1100 German Artists Say “The Horror Has No End” About Germany’s New Copyright Law

More than 1100 artists tell the German government: “The horror has no end”

For years we have seen massive encroachments on our artistic freedoms in favor of globally operating digital corporations. This anti-artist prioritization is also reflected in the federal government’s current draft law on the new copyright law.

As early as November 26, 2020, 657 musicians and bands made an appeal, “Do not play copyright against us!” to politicians. That paper disappeared into the drawers and the required respect for our artistic work failed to materialize. Instead, there are regular expert hearings with supposedly network experts, not with artists. From their ideological ivory tower they spin out unrealistic censorship scenarios and create the impression that the network is currently “free” and that the deluge of “upload filters” would only be imminent with the implementation of the European Copyright Directive.

We artists are familiar with platform uses because it is our day-to-day business. We know the problems of over- and underblocking firsthand. As a direct target group of global censorship efforts, we are sensitive to the protection of freedom of expression and artistic freedom. For us it is a slap in the face when network activists hijack the freedom narrative with slogans and catchphrases, argue against platform regulation as in the Copyright Directive and thus gain a greater influence than these global corporations already have.

In 2019, we were stunned to see how the SPD voted against the Copyright Directive. We are stunned to see how the SPD-led Federal Ministry of Justice undermines the European compromise. The federal government sent the draft law to the Bundestag [the German federal parliament] almost unchanged – regardless of our ongoing protests and regardless of all our explanations as to why the “Copyright Service Provider Act” in particular is largely unsuitable for practical use. We recognize in the German draft law the intention to thwart individual copyright claims as well as put real license agreements on an equal footing. Instead of creating a level playing field for our existing licensing market, the German special route restricts it to the maximum with the argument of freedom, of all things. Business models of global upload platforms are protected for the purpose of maximum availability of our plants, while our sales channels are torpedoed with a shrug.

Only the Federal Council takes our concerns about expected collateral damage seriously :

“The Federal Council reminds that copyright law is very often the economic basis for cultural and creative workers and the ability to refinance content is one of the essential foundations for media diversity. It therefore asks that, in the further legislative process, a comprehensive check is made as to whether the draft law as a whole exists The revenue and business models of authors and other rights holders in all affected industries (especially music, film, audiovisual, radio, book and press) are disproportionately impaired. […] The Federal Council points out that the effects of the copyright service provider Law on the German copyright market cannot be adequately assessed at the present time.Copyright Service Provider Act) affects various conflicting interests and has sparked a controversial discussion. Numerous critical voices from various business associations can also be found among them. In view of the largely understandable objections, it is proposed that the passage of the law be subject to the evaluation of its effects on the German copyright market at an appropriate interval. Due to the diversity of copyright-based markets such as the cultural and creative industries, it is important to check whether the regulations are appropriate and practicable and whether they actually lead to the intended balancing of interests. “

For all of us, Peter Maffay recently positioned himself in the Süddeutsche Zeitung and brought the problem to the point. He calls for uniform European regulations, the abolition of the – purely German – 15 seconds rule and the responsibility of the upload platforms for the uses that take place there.

The protection of our rights in the digital space is more urgent than ever for many with the measures taken in the corona pandemic and the accompanying existential threat. Upload platforms that generate considerable profits with our works must finally be effectively held responsible and liable. You may not be relieved by the factual reversal of the license responsibility, e.g. by the cumbersome and only subject to considerable legal consequences that can be challenged. The arbitrary and ironically called “minor use” presumption rules on “legally permitted uses” of non-licensed (!) works are a gateway for systematic copyright infringements, in particular our exclusive right to sole exploitation, but also our moral rights.

We want to continue licensing and retain individual control over our work. The European Copyright Directive takes the pressure off non-commercial uploaders and strengthens our ability to enforce law by making upload platforms responsible for ensuring that there is no need to do anything in the few but painful cases of harmful copyright infringements. It is intolerable that our moral right is now being sacrificed on the altar of supposed consumer protection just because those responsible refuse to give up on dubious and untenable promises of an Internet without a filter.

Filters are only necessary where works have expressly not been licensed. It is reasonable that in these cases the presence of a barrier has to be checked in case of doubt. The consolation of a new collecting society does not help us – especially since it is not certain how much and when and on what accounting basis we will receive our investments.

Copyright is our commercial and labor law. We therefore expect from the members of the Bundestag and especially the members of the Legal Affairs Committee:

· The withdrawal of the quantitative presumption rules for legally permitted uses.

· Maintaining the protection of melodies enshrined in copyright law for decades, regardless of the length of the melody.

The withdrawal of the restrictions on direct licensing by indirect rights holders and the compulsory remuneration through collecting societies despite existing licensing and distribution chains.

· A complete, unrestricted right to information about uses of which the platforms can gain knowledge with a reasonable effort.

· A regulation of the pastiche barrier, which excludes a self-evident subsumability of remixes and sampling.

We see with concern that the time for an expert healing of the failed Copyright Service Provider Law (UrhDaG) is running out and that even proponents of the bill only approve of individual aspects. The implementation of the other necessary aspects of the Copyright Directive should not suffer from this. A subsequent adoption of the UrhDaG and a temporary loophole will affect our work less than a non-practical special zone knitted with a hot needle.

For us and our professional future, the vote on the draft law is the decision in the election year 2021. We therefore call on all members of the Bundestag again not to interfere with our constitutionally protected intellectual property and not to use our copyright against us!

No incapacitation of the artists! No expropriation of the artists! No special German way!

The following artists have signed the enclosed letter “The horror has no end” as first draftsmen:

21 Sunstreet

Abel Lovac

Falling racing pigeons

Achim wet nurse

Achim Petry

Achim Radloff

Achim Rafain

Eight buckets of chicken hearts

Adele Walter

AFFKT

Afterburner

Agitation Free

Airwalk3r

Alan Dixon

Alex garlic

Alex Mayr

Alexander Binder

Alexander Kilian (Café del Mundo)

Alexander Klaws

Alexander King

Alexander Niermann (Botticelli Baby)

Alexander Sandi Kuhn

Alexandra Grübler

Alexis Herrera Estevez

Alf Ator (Knorkator)

Alfons Hefter (feathers)

Alina von der Gathen (KOJ)

All colors

ALLEVIATE

Alvaro Soler

Alvin Mills

Amanda

Amigos

Ana Carina Woitschack

Andhim

Andre Bratten

Andre Graute

Andre Kroenert

André Kunze

Andre Schoettler

Andreas Bayless

Andreas Bourani

Andreas Eckert (Pam Pam Ida & the Silberfischorchester)

