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<html newsdate="2017-09-08">

 <head>
    <title>European Copyright reform hampers Free Software development</title>
  </head>
  
  <body>
  
  <h1>European Copyright reform hampers Free Software development</h1>
  
  <p newsteaser="yes">The FSFE and Open Forum Europe teamed up for an initiative 
  to show the implications of the proposed EU copyright reform for the 
  Free Software development ecosystem: <a href="https://savecodeshare.eu/">Save Code Share</a>. 
  As part of this initiative, today we release our White Paper which 
  highlights the ways in which the proposed Article 13 could unintentionally 
  harm the communities and the businesses built around Free Software.</p>
  
  <p>Free Software is often built by collaborative networks of programmers 
  that rely on code hosting services. Free Software allows and encourages 
  modifications and improvements made by everyone. For that, the software 
  is shared with everybody under terms that allow using it, studying its 
  source code, sharing it along, and customising it according to one's 
  needs. This is often done on code sharing platforms.</p>
  
  <p>With its copyright proposal, the EU has decided to update the rules 
  applicable for online service providers, mainly targeting content sharing 
  platforms.  The new rules proposed by the EU will create legal uncertainty 
  for developers using online tools when contributing to the Free Software 
  projects through online code sharing platforms. Those proposed obligations 
  on code sharing platforms will threaten their existence, and effective 
  online co-development by:</p>
  
  <ul>
	<li>Imposing on code sharing platforms the use of costly filtering technologies to prevent any possible copyright infringement</li> 

	<li> Imposing an illegal monitoring obligation to track their every user</li>
	</ul>

  <blockquote>"As a result, every user, of a code sharing platform: an individual, 
	company, or a public body is treated as a potential copyright infringer 
	whose content, including the whole code repositories, can be taken down 
	and disabled at any time." says Polina Malaja, Policy Analyst and Legal 
	Coordinator at the FSFE.</blockquote>
	
  <p>After explaining how Free Software platforms work in practice, the 
  White Paper shows how Article 13 restricts important fundamental rights 
  of developers and internet users such as the right to privacy, freedom 
  of expression, and the freedom to conduct a business. Article 13, as 
  currently proposed, would shift the responsibility for protecting allegedly 
  infringed rights from rightholders to the platforms, in a way that would 
  harm fundamental rights and negatively impact  collaborative software 
  development, and especially Free  Software.</p>
  
  <p>If Article 13 has completely missed this impact in the software sharing 
  environment, it is likely that there are other unforeseen impacts that 
  the proposed Copyright Directive can have. The legislators need to make 
  sure they understand where and how innovation takes place nowadays, to 
  fully grasp the consequences and implications that the proposed Article 
  13 can create for our economy and our society.</p>
  
  <p>Read our White Paper in full <a href="https://savecodeshare.eu/">here</a>.</p>

</body>
 <tags>
  <tag>front-page</tag>
  <tag content="Copyright">Copyright</tag>
  <tag content="Policy">Policy</tag>
  <tag content="Digital Single Market">DigitalSingleMarket</tag>
</tags>
</html>