Sehr geehrter Herr K.,

vielen Dank für Ihre Anfrage.

Da ich mit dem angesprochenen, sehr komplexen Sachverhalt nicht ausreichend vertraut bin, schicke ich Ihnen anbei die auf englisch formulierte Stellungnahme meiner Fraktion zu diesem Thema.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Klaus Buchner

Dear Mr K.,

Thank you for your e-mail. I am happy to receive feedback and see that more people are engaged in this debate.

As you already know the lead committee (JURI) is planning to vote on the proposed Directive for Copyright in the Digital Single Market on 20 June 2018. This means that the negotiations for compromise amendments are in their final stage. Two of the most controversial points in this directive - also some of your main concerns - are Article 11 on the press publishers right (also called ancillary copyright or neighbouring right) and Article 13, often referred to as "value gap provision".

The Greens/EFA group has a firm position on both articles. We oppose the introduction of a neighbouring right, and support instead the compromise proposal brought forward by the Estonian presidency in August 2017 for a legal presumption rule for press publishers. On Article 13, we explicitly reject the introduction of mandatory upload filters, although we do agree that platforms which monetise third party content should compensate the original authors fairly. But not only will a general monitoring obligation not achieve such fair remuneration, it will also bring with it foreseeable side-effects. In its current form, we will not support Article 13 as proposed by the JURI negotiator Axel Voss.

On the whole, we agree with you that the measures proposed pose a threat to fundamental freedoms and the internet as a whole. Our group position mirrors your concerns and we will continue pushing for your demands. We do however want to encourage you to continue your activism, tell your friends, put the word out there and above all to call up unconvinced MEPs. It is easy to ignore an e-mail, but it's harder to hang up on your constituent. There are free tools online, like the one you used to e-mail me from, with which you can do so for free, such as: https://www.saveyourinternet.eu/

If you would like to stay informed about the state of the debate, keep an eye on juliareda.eu, or read up on past blog posts. Julia has written a number of blog posts on both articles over the years since it was first proposed by then-Commissioner Oettinger, including https://juliareda.eu/2018/06/saveyourinternet/ most recently and https://juliareda.eu/eu-copyright-reform/censorship-machines/ and https://juliareda.eu/eu-copyright-reform/extra-copyright-for-news-sites/ for an analysis of the proposal.

Keep up the good work! #SaveYourInternet

Best wishes