Andreas Henneberg

Andreas Radloff

Andreas Rasmussen

Andreas Vitoria-Adzersen

Andreas Völk

Andy Birr (Bell, Book and Candle)

Andy Kouchen

Andy LaToggo

Andy Lutter

Andy Schmidt (Disillusion)

Angel’s Blue

Angela Gossow

Angelika Weiz

Aniko Kanthak

Anja Krabbe

Anja Morell

Anja Schneider

Anna Carewe

Anna-Marlene Bicking

Anne de Wolff

Anne Otto (air)

Annemarie Eilfeld

Anselm Kluge

Ansoumane Kaba

ANTIHELD

Antje Uhle

Antonina Hamann

apparatus

Aquabella

Aram Khlief (dyrtbyte)

Are Foss

Argile

Ariane Stoll (Jani)

Arne Häussermann (An Early Cascade)

Arne Heger & reinforcement

Arne Jansen

Arno Haas

Arnold Fritsch

Arsenii Efremenko

Asja Valcic

Atlantic

Audun Storset

August August

August Hoffmann (Krahnstøver)

August Zirner

Axel Bosse

Axel Fischer

Balbina

Banda Senderos

bar

Barbara Morgenstern

Bård Aasen Lødemel

Basem Darwish (Cairo Steps)

Basti M

Bastian Stein

Bayuk

Beach bag

Beat Agents

Beatrice Egli

Beatsteaks

Behrang Alavi (Samavayo)

Ben Metzner (dArtagnan)

Ben Münchow

Ben sugar

Benedikt Hoenes

Benny Hunter

Bernd Dellbrügge

Bernd Lhotzky

Bernd Römer (carat)

Bernhard Brink

Bernhard Lloyd (Alphaville)

Bertram Engel

Bettina Flörchinger (Östro 430)

Big Balls & The Great White Idiot

Binoculers

Birgit Maren Buschke

Bitume

Bjoern Schirmacher

Bjorn Heuser

Bjorn Störig

Bjørn Torske

BLANK & JONES

Bobbi Fischer (Berta Epple)

boy

Bring ring

Broilers

Bruno Böhmer Camacho

Bukahara

BUZZ DEE (Knorkator)

CJ Johnson

camouflage

Canda

Carom

Carina Hajek (Tinted House)

Carl Carlton

Carl Christian Steenstrup (Of Norway)

Carl-Ludwig Reichert

Carlos Cipa

Carolin No.

Carolina Nathalie Hudek

Carsten Daerr

Cash 22

CassMae

Cecile Verny

Charlotte Grewe

checkpoint Charlie

Children

Chock & Aré

Chono Chibesakunda

Chris Beier

Chris Cool

Chris Gall

Chris Hopkins

Chris Lindner

Chris Möhlenkamp

Chris van Baal

Christian Bruhn

Christian Burkhardt

Christian Engh

Christian Krischowsky

Christian Liebig (carat)

Christian Meyer

Christian Schroeder

Christian Torchiani

Christian Zach

Christin Stark

Christina Rommel

Christmas

Christof Lauer

Christoph Gaertner

Christoph Grab

Christoph Römer (Steven Liquid)

Christoph Stiefel

Cinthie Christl

Cioz

Circus Electric

Cladigal

Cläng

Clara Haberkamp Trio

Clara Rothlander

Claudius Dreilich (carat)

Claus-Robert Kruse

Clemens Benecke (CBGreen)

Cochise

Coppelius

Cornelius Claudio Kreusch

Corvus Corax

Culcha Candela

Cymo

Czech

Damae

Damnation Defaced

Daniel Lopez

Daniel Meteo

Daniel Nitsch

Daniel Schmidt

Daniel Schütter

Daniel Selke (Ceeys)

Daniel Slam

Daniel Stoll (vision string quartet)

Daniel Tejeda

Daniel Tjus Andersen

Daniel True

Daniel Wirtz

Daniela Alfinito

Daniela Liebl (Taming the Shrew)

Danny Zeremba (Daily Thompson)

Dario Klimke

The money is on the windowsill, Marie

the leak

The panic orchestra

Dave Seaman

David Berton

David Brandes

David Garrett

David Helbock

David Mayer

David Qualey

Debby Smith

Deepaim

Deer jade

Your friends

Denis

Denis Fischer

Dennis Hormes

Dennis Kuhl

Dennis Nutr

Dennis Sagittarius

Dennis Ward

The man

Désirée Nick

Detlef Blanke

Deva Premal

The fishing rod

The doctors

The Feuersteins

The happy

The highest railway

The League of Ordinary Gentlemen

The Mimmis

The Mukketier gang

The music students

The princes

The Schatzis

The dead pants

The doors

The customs officers

Diermaier Werner (Zappi)

Dieter “Machine” Birr (Ex-Puhdys)

Dieter Hallervorden

Dieter Ilg

Dieter Kraus

Dieter Weberpals

Dietmar Kawohl

Dietmar Lowka (Quadro Nuevo)

Dietmar Schmidt (Orgasm Death Gimmick)

Dimple Minds

Dirk Dresselhaus

Dirk Duderstadt

Dirk Flatau (Abisko Lights)

Dirk Michaelis

Dirk Sauer (Ed Guy)

Dirk Schelpmeier

Dirk Zöllner

Dissidents

DJ André Siddi

DJ Antoine

Doctor Dru

Dominik Marz

Donots

Dorette Gonschorek (Unplaces)

Doris Orsan

Dorothèe Kreusch-Jacob

Douglas Greed

Dr. Bernd Opinion

Dr. Peter Wegele

Dream Sound Masters

Drenchill

Duivelspack

Ecco Meineke

Echo loop

Edmond Dante’s Weinfeld

Edward Maclean

Edy Edwards

Einar Olsson

Eirik Seu Stokkmo

Eivind Henjum

ela.

Elaiza

Element of Crime

Eleonora Gelmetti

Elfenberg

Eleven morning

Elif

Elio Rodriguez Luis

Ella Finally

Eloy de Jong

Ender Irkdas

NARROW

epitaph

Eric Smax

Erik Skantze

Eva Claus (deEVA.)

Eva Kruse

Even Brenden

Ex machina

Fabian Altstötter (Jungstötter)

Fabian Krooss

Fabian kiss

Fabian Russ

Fabiana Striffler

Fabin Dammers (UDO)

Fabrizio Levita

Fatma Kar

Fairy Badenius

Fee Kürten

Fee Rent (Fee.)

