2018 might be the year of resolution concerning the age-old issue of the copyright reform proposed by the European Commission. Just imagine that in 2016 the European Commission had released a statement whose intent was to enhance the initial proposal, but yet after uncountable debates and continuous postponements, the arguments at stake are still a hot topic, which risks becoming a burnt one (if it has not already happened).
The European Digital Learning Network has always supported every form of free dissemination of knowledge and encouragement towards digital , not forgetting the legitimate respect for copyright. Nonetheless, the reform proposed by the Commission considerably tightens the rules, basically creating confusion and uncertainty among teachers and trainers. Here we have seen how the copyright reform may highly
affect the education in a negative way: “ creation of rules only applicable to digital uses, the restriction of use for the exception only to formal education institutions, and the possibility for member states to give preference to licensing mechanisms. If these rules come into effect, there will actually be additional complexity for European education providers, limited in their access to resources and impaired by legal uncertainty between different Member States.”
Renewing our full support and commitment towards the Europe-wide initiative – Dlearn signed the joint letter “Educators ask for a better copyright”
What is a snippet?
Literally ‘a small part’, a piece, in journalism is a brief quotable passage. And just mentioning the words of COMMUNIA
“the new rights for publishers […] would require online services to pay for linking to articles that are up to twenty years old. Almost every news link with an explanatory extract (a snippet) placed in a search engine would be subject to a fee.” Charging internet platforms for displaying snippets of their content to users would lead to unacceptable consequences, such as disincentivising the sharing of reputable news content in favour of fake-news spread. Quoting the website of Julia Reda, German Member of the European Parliament, “Since “fake news” and propaganda outlets are unlikely to charge for snippets, their content could as a result become more visible on social networks.”
After the debates held within the Council of Europe, Member States have failed to reach an acceptable agreement and the plenary vote of the European Parliament, after many delays, has been set to June 2018. We definitely hope that, by that date, satisfactory agreements will have been achieved for both parties, and that there will be no need for other campaigns to support a fair copyright reform, with clear rules and the necessary exceptions for educational purposes.
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