In every legislative process, the average Joe simplifies certain things. This mainly results from a lack of willingness and ability to properly familiarize oneself with the difficult-to-understand articles and the repetition of simplified messages commonly available. This is also the case with the European Union directive on copyright in the Internet, roughly referred to as ACTA 2. It refers back to protests regarding the ACTA agreement from 2012. Even then, the adoption of the agreement didn’t change anything in Polish law, as EU regulations provided for stricter copyright rules than ACTA itself.So what exactly is ACTA 2, or rather – the EU directive?ACTA 2 is a “working” name given by opponents of changes to copyright law on the Internet. It is primarily a European Union directive, where the key word is DIRECTIVE. This means that EU member states have a certain flexibility in how they implement it. Poland has 2 years to create specific regulations. At this stage, therefore, there are no guarantees about the exact form the changes will take. The directive’s intention is to support creators whose copyrights are often violated or abused on the Internet.
However, misinformation has spread in our society. Absurd claims appeared, such as that the directive will ban publishing memes or introduce a link tax. There were also voices about limiting freedom of speech on the Internet and introducing censorship.
The directive is definitely not about introducing censorship, and freedom of speech is in no way threatened. The new regulations will not affect the average internet user either. If anyone is impacted, it will be large corporations such as YouTube or Facebook. They will be obliged to check whether uploaded files violate copyrights. To do this, they should enter license agreements with creators. At this stage, it’s easy to guess that this is about money. As a result, major platforms will have to share their earnings with creators.
The directive also addresses press and online portals. In this case, publishers will acquire related rights to published texts. This means that a portal wishing to publish a significant portion of a printed article will have to pay.
As you can see, the devil is not as scary as painted. Currently, nothing changes, and the details will be known within two years.
Text author: Ewelina J.