Feline & Strange

Felix Deraed

Felix Gauder

Felix Janosa

Felix Kubin

Felix Lehrmann

Felix Volk

Felix Weis (rolling mill)

FINNA

Fiorella Geide

Flo mega

Florian Grießmann (ANOKI)

Florian Gutmann

Florian artist

Florian Sagner

Florian Willeitner

Folo Dada

Fools Garden

Franca

Frank Fischer

Frank Gala Gahler

Frank Kleingünther (Dieselknecht)

Frank Lehmann

Frank Loef

Frank Nimsgern

Frank Spilker (The Stars)

Frank Wedler

Frank Wiedemann (Âme)

Frank Zander

Frantz Jørgen Andreassen

Franz Rapid

Franziska Seelig

Fred Strand

Fredrik Øgreid Vogsborg

Free swimmers

Frida Gold

Frieder Klaris

Friederike Bernhardt

Deadline Puppel (City)

Frizz Feick

Fox devil game

Fur Coat (Sergio Muñoz)

Fury in the Slaughterhouse

FUTURE PALACE

Gabriel Kent

Gary Jones

Geir Hermansen

Geordie Little

George Geccoo

Georgie Fisher

Gerd Grabowski

Gerd janson

Get Well Soon

GG Anderson

Giorgio Gee

Giovanni Costello

Giovanni Zarrella

Gisbert zu Knyphausen

Giuseppe Pepe Solera

Glass bead game

Gloss

Gorge

Götz Alsmann

GProject Blues Band

Gracia Baur

Grandbrothers

Gregor Meyle

Gregor Tresher

Grizzly (Cris Vogt)

GSINDL

Gudrun Good

Guijaygoo

Günther Gebauer

Guru Atman

Well

Guts Pie Earshot

HP Baxter

Hannes Ringlstetter

Hans Nieswandt (solo & Whirlpool Productions)

Hans-Peter Lindstrøm

Harald Grosskopf

Hardy and Heroes

Harry Alfter (Brings)

Heiko Maile

Heiner Gulich

Heinz Ratz

Heinz-Rudolf Kunze

Helene Fischer

Helga Brenninger

Helge Schneider

Helmut Hattler

Helmut Josef Geier (Dj Hell)

Helmut Zerlett

Helmuth Rüssmann

Hendrik Bertram

Hendrik Röder (Bell, Book and Candle)

Henning Brandt-Hansen Severud (Telephones)

Henning Sedlmeir

Henning Severud

Henning Verlage (Unheilig)

Henri Bergmann

Henrik Mayer (MYR)

Henry Poetzsch

Herbert Grönemeyer

Mr. DK

Herwig Mitteregger

Hetzel Pascal (CYRK)

Hidden Empire

Hitfield

Hope

Horst Hansen Trio

Horst Wegener

Housefly

Howard Carpendale

Hill

Hundreds

Iben magpie

Iko Andrae

Illegal colors

In Extremo

Ines Gorka

Ines Weber

Inga Lühning

Ingo Bergsen

Ingo Politz

Inca Bause

Intourist

Ira Atari

Ireen Sheer

Isgaard

Isolation Berlin

Ivaylo Kolev

Jacek Brzozowski

Jack Rush

Jacki Reznicek (Silly)

Jakob Encke (vision string quartet)

Jakob Seidensticker

Jamaram

Jan Kerscher (Like Lovers)

Jan Pascal (Cafe del Mundo)

Jan Zehrfeld

Jana Groß (Bell, Book and Candle)

Janika Groß (Molllust)

Jan-Ole Lamberti (Nailed To Obscurity)

Janosch Korell

Jan-Philipp Wiesmann

Jaques Raupé

Jarle Bråthen

Jasmin Adgezalov (unloved)

Jasmina de Boer

Jazzy Gudd

Jean Jacobi

Jeanette Biedermann

Jean-Hervé Peron (Faust)

Jean-Jaques Kravetz

Jelena Kuljić

Jens Ewald

Jens child father

Jens Kosmiky (KrAWAllo)

Jens Loh

Jens Ophälders

Jens Thomas

Jens-Uwe Beyer (popnoname)

JEREMIAS

Jermaine Landsberger

Jey aux platines

Jiggler

Jimi Jules

Jirka Otte

Jo Ambros

Joachim Dyrdahl

Joachim Wolf

Jocelyn B. Smith

Jochen Klüßendorf

Jochen Leistner (The Shadow Lizzards)

Jochen Schmadtke (air)

Joe Fischer

Joe war

Johan Daansen

Johanna Borchert

Johanna Summer

Johannes Cernota

Johannes glorious

Johannes Maikranz

Johannes Oerding

Johannes Stankowski

Johannes Till (Tinted House)

Johannes Tonio Kreusch

Jon Berry

Jon Flemming Olsen

Jon Welch

Jonas Frömming (The Lumpenpack)

Jonny Glut

Joo Kraus

Jörg “Knickiknacki” carpenter

Jörg Seidel

Jörg Warthy Wartmann

Jörg Weißelberg

Joris

Joris Biesmans

Jorita Solf

Jörkk Mechenbier

Joshua Oldenburg

Joss Turnbull

Joy Denalane

Joyosa

Judy and The Gardeners

Julia Engelmann

Julia Kautz

Julia Müller

Julia Neigel

Julian Ortleb

Julian Stetter

Julian Wasserfuhr

Junkx

Jupiter Jones

Jürgen Fastje

Kai Brückner

Kai Havaii (extra wide)

Kai Schumacher

Kai Sichtermann (clay stones shards)

Kai Sonnenhalter

Kai Wingenfelder (Wingenfelder)

Kajetan Löffler

KALEA

Kalle Kalima

Kalle Risan Sandås

Kaman Leung

Kamil Müller (Django 3000)

Kåre Frisvold

Karibuni

Karl Bartos

Karl Brausch

Karl Ivar Refseth

Karmin Amun (sons of Mannheim)

Karolina Trybala

Karoshi

Katharine Mehrling

Kathrin Rettl (Mila Masu)

Katja Moslehner

Merchant

Basement child

Kelvin Jones

Ken Taylor

Kenn Hartwig (CAR)

Kerstin Ott

Ketil Kinden Endresen

Kevin Haselmeier

Kevin Krämer (Justis)

Kiki (Joakim Willich)

Kilian & Jo

Kilian Forster (Klazz Brothers)

Kilian Kemmer

Kiosk ID

Kitsch war

Kjetil Bjøreid Aabø

Klaas

Klaus Bechstein

Klaus Doldinger

Klaus Hoffmann

Klaus Meine (Scorpions)

Klaus Paier

Toilet TV

KMFDM

Knasterbeard

Knut Stenert (Samba, Knut and the bitter woman, Hans Maria Richter)

Kolbjørn Lyslo

Konstantin Wecker

Korbinian Kugler

Kramsky

Kristian Møller Johansen

Kristian Rädle (Âme)

