not.

It's honestly comparable to the anti-net neutrality law that got passed in the US, where the internet companies basically are allowed to censor content.

Thank you for your concerns, though!

That's pretty stupid cause some coporations ebenfit from the sharing and showing of their content it gets stuff around especially if it's popular. If it gets passed it'll cause serious issues for them as well. No one's gonna buy their shit if they don't know about it and I can be certain that not everyone is gonna tune into their shit.

Well, you theorethically can share if you have the copyright owner's permission... It basically involves upload filters that check if something you're trying to upload is copyrighted or not... But obviously that filter can't detect if you have the copyright owner's permission or if something is "fair use," so yeah, it's extremely flawed.

Plus the corporations have to arrange and pay for those filters themselves. And then you gotta consider the fines and lawsuits they may get. For large corporations this will be no problem, but it's practically impossible for newly starting internet companies to actually stand a chance since they obviously lack those funds.
Those fines are chump change for the large corporations, but not for the smaller ones.
And considering it's up to the companies to actually make sure that no copyright law is breached...

Plus since such a filter system isn't advanced enough to distinguish copyrighted content from "non-copyrighted" content to put it simply, both of those things will likely be banned just to avoid the risk of letting copyrighted content through, just like a dragnet scooping up as much as possible to increase the chance of actually catching the one thing you're fishing for. It's essentially the death of "fair use."

It's comparable to YouTube's filter. For example if you're making a vlog and have a song play on the radio in the background, YouTube's automatic filter will recognize the song being played, and either mutes the video or outright deletes your vid.

Up until now, copyright owners actually have to contact the site owner to have something taken down, with the site owner being obliged to do so.
But with this law, the site owner needs to constantly monitor the content regardless if a copyright owner contacts them or not, or risk action being taken against them.
Like I said before, as such a filter is not advanced enough, it'll likely also take down actual innocent content, in order to remove the risk of copyrighted content accidentally slipping through.

This also means that if you're running a Pokémon fansite for example, you can't anymore. If you even as much say "Pikachu", it'll be blocked as it's a trademarked name, and you might get fined. This makes discussion forums impossible.
If Britain was still part of the EU, Serebii wouldn't be possible anymore.
Wikipedia would be screwed, as well. After all, all mention of copyrighted content would be forbidden.
Not even linking would be allowed of all things.

I'm absolutely amazed how much this is overlooked since it's essentially a much worse version of the destruction of net neutrality.
It will also affect the US, as well, indirectly.

This would quite possible be literally be the death of internet.

And for me personally, I also feel like crap seeing that so little people seem to care about me >.<;
Heck, it's not just me, either. All those thousands, ten thousands and maybe even hundreds of thousands of artists all across Europe will face the same fate...

So please, help us out by spreading the word. It's for the best interest of all of us.

I hope this is stopped because it sounds highly destructive. Too destructive. Whatever generation is behind doesn't seem to be aware of it at all.

Yes... I'm glad someone gets it.
I think the reason that the media doesn't cover this at all is because the law would favor them.
I wasn't even aware of it until yesterday, despite this thing going on for several months now. All the way back to October, it seems.

This is why it's important to raise awareness. We have just a little less than 5 days until the vote.

It's absolutely bizarre that this is not more known. I've read that only China has this censorship law.
Last time I've checked, a majority is in favor of the law. A small majority, but a majority nontheless. It's all up to convincing the people who are unsure to vote against it, which is why it's important for Europeans to contact their MEPs.

The more people are aware, the better. So please help spread the word!

It's funny how if one popular artist decides to leave, everyone is up in arms, but if thousands, ten thousands, if not hundreds of thousands artists are being threatened and forced to leave, no-one bats an eye... The feeling of no-one seemingly giving a darn about you despite your tireless efforts to make people happy by offering art for free is soul crushing. And with me, thousands of others. Where's the justice, I wonder... In fact, the ONLY reason I'm still sharing my art is so I'm not abandonding the very, very, VERY few who genuinely care and support me. Most artists are just being taken for granted, and will never enjoy the appreciation they deserve... Always this "Take everything, give nothing" mentality... Not to mention that some actually feel entitled to your content and actually get absolutely livid if you dare to speak up about it... And even then I just know that as I say these things, people will hate me for it.
*Sigh* All this crap is really getting to me... But regardless, I have to stay strong and help protect my fellow artists. Because someone has to do it. I'm not popular, and I don't have a voice, but despite that, I have to try, or else nothing will ever change.

