June 12,2018:
As European Union has rolled out its General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law to protect privacy of the citizens, future of memes faces a doubt as Copyright Directive imposes Censorship on the content you share online.
This includes the memes, blog posts, videos, remixing videos, comments on Facebook, or even Twitter links or a shirt you wear with a meme.
Article 13 of Copyright Directive proposal if brought into vogue by voting in European Parliament on June 20, will impose extensive censorship of all content people share online.
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), an International Non-profit Digital Eights Group, termed as Articles 13 and 11 as “poorly thought through, poorly drafted, unworkable and dangerous.”
According to Article, platform providers (like Facebook or Twitter) should take the measures to ensure functioning of the agreements concluded with the rights-holders for the use of their works.
A Cyber Security Expert stated that,“Copyright Law is similar to Youtube Copyright System and might impact the cross-border sharing of information. Everyone can claim copyright on everything including the pictures, even on a code that software engineers write”.
He further stated that,“While it is difficult to assess impact on India, restrictions will be tough. As the internet brings world closer, it is becoming difficult to identify origin or stop people from sharing meme or picture”.
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