L’aupaire

LaneCryspo

Lari Luke

Lars Christian Olsen

Laura Kipp (LAURA)

Laura Kozlowski

Laura Phillips

Lennard Eggers

Leonard Disselhorst (vision string quartet)

Leslie Mandoki

Liliath

Lilly dangling

Locust fudge

LoFiLu

Love A

Lovra

Luca Musto

Lucas Hunter

Luci van Org (Lucilectric, Meystersinger, Über Mutter, Lucina Soteira)

Lucina Soteira

Luis Baltes (Five Star Deluxe)

Lukas master

Lukas prank

Lukas Wiesemüller

Luke Woodapple

Luky Zappatta

Luna City Express

Lyane Hegemann (E-rotic)

M. Walking On The Water

Macho Cutie (Vegard Wolf Dyvik, Of Norway)

Mad Hatter’s Daughter

Mad Mark

Maenad Veyl

Magdalena Ganter

Magnus Sheehan

Maik Czymara (An Early Cascade)

Maik Pinto

Maike Lindemann

Maite Kelly

Majan

Malou

Mandy Capristo

Manfred Maurenbrecher

Manfred Zick (Zither Manä)

Manne Schlaier

Manuel Schmid

Mara Mutz

Marc Awounou

Marc Reason

Marcapasos

Marcel Thenee

Marco Buser

Marco Duderstadt

Marco Repetto (gray area)

Marco Resmann

Marcus Fischer

Marcus Forsgren

Marcus Green

Marcus Worgull

Marek Arnold

Margit Sarholz

Maria Perzil

Marian Gold (Alphaville)

Marianne Rosenberg

Mario Alsleben (Pimalo)

Mario Aparicio

Mario Noll

Mario Valley

Marion Welch

Marius Engemoen

Marius Sommerfeldt

Marius Våreid

Mark Barrott

Mark Meier

Markus Becker

Markus Hassold

Markus Rennhack (unloved)

Marteria

Martin Becker (carat)

Martin Brugger (Fazer)

Martin de Vries

Martin Gretschmann (Acid Pauli / Console)

Martin Hansmann

Martin Kälberer

Martin Langer

Martin Schrack

Martin Schröder

Martin Solli

Martina Eisenreich

Martina Weith (Östro 430)

Marv Endt

Marvin Müller

Masha Qrella

Mass defect

Mathias Petry

Mathias Roska

Mathias Schober

Matias Monsen

Mats Frantzvaag

Matt Karmil

Matthew Styles-Harris

Matthias Hamburger

Matthias Reim

Máni Orrason

Maurice sums

Mausio

Max Alberti (Jamaram)

Max Buskohl

Max Herre

Max Kaspar

Max Kleinschmidt (Lizot)

Max Lean

Max Martin Schröder

Max Mutzke

Max Paul Maria

Max prose

Max von Mosch

Maximilian Kennel (The Lumpenpack)

Maximilian Raine (VUG)

Maximilian Stadtfeld

Megaloh

Meike Schmitz (Schwarz and Schmitz, LUUM)

Meinhard

Meinhard Jenne

Mercedes Lalakakis (Daily Thompson)

Micha Moor

Michael Cores

Michael Girke (NOW!)

Michael Koschorreck

Michael Lorenz

Michael Mangels (Mijk van Dijk)

Michael Mayer

Michael Melchner

Michael Nass (BAP, Die Seilschaft)

Michael Schab (An Early Cascade)

Michael Uchner

Michelle Sara Lahn

Michi Leuscher

Michl Bloching (Levantino)

Mikimoto

Mikkel Haraldstad

Miland “Mille” Petrozza (Kreator)

mine

Mira

Miriam Arens (Liliath)

Missus Beastly

Miten

Fashion selector

Mona Mur

Monika Ehrhardt Lakomy

Monika Kruse

Monrath

Moonwalk

Moritz Müller

Moritz Reichelt (The Plan)

Morten Øby

Mr. Hurley & The Powder Monkeys

Mulay

Mulo Francel (Quadro Nuevo)

Mushroom People

Nadine thimble

Nadine Maria Schmidt

Naomi Camilla Straume Moen

Natalie Poppinger

Nathalie De Bora

Nathalie Dorra

nautilus

Neon light

Nice Brazil

Nick Curly

Nico Santos

Nico Stojan

Nicole Bolley

Niels Frevert

Nik Thaele

Nikel Pallat (clay stone shards)

Nikita Scion

Niklas Linzer

Niko Schwind

Nils Imhorst (Firasso)

Nils Landgren

Nils von der Gathen (KOJ)

Nils Wogram

Nils Wülker

Norbert Emminger

Norbert Grille Roth

Norbert Staudte (Taming the Shrew)

Olaf Malolepski

Ole Andreas Olafsrud

Ole Feddersen

Ole Martin Vilberg

Ole Rausch (Laith al Deen)

Ole Seelenmeyer

Oli Bott

Oliver Braun

Oliver Dunk

Oliver Hartmann

Oliver Huntemann

Oliver Koletzki

Oliver Lieb

Oliver Rohrbeck

Oliver Black

Oliver Thomas

Oliver West (POINT BLVNK)

Olivia Baer

Olympya

Omer Klein

Ostückenberg

OUR MIRAGE

Out of Berlin

OVE

Øyvind Morken

Pascal Kravetz

Paso Doble

Pat Appleton (De-Phazz)

Patric Catani

Patrick Foellmer (lilabungalow)

Patrick Hespeler

Patrick Kunkel

Patrick Legont

Patrick Milaa

Paul Pötsch (rubble)

Patrick Reerink

Patrick Siegfried Zimmer

Paul Schmitz-Moormann (Kid Paul, Energy 52)

Paul van Dyk

Paul Wetz

Paula Linke

Per Martinsen

Pete Mazell

Peter “Spiko” Spiecker

Peter Brandenburg

Peter Brings

Peter Bursch

Peter Fleming

Peter Hubert (VHF)

Peter light

Peter Maffay

Peter Renaud (Tiktaalik)

Peter Ries

Peter Schmidt (The Blues Experience)

Peter Schneekloth

Peter Schumann

Petra Zieger and band

Philip Lauer (Lauer)

Philipp Fein

Philipp Höcketstaller (Hundling)

Philipp Janzen (Vacation in Poland, Von Spar)

Philipp Schwab (Knorkator)

Philip Stoeckenius (Kaltenkirchen)

Philipp Stauber

Phillip Boa

Pit Baumgartner (De-Phazz)

Pit Budde

Plastic funk

pølaroit

Potsch Potschka

Prince Chaos II. (Alias ​​Florian Kirner)

Prof. Esther Kaiser

Proj3ct 7

PURE

Purple Schulz

Quarterhead

Queenz of Piano

Rainer Max Lingk (ESTA * bien!)