Ah, I'm sorry about my outburst. This crud is just getting to me big time. Frustrated that no-one seems to be aware or seems to care. I hope to goodness that this law won't pass.

If it does pass, then my only hope is that since this is a site situated in the US, it won't be affected. But even then it's not a guarantee that the US won't be inspired by it and form a similar law, or even the same law. The death of net neutrality in the US certainly did open up the floodgates to that possibility.

All these means of the government's control scares me...

I share the same sentiment man. I feel the same way. u - u of course when they try this it will shoot them in the foot. Comapnies will no longer have means to promote their stuff. Some of the things I've seen I've never been able to be into now without someone talking about it.

I wonder what generation is currently running the goverment in the US and Europe? doesn't seem like they can't get that people LIKE their freedoms.

Unfortunately, popularity is the only thing that matters on this place. Budding artists don't even have the chance to blossom because no-one truly supports them, or are even being told they suck. Who is to decide what's good and bad art, anyway... Isn't all art equal...? They can be popular and very skilled, but I will never acknowledge them as true artists if they crap on the hard work of others.
Yeah, you can be popular if you're doing exactly as you're being told, but what self-respecting artist would even do that...? I even saw people lie about having a terminal illness just to get attention... It is... deplorable... And seeing everyone just falling for that... Not to mention I couldn't even say anything about it because an illness is a sensitive topic for people, and I'd get everyone on my tail if I even as much as suggest it was a lie, even though it was indeed a lie...

It doesn't really matter in the end since the masses will be as ignorant and lazy as ever, and will just accept every crappy thing the government thinks of... What's the difference between a democracy and a dictatorship if no-one does a dang thing about the government?
And let's face it, even if it doesn't pass, they'll just try again next year, and keep trying until people get tired of speaking up about it and give up. Let's not forget that SOPA can rear its ugly head again at any time. And considering net neutrality is dead in the US, I don't think SOPA can be stopped again if it does show up. And after that, it's just a matter of time until EU feels inspired by these laws and try to pull the same thing.
Remember the FaceBook scandal a while ago about breaching privacy and using user data? It's like the whole thing never happened.

There should honestly be a law that if a law isn't passed, it should NEVER be mentioned again. As it is now, they can just keep trying until people are too tired to fight back.
In court you can never be put on trial for the same charges twice (called "double jeopardy"), but the government can just keep trying to push a crappy law over and over again for as much as they want.
That's like breaking a speed limit once, and getting fined over and over and over again until you have billions upon billions of debt.

But yeah, like I said, the only companies not being screwed over are the large corporations like Google, and in the government's eyes, those big corporations are all that matter.
Because let's face it, the true rulers of our countries are those big corporations.

Believe me, the government doesn't want the people to have their freedom. They'll just invent new methods to break off the freedom we still have bit by bit until we're essentially a dictatorship and we're actually happy about it, because it gives us the illusion of freedom.
SOPA was a start, then came the anti-net neutrality thing ( I forgot the name >.<; ), and now Art13. It basically went from stopping piracy to censoring certain content to censoring and stopping all content. And who knows what will be next if this does pass... People also don't realize that even if it doesn't affect them in any way, it just opens the floodgates for other laws that actually MAY affect them. It's why it's so important to stand united against crappy laws, even if it doesn't affect us in any way.

I'm just the kind of person who wants to speak up for the rights of others. While it would suck if this law basically shut me down, I'm more concerned about the thousands upon thousands of my fellow artists.
For example, if there was a fetish ban on this site, and it was a fetish I personally didn't like, I'd still speak up about it because I don't want to have something taken away from the people who DO enjoy it, even if I personally never want to see it. Because I actually care about other people, and am not selfish enough to destroy something thousands of people like JUST because I dislike it. Granted that the fetish in question doesn't harm anyone in any way, at least.

