On YouTube and EU Article 13
If you've been following tech news somewhat recently, you've surely heard about Article 13- the one where the EU essentially requires all content hosts to have extremely strict copyright checking tools and have automated takedown of any potentially copyrighted works.
That got put on the backburner for a little bit, but now it's back with a vote being held in early 2019.
YouTube, being one of, if not the largest content hosts in the world, is greatly affected by this motion. In fact, they have a whole website designed to encourage their creators to talk about A13 in their videos. The page very subtly hints at massive service changes that will happen in the EU if this actually ends up passing.
The CEO of YouTube, Susan Wojcicki, has also written an op-ed for Financial times (linked to official YT blog since it's free there) about the issues facing YT if A13 passes.
I haven't heard anything from official sources, but I've heard on the rumor mill that YouTube will completely suspend creators in the EU, not allowing them to upload any content, and potentially even removing their existing content from YouTube.
What if this passes? YouTube is one of the biggest sources of free knowledge and entertainment we have today, and it's become engrained into the internet as it is today.
With all this, I simply ask, "what's next?"
The part of me that wants to watch people learn a lesson wants the EU to pass Article 13 and YouTube to ban EU creators and viewers, and then the next step will be someone uses IPFS and creates a YouTube clone with no copyright protections that can't be shut down and doesn't pay rights holders at all.
uhhhhh...
I mean the side-effects from A13 wouldn't ban viewers.
And paying people who own the rights to things is important (like seriously, YouTube should even be doing it more than they are now. They pay pocket change compared to Napster. Yes, you heard that right, Napster. They literally pay you less than Napster) and should be protected.