Rainer Oleak

Rainer Scheithauer

Rainer Schober (Scotty Bullock)

Ralf Blümner (Goldkind, Lucilectric)

Ralf Hildenbag

Ralf Hütter (power plant)

Ralf Lübke (Monkeeman)

Ralf Zenker

Ralph Gustke

Ralph Siegel

Rammstein

Ramon Bessel

Ramon Zenker

Rana Merve Kilic

Rampage

Rantan plan

Raoul Walton

Rave Busterz

Re.You (Marius Maier)

Real Ax Band

Rebekka Salomea Ziegler (SALOMEA)

Reiko Gohlke (Knorkator)

Reinhold Heil

René Kollo

Richie Arndt

Richie Necker

Ritchie Barton (Silly)

Ritchy Fondermann

Robbie shoulder

Robby Kranz (Disillusion, Far Or Near)

Robert Gemmel (Elephants on Tape)

Robert Lippok

Robert Seidel (Arpen)

Robin Craaford

Robin Schulz

Rocco

Rock house

Rocko Schamoni

Roedelius

Roland Fidezius

Roland Kaiser

Roland nephew

Roman Wasserfuhr

Ron Last

Ronny

Rosa Hoelger

Snot-nose theater

Roy Stroebel (Strobe, Ravers Nature, RAT)

Rüdiger Badlauf

Rudolf Moser (Einstürzende Neubauten)

Rudolf Schenker (Scorpions)

Rumble Militia

Rummel racke

Lindbæk rune

Sabine Kaufmann

Sahraoui Sami (CYRK)

Sain (Ningu Storm)

Sam Shure

Sam Vance-Law

Sammy Kandler (Tillmann)

Samuel Dickmeis (Manni)

Sander Stuart (vision string quartet)

Sandra Grether (Doctorella)

Santiano

Saprize

Sarah Lesch

Sarah Stewart

Sarah Wild

Sascha Panknin

Schiller

Tow spirit

Schneider TM

Scrap border

Scooter

Seb Iphone

Sebastian Dold (KrAWAllo)

Sebastian Gramss

Sebastian Hackel

Sebastian Schütze (TinTin, Baru)

Sebastian Siebhoff

Sebastian Starke

Seed cake

At that time

Selda Zenker

Sepalot

Sera finale

Shelter boy

She-Male Trouble

SHIRLEY HOLMES

Shuko

Sibylle Kynast

Sidewalk surfers

Silvio Schneider

Simon Beeston

Simon Freidhöfer

Simon Sure

Simon von der Gathen (KOJ)

Simon Wangeman (Iheartsharks, The New)

are

SINE

Sirrah

Sisters on the Rocks

Siyou Isabelle Ngnoubamdjum

Skadi Lange (Miss Lange)

Skip Reinhardts

Sleeping drones

SLIME

Sneaker

Snuff crew

Sonja Banzhaf

Sonja Huber (Lottchen)

Sönke Düwer (Ensemble du Verre)

Sophie Black

Sören Fischer

Sotiria

Space Indians

Sparifankal

SPLIFF

Stefan Brügesch (Steve Bug)

Stefan Dabruck

Stefan Glaubitz

Stefan Grimm

Stefan Gwildis

Stefan Kleinkrieg (extra wide)

Stefan Krähe

Stefan Mross

Stefan Schmidt

Stefan Stoppok

Stefanie Polster

Steffen Berkhahn (Dixon)

Steffen Kämbt

Steffi Stephan

Sten Servaes (clover)

Stephan Eppinger

Stephan Gorol

Stephan Graf’s double vision

Stephan Philipp

Stephan Voland (Samavayo)

Stephanie Lottermoser

Steve Murano

Steve Parry

Steve van Velvet

Stump (knorkator)

Super chock distortion

Susanne Betancor

Susanne Folk

Suzi Kerstgens (Klee)

Sven Faller

Sven Greiner

Sven Pollkötter

Sven Roswog (svensyntetics)

SvenDeeKay

Sven-RG

T.Noize

Tamara Lukasheva

Tanja Grandmontagne

Taraka Rama Krishna Kanth Kannuri

Tarjei Nygård

Telmo Pires

Teresa Bergman

Terje Olsen (Todd Terje)

Terror group

The Dad Horse Experience

The Day

The Dry Tortugas

The esprits

The Munich Sheiks

THE OKLAHOMA KID

The pighounds

The Romeos

The Roughnecks

The Wayf

Theodor Shitstorm

Theodor Strom

Thomas Barth (Sunbase Records TBC)

Thomas Fehlmann

Thomas Gallatin

Thomas Klein (Sølyst)

Thomas Moen Hermansen (Prins Thomas)

Thomas Plug

Thomas Porwol (Arte Gemini)

Thomas Sauerborn

Thomas Schumacher

Thomas Thumann (Pam Pam Ida & the Silberfischorchester)

Thomas Wydler (Nick Cave, The Skin)

Thomasz Skulski

Thorsten Klentze

Thorsten Wingenfelder (Wingenfelder)

Tibetréa

Till Brönner

Tilo Weber & Four Fauns

Tim bendzko

Tim Hahn

Tim Kamrad

Tim Rodig

Timofey Sattarov

Tingvall Trio

To Rococo red

Tobi Neumann

Tobias Forster

Tobias Öller

Tobias Sammet (Avantasia)

Tobias Schwall

Toby Pluta

TOKA

Tokio Hotel

Tom Astor

Tom Dragebo

Tom Gatza

Tom Kiemle (Tillmann)

Tom Peters

Tomas tulip

Tommy Finke

Tommy Hresh

Tommy Remm (Valicon)

Toni Krahl (City)

Torben Möller-Meissner

Torsten de Winkel

Torsten Reitler (REITLER)

Township rebellion

Trettmann

Triinu Kivilaan (Vanilla Ninja)

Triskilian

Truck stop

Truls Kvam

Udo Erdenreich (ZIGURI)

Udo Lindenberg

Ulf Annel

Ulf Kleiner

Uli Poeppelbaum

Ulla Meinecke

Ulrike Hagemann

Uncanny Valley

Upercent (Jose Molés Martínez)

Ute Freudenberger

Uwe Bastiansen

Uwe Fischer

Uwe Hassbecker (Silly)

Uwe Schmidt (ATM)

Valentine

Valentin Butt

Van der Karsten

vandermeer

Vecente Patiz

VENUES

Vera climate

Veronika Faber

Veronika Gast (spring carnations)

Verse gold

Vincent Groß

VITJA

Vladyslav Sendecki

Volker Holly Schlott

Volker Rechin

Volker Rosin

Volkwin Müller

voXXclub

VUG

Madness

brown owl

Wallis Bird

Walter Lang

Wareika

Werner Meier

Werner Schmidbauer

West Lake

Willy Wagner

Wincent Weiss

Wolf Maahn

Wolfgang Loos

Wolfgang Niedecken (BAP)

Wolfgang Petry

Wolfgang Schmid

Wolfram Spyra (The Spyra)

What We Are Looking For

Wooden Peak

Wrong chat

Wrong haircut

Wuide Wachl

Xao Seffcheque (Family Five)

Yetti Meissner

Yoyo Röhm

Zavet

ZK

Zoe Wees

Zwakkelmann

Right On Cue, YouTube CEO Unveils Google’s Lobbying Plans Against Copyright Directive Implementation–the fight is just beginning

The European Copyright Directive was a great victory for artists, right?  The Silicon Valley multinationals were sent packing, yes?