But honestly, maybe it's just time for the innocent artists to leave. I don't want them to suffer because of unappreciative people, yet feel bound to this site for any reason. A lot of people are just unsupportive on this site despite feeling entitled to their content and taking the artists for granted. This place honestly don't even deserve their art, if you ask me. This place is just too merciless to them.
I've also had to endure many, many hardships (and still am), and it just leaves me to wonder if it's truly worth it. It's absolutely insane how some people are on this site.
I'd lie if I said that deep, deep down I wouldn't want this law to pass. I've secretly been looking for an excuse to leave this place for years now, so maybe this is it. I can't even make that decision for myself since I also feel bound to this site, like it or not. Especially since I wish people would actually support and acknowledge me for who I am, rather than for what they want me to be, and have ambitions to be considered the world's greatest Pokémorpher.

Of course, I can't make that decision for everyone else, so I'll help to take that preposterous law down for their sakes, and I'll always look after and protect the innocent artists, even if I don't have a voice or power. Maybe if I was popular things would've been different, and I'd love nothing more than getting acknowledged for my hard work, but I just don't have it in me to become a sellout and betray myself for who I truly am just to appeal to the masses. Too many people I've met tried to reshape me into their image, and I've now gotten to the point where I absolutely refuse to change for other people, and all my friends basically abandoned me over it. Now I don't even want to make new friends anymore since I know that 99% of the people are just out for the same thing. It really is THAT bad on here.
Honestly, I can write an entire book on how people have treated me on here, and can even understand why some artists who achieved popularity turned out to be such jerks. If you have to put up with the crap an artist has to endure, then it's not surprisingly some people decide to become corrupted. Not that I agree with that decision, but I can understand where it comes from. Unfortunately, becoming corrupted just adds to the main problem...
You really need to have an insanely strong spirit if you want to endure things on here without betraying your true self.

I guess I'll just... see what happens.

Sorry for the wall of text. I just have no-one to vent this to. I wish I could change things...

I pray this article 13 doesnt suceed.

Yeah, me too. Did you let people know?

I did but someone supposedly told me the mods will ban political jounrals but I think that only should apply to race or dems stuff.

Yeah, don't worry. That is just when you advocate hate or support terrorism or other icky stuff.
Article 2.7 here https://www.furaffinity.net/coc
I looked through it before, and couldn't find anything about politics.

If anything, this should be made into one of those headline things on FA since it affects everyone, but this place just doesn't care about its userbase, unless you happen to be popular because those attract ore people, and thus more ad revenue.

Anyway, thank you very much for spreading the word~ ^w^

But the thing is that if this DOES pass, they will not just have a revolt on their hands but they will have a full fledged rebellion, the likes have never seen since the French Revolution.

Considering the anti-net neutrality law was passed in the US without any revolt, I fear we'll just allow it to happen, as well.

From what I've read, the majority is in favor of the law. A small majority, but a majority nontheless.
It's better to be preemptive than to rebel after the fact. Even if it's likely it won't be passed like you said, it's better to just eliminate the possibility that it will pass as much as possible.

So please, if you're European, please contact your MEP, which is easily done via the site I linked in my Journal, and they also provide an already written message for you to mail, so it really doesn't take much effort.
If you're not European, please help spread the word by telling your friends, and make a Journal about it if you wish. Feel free to copy the contents of my Journal for that purpose.

Thank you for your concern and for taking the time to read!

I'm from America and if you want to know, the thing is Article 13 was introduced by a German lawmaker.

And you know how much the European Union "loves" Germany after what happened during Hitler's rule.

While I won't reply to that statement itself, I do want to say that Germany by far has the most influence over the EU.
In fact, if you look at the hierarchy, you'll realize that Merkel pretty much indirectly rules the entire EU.

The law passed everything up until this point, and the vote on the 20th is basically our last hope.

