SafeTheInternet: Ahead of the final negotiations taking place this Thursday, activists are preparing to deliver a petition against Article 13 to the European Parliament that will be signed by four million people.
Lawmakers will try to agree on the final text of the controversial Article 13 this week.
In a plenary vote in September, the European Parliament backed the controversial Article 13 proposal, which appears to be part of plans for EU intellectual property reform.
The proposal has since been amended in an attempt to gain broader support, but aside from copyright holders, there are many who do not want the upcoming bill.
Most of the disgruntled are activists who do not support the anti upload filter. Through a petition hosted on Change.org, they managed to collect 4 million signatures.
Yesterday the petition “Stop the censorship - machinery! Save the Internet!” surpassed four million signatures, making it one of the largest ever hosted on the platform. With these impressive numbers, activists behind the SaveTheInternet campaign hope to bring about change.
Tomorrow, the SafeTheInternet group will deliver the signatures to the rapporteur on copyright Axel Voss at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The activists tried to do the same in July, when the petition had about a million signatures, but at that time Voss was not willing to accept it. He did, however, agree to accept it later.
The timing of the report's delivery to Voss is no coincidence. It is scheduled one day before the final meeting of the trilogue, during which lawmakers will try to reach an agreement on the final text of Article 13 and other copyright reforms.
With the petition, activists are calling on MEPs to decide against Article 13, which could hinder freedom of information.
“This form of censorship could soon destroy the cultural norms of the Internet as we know them. Blocking uploads, combined with rigged algorithms, will lead to so-called over-crowding by platforms to avoid legal violations,” the campaign website warns.
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