True as far as it goes, but it does not go all the way.  Now each of the 28 member states of the European Union are to adopt implementing legislation at the national level to put the Directive into legal effect and they have two years to do it.  Google calls this an opportunity to continue the meddling and interference lobbying campaign.

How do we know?  Because YouTube’s CEO told us so in a fine specimen of oligarchical collectivism.

In a post on the oxymoronic YouTube “creators blog” (aka Pravda Chrome), YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki tells us about the only thing that she really could say after Google’s massive dezinformatsiya campaign, but yet clearly outlines Google’s next steps during that two year implementation period:

While the Directive has passed, there is still time to affect the final implementation to avoid some of the worst unintended consequences. Each E.U. member state now has two years to introduce national laws that are in line with the new rules, which means that the powerful collective voice of creators can still make a major impact.

Especially the ones Google pays.

Google really only has a limited number of messages when it comes to copyright.  Like George Orwell’s Ministry of Truth, we have Google’s own variation on WAR IS PEACE–that being COPYRIGHT IS CENSORSHIP.  Given that Google doesn’t seem to have a Plan B when it comes to interference lobbying, we can bet that what Ms. Wojcicki means is that Google is going to commence the same kind of fake petitions, bot farming and paid messaging from YouTubers that were the embarrassing (and potentially illegal) hallmarks of Google’s strategy against the Copyright Directive.  The only difference is that this time it will be against the national legislatures (such as the House of Commons in the UK or the National Assembly in France) instead of the European Parliament.

It’s not really the only difference, though.  The other difference is that we are ready for them and we know what to watch for as do the members of the 28 national parliaments.

Americans should also realize that if you thought Google’s disinformation campaign against the Copyright Directive was bad, just wait and see what happens if the Congress should take up the DMCA safe harbor.  That party is just getting started.  And the party–so to speak–is all happening in Room 101–how many fingers, Winston?

 

 

Pledge 2019 EU Campaign: Old Wine in New Bottles

In summer 2018 the campaign platform Saveyourinternet.eu set up to fight against the EU copyright reform. The campaign was organized by C4C, which is mainly financed by the American CCIA and the Open Society Foundation. This was criticized at the time. The website Saveyourinternet was later “taken over“ by EDRi; C4C was out.

Now there is a new action platform Pledge2019.eu, which claims to be “independent“ and „without any support from Google or other web giants.”

pledge_1_eng

We need to look at this in more detail.

The Saveyourinternet.eu story
In the fight against the EU Copyright Directive, Saveyourinternet.eu’s campaign in summer 2018 was primarily responsible for the bombardment of MEPs with pre-written e-mails, automated tweets and arranged telephone calls, including discussion guidelines.

The campaign was organized by Copyright for Creativity (C4C) and its secretariat N-Square. The C4C has 42 members (EFF, EDRi, BEUC etc.) and, according to its own statements, is mainly financed by the Open Society Foundation (OSF) and the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA). Members of this American industry association include Amazon, Cloudflare, Facebook, Mozilla, Google and Uber.

The page was registered in spring 2018 by the Belgian lobby company N-Square, which also works für Google. And today the registration data and the domain location are concealed by EURID and Cloudflare. The site does not have a legal imprint. There is only the notice that it is “managed” by the EDRi organization.

The new campaign page – Pledge2019.eu
The new campaign page is called “Pledge2019.eu” and is used to organize telephone calls to MEPs. The system connects the user either directly with an opponent suggested by the system or the user can select a time to speak with one of the proponents.

Epicenter.works from Vienna is responsible for the content. Legal notice and data protection declaration are, as very often is the case, borderline. But that is not the point.

pledge_Tab_1_eng

The site refers (as of 8.3.2019) to 17 organizations which are in some way connected to the site.
Besides EDRi, the current “manager” of Saveyourinternet.eu, there are 13 members of EDRi (3 of them “Observer”). Only three organizations do not belong to EDRi.

Ten of these 17 organizations are also listed at Saveyourinternet.eu. Saveyourinternet also links to Pledge2019.eu using the button “ACT NOW – CALL MY MEPs”.

The impression is that the creators of the old campaign (Saveyourinternet.eu) also operate the new action platform (Pledge2019.eu).

The donors
Pledge2019 emphasizes its independence on the homepage: “This is an independent campaign without any support from Google or other web giants”.

Who exactly pays the bills of the campaign cannot be verified by an outsider. A look at the groups involved is very revealing indeed. To what extent do they appear independent? Have they received money from “Google or other web giants” in the past?

Even a first glance at the transparency reports – some of them are good but often completely non-transparent (more on this below) – is significant.
Even those responsible (Epicenter.works) reported in the Transparency Report 2017 that Mozilla is supporting them with €21,630; which is just over 6% of annual revenues. Another big supporter is the Chaos Computer Club with €15,000. Membership fees are not shown, Epicenter is mainly financed by donations.

Mozilla, which receives its income primarily from Google, also supports other stakeholders, including the Dutch Bits of Freedom, EDRi and the Open Rights Group from the UK. At Bits of Freedom, Mozilla is the largest single donor (petabit-donateur) with more than €10,000 per year. How much was actually paid remains open. At the Open Rights Group, the Mozilla Foundation paid £6,900 in 2016.

Other Internet companies are also mentioned in the reports as donors, such as Leaseweb (often named in connection with piracy) with €5,000 for Bits of Freedom or Microsoft (€10,000) and Wikimedia Germany (€5,793) for EDRi in 2017.

But even Google appears as a direct donor, namely at the Polish Fundacja Panoptykon in 2017 with a four-digit amount and in 2016 with 57,190 Złoty (approx. €13,000) from Google Polska SA and at EDRi in 2016 with €23,000 and in 2015 without stating the amount.

pledge_3_eng
Figure: EDRi – Annual Report 2016, page 40 (in pdf page 43).