I wish to reaffirm that this won't just affect me, but everyone in Europe, as well. And depending on the content those people make, could affect you indirectly, too. Fan artists, remixers, bloggers, content sharing (I.E. coding, discussion, YouTube, even linking, etc.), memers, parody makers, and basically everything else that falls under "fair use" are being threatened and possibly shut down. Your favorite content creators could be in danger, and I believe there are more of those than people realize.

It's honestly better to do something about it now than to wait and see what happens. An uproar now is better than an uproar when it's too late.

This is essentially a form of SOPA, and the uproar caused by the original SOPA also helped to take that law down.
We need your help through letting as many people know as possible, especially since the media spends too little attention to it, if any at all.

Truly, if I believed this wasn't such a big deal and I believed it would never pass, I wouldn't have spoken up about it.

Of course, in the end, it's the choice of the people, but I'd appreciate it if the word was spread.
I'm sure I can speak on the behalf of every other European fan artists and those who appreciate said artists out there.

Thank you for your time and any support you may give.

Knowing this, this is just an attempt to blot out any mention to the Holocaust ever happening. In Germany's eyes, the Holocaust is just a hoax. And you're right if it does pass, then the UN will stop letting Germany have a voice in their meetings and have heavy sanctions. This is a human rights violation and will have consequences. And all we can do is just help to have everyone's voices heard.

Good news, Germany is in the likely hood of falling, a lot of people are getting angry at her. And not only that, it's losing influence over the EU. So Angela Merkel is about to lose a lot of influence over the EU.

Here is an article from last year: https://www.express.co.uk/news/worl.....stian-strobele

I'm sorry, but I'd rather not turn this into a political debate if that's okay.

I just want to protect fair use and the innocent fan content creators who are being threatened because of this law.
If you wish to help by spreading the word about this law and how it's threatening fan content creators and how massive of a problem it is, then that would be great. It's for the best interest of everyone that this is stopped. Every little bit helps. All up to you.

I hope this is correct

I highly doubt this will even occur. And it's purely a major violation.

Well, I hope you're right.
Still, it's better to speak up about it to eliminate the possibilty as much as possible.
The anti-net neutrality also passed, after all, so I'm not too sure anymore.

i doubt this will go through anyways. It compromises ALL rights. not just nationally, but INTERNATIONALLY as well. Thus also starting a war.

The law has passed everything up until this point. The vote on the 20th is our last line of defense, and a majority of the voters is in favor of the law at the moment. A small majority, but a majority nontheless.

It's an automatic upload filter that can detect copyrighted works, but such a system can't possibly see if something is legit copyright infringement or fair use. Because websites obviously don't want to risk fines, they'll play it safe and stop everything from going through, regardless if said upload is fair use or not. Basically, it's an indirect threat.

Up until now, copyright owners had to contact the websites to have their stolen content taken down, but with this new law, websites have to monitor their own sites to prevent any copyrighted material from being uploaded, or they're risking a fine, regardless if a copyright owner contacts them or not, so they'll play it safe by preventing anything that remotely resembles the copyrighted work (I.E. fanart, memes, etc.) from going through.
Not to mention it's also impossible for the filter to detect if you have actual permission from the copyright owner, so you'll be stopped even if you have their permission, making it also an extremely flawed system.


It's comparable to YouTube's automatic filter, except on a global scale, and FAR less forgiving, because the websites are now risking fines at all times.
YouTube's filter can detect things like music, and will either mute or outright delete your vid if your vid contains one of those songs automatically.

Besides, this won't be a problem for big corporations like Google since they have the funds to pay for fines and the filter system (The companies need to arrange and pay for the filter themselves, too...), but if you have a starting online company, there's no way you can afford any of these, making it near impossible to actually keep your starting company up.

The reason that for example our Pokémon NSFW fanart hasn't been taken down is because it's too much hassle for the copyright/trademark owner to bother with it since it's too widespread, and would take too much time and money. Not to mention the backlash the company might receive.
But with this filter, they'll avoid all those problems because it's done automatically regardless, also making it impossible for them to receive backlash since the filter automates the process, and the copyright/trademark owner has nothing to do with the automated process.

