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Next week is very important for the future of the internet; particularly for freedom of expression and information and the protection of privacy.

On Tuesday 26th of March, the European Parliament will vote on the proposed European Directive on Copyright. In the past we have hosted on our website detailed articles on this specific legislative reformation.

This proposed Directive introduces certain provisions which have a positive nature. However, some other of its provisions raise significant problems; the most important is Article 13, which, during the vote will constitute Article 17, as the text has been renumbered.

Article 13 is supposed to be set up to improve the existing situation and help the creators enjoy intellectual property rights on their works. However, it fails to achieve its scope and mostly assists the interests of major record, publishing and film companies and the interests of companies, which develop software for content control (content-control / filtering software).

Article 13 also does not eliminate, in any case, the serious pathogenesis of the existing regime. Specifically, it lacks a specific provision for combating false claims related to intellectual property rights, while its general, badly written and unclear provisions would lead to a slew of preliminary rulings to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Article 13 causes new problems and is unable to ensure a reasonable balance between, on the one hand, the right to the protection of intellectual property and on the other hand the rights to freedom of expression, information and respect of personal privacy. Each type of material, which users of the internet upload on platforms of content exchange, as photos, texts, personal messages, videos, etc. will be subject to control and will not be published to the effect that the filtering software deems that there is an infringement.

Numerous experts have been sounding the alarm about the consequences of Article 13 and the uploading filters for Freedom of Expression and Information on the Internet and its diversity:

– The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Information, David Kaye, has substantially expressed his contradiction to Article 13.

– The Federal Commissioner for Personal Data Protection of Germany, Ulrich Kelber, has clearly stressed that Article 13 leads to a tremendous growth of giants of online services and creates challenges for the protection of privacy on the Internet.

– The Minister for Justice and Citizen’s Protection of Germany, Katerina Barley, has invited German Members of the European Parliament to vote down Article 13.

– 169 specialised and prominent academics in the field of intellectual property, have underlined that the provisions of Article 13 are misleading.

Furthermore, the number of Members of the European Parliament committing to vote down article 13 in the vote of Tuesday is constantly rising!

MEPs, which are independent or represent European political parties from every political field, as the Greens/European Free Alliance (GREENS/EFA), the European United Left (GUE/NGL), the European People’s Party (EPP), the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) have already openly expressed their opposition to Article 13.

Finally, many people are expressing their dissatisfaction with Article 13 and its very serious effects. More than 100,000 people have participated in the demonstrations that took place in many European countries on Saturday 23 March.

Call your representatives in the few days left!

 Ask them to vote down Article 13!

There are two days left until the last vote in the European Parliament (possibly on 26.03.2019), which will be crucial for the future of the Internet. More than one hundred Members of the European Parliament (of which the only Greeks are Ms. Sophia Sakorafa and Mr. Nikolaos Chountis) have already committed to vote down Article 13, while citizens in more than 23 cities in Member States of the European Union raise their voices in demonstrations against Article 13.

Many European citizens have participated until now in the campaign Pledge 2019. Since the end of February, when the campaign started, more than 1200 calls and 72 hours of discussion have been carried out. The specific numbers are unprecedented for such a short period of time and conclusively prove people’s active interest and their will to be part of the political debate, when the step is given. Also, citizens in this way express their disappointment about unfounded accusations that many emails and tweets sent the previous period to MEPs have been actions of fake automated accounts!

Numerous experts have been sounding the alarm about the consequences of Article 13 and the uploading filters for Freedom of Expression and Information on the Internet and its diversity:

– The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Information, David Kaye, has substantially expressed his contradiction to Article 13.

– The Federal Commissioner for Personal Data Protection of Germany, Ulrich Kelber, has clearly stressed that Article 13 leads to a tremendous growth of giants of online services and creates challenges for the protection of privacy on the Internet.

– The Minister for Justice and Citizen’s Protection of Germany, Katerina Barley, has invited German Members of the European Parliament to vote down Article 13.

– 169 specialised and prominent academics in the field of intellectual property, have underlined that the provisions of Article 13 are misleading.

– The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has invited European legislators to improve the provisions and put the necessary balance between the Protection of Intellectual Property and the Protection of Freedom of the Expression and Information.

– Sir Tim (Tim Berners-Lee), one of the creators of World Wide Web has openly expressed his contradiction to Article 13 and the risks caused to open Internet.

Nobody can claim that he/she didn’t know the significant negative effects of Article 13! We should act and persuade MEP’s to set aside the several political interests and defend European citizens’ rights!

Finally, many people are expressing their dissatisfaction with Article 13 and its very serious effects. More than 100,000 people have participated in the demonstrations that took place in many European countries on Saturday 23 March.

Call your representatives in the few days left!

Ask them to vote down Article 13!

Irene Kamara is a PhD researcher at TILT and affiliate researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (LSTS). She follows a joint doctorate track supported by the Tilburg University and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Her PhD topic examines the interplay between standardisation and the regulation of the right to protection of personal data.

Prior to joining academia, Irene had been working as an attorney at law before the Court of Appeal in Athens. She also did traineeships at the European Data Protection Supervisor and the European Standardisation Organisations CEN and CENELEC. In 2016, she collaborated with the European Commission as external expert evaluator of H2020 proposals on societal security.

Irene is selected as a member of the ENISA Experts List for assisting in the implementation of the Annual ENISA Work Programme. In 2015, Irene received a best paper award and a young author recognition certificate from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the United Nations Agency for standardisation.

– Even though you had a great start at your professional career as a lawyer, you decided to follow a PhD. Your dedication to academic research has led to a successful path with many interesting publications. Looking back, how hard was to make this decision though, and what advice would you give to people facing this dilemma?

– You have participated as a speaker in panels at top level conferences and events all around the world. The Computers, Privacy, and Data Protection Conference at Brussels, and the IGLP Conference at Harvard Law School are some of them. How did all these experiences shape your research and why is it important for researchers to exchange thoughts with other experts in a global level?

– Your PhD topic examines the interplay between standardisation and the regulation of the right to protection of personal data. Tell us more about this field and the projects you are working on.

– You are member of various important organizations. One of them is the Netherlands Network for Human Rights Research (NNHRR). In the Netherlands, organizations, such as Bits of Freedom, and universities, such as the Tilburg University have an active role as regards the promotion and protection of Human Rights in the digital age. What do you think about the situation in Greece in this field? Can civil society organizations and academia, work together to push for positive outcomes?

– You have joint publications with great academics in the field, such as Paul de Hert and Eleni Kosta. If you could share an advice with young researchers reading this interview, what would that be?