It seems that the European Parliament is set to debate a draft copyright directive which the Wikimedia Foundation believes is badly drafted and will, as it stands, do serious damage to the Wikipedia project. And others.
I am a heavy user of Wikipedia and I believe that it is one of the better things to come out of the Internet. A truly global, collaborative venture which is not driven by the need or desire to make ever bigger profits. My default position is that if the Wikimedia Foundation is concerned, then I am concerned.
It seems that a big, if not the bone of contention is something called upload filters, whereby a duty is placed on platforms such as Wikipedia to put in place systems which will actively check content for copyright infringement before it is uploaded.
It is recognised that copyright infringement is a big issue, particularly as regards images, sound files and videos. Lots of artists believe that they are being cheated of their rightful dues, that their ability to make a decent living is being threatened. I know, for example, at least one person who boasts that he never need pay for such stuff. While I make heavy use of scientific papers which have been posted on the Internet, perhaps without regard to the copyrights which might be held by the original publishers - which is not quite the same thing. But it would be a pity if public access to work which is largely public funded were to be curtailed by a new copyright directive.
However, it is also asserted that the present proposals are too crude, too broad brush and too expensive. And in the case of Wikipedia, disproportionate. They argue that, as it is, their contributors work hard to avoid copyright problems and that they succeed. There are very few - just tens a years - of complaints.
They also argue that a requirement to implement big expensive systems of this sort favours the big for-profit organisations who can carry expenses of this sort. With the net result that said organisations become even more powerful than they are already. It also favours governments who want to control access to information, by making suitable technology so to do much more readily available than it is already.
PS: I assume that we are going to be bound by this directive, whatever form Brexit finally takes.
Reference 1: https://blog.wikimedia.org/2018/06/29/eu-copyright-proposal-will-hurt-web-wikipedia/.
Reference 2: https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/06/06/european-copyright-directive-proposal/.
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