And it's not like they don't care about our NSFW fanart, because they have a name to keep and a face to save.
I remember that the copyright/trademark owner had some NSFW sites change the name "Pokémon" to "Porkyman" because those sites where among the top results when one would Google "Pokémon."

At any rate, it doesn't compromise international rights as for example the US has nothing to do with it, and American companies won't receive such filters. Only the parts of the US companies that have European servers. Or at least, I think.
Despite that, people internationally will still be affected by it indirectly since a ton of European content will just vanish from the internet. Open source will suffer extremely.

While FA's servers are in the US and may be unaffected, there's also the chance that this site will simply be blocked in the EU.
If the law does pass, then the only hope is that as this is a US site, it'll still allow European users and content.

Also, it really does seem that rights don't matter when altering the law. Heck, my country recently allowed citizens to be essentially be spied on, to give an example.

And there won't be a war. Look up this law on the internet, and see how little people care. If so little people care now, what makes you think that anyone will care when the law comes to pass? A nonchalant "This won't happen" mindset will only make it likelier for the law to pass since there won't be anyone speaking up about it since "It won't happen anyway", giving the government the idea that people are completely fine with the law.
I mean, this hasn't even be covered in the bigger media, neither local nor global.

Look at the anti-net neutrality law and how it got so much backlash. Now look at it now it has passed. No-one's even talking about it anymore. What makes you think that if there's no outcry now, there will be an outcry later? Seriously, prevention is better than curing.

Please don't take this personally, and I don't mean to offend, but this is exactly why we must spread the word about it. Better to do it now while we still have a chance than when it's too late.
I hope you understand that I'm merely trying to protect the people, including myself, and why I'm being pushy about it.
Besides, if the law does pass, it just opens the floodgates to more stupid laws. And who knows if the US will feel inspired by the law and put something similar in place? It's just one thing now, but where will it end?

Of course, I don't mind being wrong about the severity of the issue. You could be right here, but for as long as no-one knows for sure, I'm not risking the chance that it could indeed be very bad. In that light, it's better to do something than nothing at all, even if it won't turn out to be much of a problem. There's nothing I'd love more than being wrong about how bad this situation is, trust me.

If you want me to apologize for this if you turn out to be right, I'd gladly do so, with every fiber of my being, so please don't take this as a personal attack. I'm just worried sick.

I may hate the long wall of text....

but I just think this is just completely stupid.

Besides, someone told me it's a hoax anyways. Ask beta tyson on that.

The difference is, Net Neutrality was a bullshit law that was not actuall pro-net neutrality, as typical for Obama-era regulations. Affordable care act, anyone?

This is real. The EU is fucking everyone because they're trying to move towards more authoritarian measures. This is what happens when you let an imperialist super-state take control.

The sad thing is that there are people on here who will think that this is a good thing just because that's what the copyright industry told them.

Most people prefer to leave the thinking to others. Or they're not aware that they're part of something bigger than themselves. It's completely disproportionate to want something you personally don't like or something not personally affecting you banned if it means thousands of other people will suffer because of that ignorance, granted if the thing in question doesn't cause anyone any harm.
It's the unfortunate product of this generation's "Take everything, give nothing" mentality.

The thing with the copyright law is it is right now is that fanart by definition is already illegal, but the companies owning the copyright don't want to do anything about it because it takes too much time, effort and money. Not to mention the backlash would be great. Maybe personally they don't care about the more innocent fanart, but as you know, not everything is innocent.
With these upload filters in place, the fanart could automatically be deleted, and the companies don't have to get involved with it, saving them the time, money, effort and backlash. Precisely the things preventing them from taking action. Just because they tolerate it now doesn't have to mean mean they'll tolerate it when they finally get the means to take action.

I don't even know what self-respecting artist could even agree with this law proposal, as it could mean the end of a ton of other artists.
Maybe because then they'll have less "competition," but that view is so selfish and asinine that one could question if they could even be considered true artists in the first place.

Not to mention the original intention of the copyright law was to encourage creativity, not to nip it in the bud like it has been doing for a while now.
Of course, I'm not against copyright as a whole, as I do believe it's needed to protect IPs, but it definitely could be loosened a little.