EDRi – The finances
Since Pledge2019.eu is mainly backed by EDRi members, it would be a good idea to take a closer look at the finances of EDRi.

In 2017, EDRi generated €728,816. There are hardly any contributions from members. With €39,941 only 5.5% of the revenues are „Members and observers fees“.
2017

EDRi – The finances
Since Pledge2019.eu is mainly backed by EDRi members, it would be a good idea to take a closer look at the finances of EDRi.
In 2017, EDRi generated €728,816. There are hardly any contributions from members. With €39,941 only 5.5% of the revenues are “Members and observers fees”.
2017
Mozilla appears in various positions with a total of €87,205 (Mozilla Corporation: €26,897, Mozilla Corporation: €4,000, Ford Mozilla Open Web Fellow: €34,327, Mozilla Advocacy Fund: €21,981). In total, this is almost 12% of the budget.
The largest donors of EDRi are three foundations:
– Open Society Foundation: €139,596
– Ford Foundation: €136,275
– Adessium Foundation: €131,016.
Their contribution to the financing of EDRi in 2017 was 55.8%.

pledge_4_eng

Figure: EDRi – Annual Report 2017, page 40 (in pdf page 43).

These three foundations also supported EDRi in 2016 with five- to six-digit amounts. The largest donor with €127,080 in 2016 was again the Open Society Foundation.

The importance of foundations
Among the 17 organizations on Pledge2019.eu are two with a budget of less than €2,500 (IT Politcal Association of Denmark, D3 – Defesa dos direitos digitais). The Bulgarian organization could not be examined due to the Cyrillic character set.
Four organizations (Apti, Hermes Center, Homo Digitalis and Xnet) do not disclose funding either on their website or in the EU Transparency Register. However, at least the Open Society has information on Xnet.

Of the remaining 11 organizations, only the Chaos Computer Club is almost totally funded by membership fees. The other ten all disclose donations from at least one of the three listed foundations. In nine cases the Open Society Foundation finances; in three cases the Adessium Foundation; in one case the Ford Foundation.
The Centrum Cyfrowe claims to receive €281,242 from international organizations in 2018. The Open Society Foundation reports a core support of US$240,000 to this organization for the years 2017 – 2018.

Whether all supporters were found remains to be seen. While the Ford Foundation offers a database with all grants, Adessium provides at least a list of the recipients. The Open Society Foundation, which was classified by Transparify as America’s most non-transparent think tank in 2016, is now presenting a database with data from 2016 onwards. However, not all organizations that claim to be financially supported by the OSF can be found there, possibly due to intermediary organizations.

Picture5.png

The Ford Foundation and the Open Society Foundation do not appear for the first time as lobbyists against Internet regulation. Both intervened on the subject of net neutrality:

„In areas where Google doesn’t spend the cash directly, it can rely on others to help. Foundations including […] Open Society Institute and the Ford Foundation align closely to Silicon Valley’s view on IP policy. The OSI funds a number of groups who style themselves as „civil society“ or „human rights“ (sic) outfits, including EDRI.“[theregister.co.uk]

Limited transparency
Some transparency reports are very detailed, at least in the years 2017 and 2016, such as EDRi or the Fundacja Panoptykon.

In other organizations, only single figures are disclosed, but the essentials are concealed. The epicenter is an example of intransparent transparency. It does show individual sums from donors amounting to €43,130 for2017. Ultimately, however, only 12.6 % of the funds received are declared. The rest is hidden in partly unexplained categories such as donations, sponsoring and grants, foundations.

A similar example of intransparent transparency is the Digitale Gesellschaft from Germany. The income in 2017is explained in only three positions:
– Membership dues, incl. sponsoring membership dues: €51,386.05 €.
– Grants received: €207,941.59
– Donations received: €14,930.26.
The rest you have to find yourself. With donations, which exceed €1,000 in the calendar year, one wants to publish names of the donors and the amount of the donations quarterly on the Website. Where on the extensive side remains unclear.
However, the call for donations in 2018 reports that funds were received from the Open Society Foundation as well as project-related donations from the City of Berlin, the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) and the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV). According to the Digital Society, no funds have been received from companies.

But some are even less transparent. In some organizations, for example, only some donors are named, and no amounts are mentioned; e.g. Open Knowledge International.
Four of the 17 participants in Pledge2019.eu, namely Apti, Homo Digitalis, Hermes Center and Xnet, do not disclose any financing at all (or hide it perfectly on their pages).

It remains remarkable to what extent organizations from the USA (associations, foundations and companies) financially support European activists who are actively involved in legislative processes within the EU.

Jörg Weinrich, Volker Rieck

 

Volker Rieck is managing director of the content protection service provider File Defense Service (FDS), which works for numerous rights owners. The company also conducts studies on piracy and supports law enforcement agencies with its collected data. His articles occasionally appear on the FAZ, Tarnkappe.info, Webschauder and sporadically on the US blogs The Trichordist and Musictecpolicy. This is always about the various aspects of unregulated content distribution.

Jörg Weinrich is managing director of the „Interessenverband des Video- und Medienfachhandels in Deutschland e.V.(IVD)“.

 

EU Tech Lobbying: Tricks-Camouflage-Deception

 

<Editors note   Original German Version of this article here. http://webschauder.de/tricksen-tarnen-taeuschen/  We appreciate Volker connecting the dots for us in the increasingly murky lobbying campaign by Google against Article 13.  The counter-narrative has already started–Google is using cherry-picked facts to try to make Members of the European Parliament believe that they are being outlobbied by artists, songwriters and journalists.  This conveniently overlooks the millions Google has spent in Europe trying to influence public opinion and, of course, the Google revolving door.  It’s also hard to believe that Google’s lobbying on its competition law fines had no affect on its lobbying against Article 13.:>

Tricks – Camouflage – Deception

Facebook makes you sit up and take notice. The British former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, a new Head of Global Affairs for Facebook, was barely introduced when he made his first interesting public statements. “Regulation is not so bad,” Clegg told the Financial Times. As a former senior member of the government, presumably this comes naturally to Clegg because he simply knows it from his work.

Clegg made another surprising yet unsurprising statement on the subject of campaigns. In light of the possible influence of Facebook advertising on elections, Clegg promised that future campaigns on Facebook would be clearly labeled, for example, “Paid for by….”

Facebook is somewhat ahead of the EU in this respect, which is currently making efforts to do something about disinformation—especially in view of the EU election in May 2019.

This includes Brussels demanding monthly updates from Internet companies such as Google or Facebook, in which they must present what they have actually done to counter disinformation by, at a minimum, providing greater transparency. We will see whether this effort to promote greater transparency is successful, and one might be forgiven for having doubts based on past performance, but evolution is an agonizingly slow process.

Other tech lobby groups go the other way…

The Saveyourinternet.eu campaign takes a completely different approach masked in lack of transparency. As described in detail in earlier articles, the website played a central role in the attempted manipulation of EU parliamentarians by mail avalanches and Twitter storms in the summer of 2018.

The website was registered at the time by the lobby company N-Square from Belgium, which also does work for Google.

If you look at the current registration data for the website, you will see that the site is now anonymous. The French company Gandi SAS is used for this purpose, which conveniently and effectively disguises the true name and other data of the registrant.

 

Saveyourinternet.eu whois

Illustration: WhoIs of Saveyourinternet.eu at EURID

 

So it is not clear who is responsible for the page, because even a close examination of the page itself is anything but illuminating. There is a note indicating that the organization EDRi manages the site, but that does not meet the requirements of the E-Commerce Directive which requires a legal notice identifying a responsible person and address.

Edri management of the site .png

Illustration: Notes on the management of the site by EDRi

Family Business

One can only speculate about the reasons why EDRi has jumped into the breach here.

Maybe N-Square and its managing director, Caroline De Cock, wanted to get out of the line of fire after the response to its action against the MEPs from summer 2018.

However, presumably through oversight, the registration data for other websites involved in the campaign against the EU copyright reform have not been anonymized, although their look and feel is very similar to that of the Saveyourinternet site.

Fixcopyright.eu e.g. still has registration data of Ms De Cock and her parent company KDC Group and it may only be a matter of time before this page is also anonymized.

Fix copyright. eu registration.png

You also won’t find any necessary legal notice data on the FixCopyright site. If you follow their Privacy Policy, it forwards you to Create-Refresh, a commercial campaign site operated by the consulting company, Purpose Campaigns LLC from the USA. Create-Refresh has itself been incessantly banging the drum against the new EU Copyright Directive since the summer, including through the placement of banner ads on Twitter, for example.

And it also must be said that the partners of Create-Refresh parent company, Purpose Campaigns LLC, include, among others, Google and the Ford Foundation.

List of Partners at Purpose Campaigns LLC

Illustration: List of Partners at Purpose Campaigns LLC


Fixcopyright.eu therefore violates the E-Commerce Directive as well as saveyouinternet.eu!!

In addition, there are no data protection notices in accordance with the DSGVO, which has been in force in the EU since May 2018. Visitors to the site are redirected to the Twitter accounts of MEPs, for example, but they are not informed of this in any privacy notices, which of course also apply to so-called civil society groups.

In the end, however, these anti-Article 13 sites remain a kind of family business.

If one superimposes the financiers of EDRi and Copyright4Creativity, which is still managed by Caroline de Cock, or Purpose Campaigns, there are interesting intersections, be it the Open Society Foundation or the Ford Foundation. These two foundations alone accounted for almost 37% of EDRi revenues in 2017.

Even more exciting is the list of other EDRi donors.

One of them is Mozilla, who is known for financing Open Media, the company that via its subsidiary New/Mode provided the tools for the attack on the offices of members of parliament in the summer of 2018.

Open your wallets

Another donor is Wikipedia Germany.

Anyone who visits Wikipedia from October onwards will hardly be able to escape the appeals for donations. This was of course also the case in 2018.

wikipedia germany.png

Illustrations: Donation appeal from Wikipedia Germany in autumn 2018 as well as the thank you message, banner from the Wikipedia Germany page.

Wouldn’t it be more honest in the course of such appeals for donations to say that a large part of the money collected in Germany is thrown into the big pile of money that Wikipedia has in the USA and currently amounts to more than 120 million dollars?  (An amount for which one could probably finance the online encyclopedia for years to come.)

How this is compatible with Wikipedia’s non-profit status in Germany is another question that I will leave to another day.

Against this background, the statements made by John Weitzmann of Wikipedia Germany deserve further scrutiny. At a copyright congress in Berlin in November 2018, in front of roughly 250 people, Weitzmann declared that Wikipedia had never supported http://Saveyourinternet.eu . Apparently, he had, or has, a hard time distinguishing fact from fiction as this was clearly untrue. Or perhaps he was misled by Wikipedia and Saveyourinternet’s own disinformation campaign—a campaign itself rooted in obfuscation.

Of course, the picture of deception is incomplete without considering the role of Julia Reda, the only member of the Pirate Party in the EU Parliament. Ms. Reda has been very busy promoting a meme generator on Twitter apparently clinging to the myth that the directive restrict memes. Putting aside the fact that memes are not affected by the directive (and so every meme is compliant with the directive) it is highly instructive to observe the provenance of this CreateRefresh tool so favored by Ms. Reda! Part of the campaign is paid by Purpose Campaigns LLC, which as noted earlier, also lobbies for Google. So the circles are closing here as well.

julia reda tweet.png

Illustration: Screenshot of Julia Reda’s Twitter account

It will be interesting to see how the EU reacts to all these interconnected relationships.

Commissioner Mariya Gabriel was presented with comprehensive documentary evidence in Strasbourg at the beginning of December, which presents and proves the background of the non-transparent campaign against the EU, undertaken in conflict with the requirements of existing EU legislation.

Changes such as the changes to the Saveyourinternet.eu website indicate that the campaign operators are apparently becoming aware of the terrain they have entered and seems to be evidence they are distancing themselves.

It will be interesting to see how the EU reacts to all these events.
Commissioner Mariya Gabriel was presented with comprehensive documentary evidence in Strasbourg at the beginning of December, which presents and proves the background of the non-transparent campaign against the EU, undertaken in conflict with the requirements of existing EU legislation.
Revisions such as the anonymizing changes to the Saveyourinternet.eu website indicate that the campaign operators are apparently aware of the terrain they have entered.

Volker Rieck is managing director of the content protection service provider FDS File Defense Service, which works for numerous rights owners. The company also prepares studies on piracy and supports law enforcement companies with the data it collects.
Volker Rieck blogs regularly on Webschauder and from time to time on the US blog The Trichordist on various aspects of unregulated content distribution. His articles also appear on Tarnkappe.info and in the FAZ.

Guest Post: The TAZ, Pirate Utopias and YouTube’s Obsession with Safe Harbors

Guest post by Chris Castle

“[A]s you begin to act in harmony with nature the Law garottes & strangles you – so don’t play the blessed liberal middleclass martyr – accept the fact that you’re a criminal & be prepared to act like one.”

Hakim Bey from “T.A.Z.: The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism”

YouTube’s CEO Susan Wojcicki is frantically wheeling around Europe this week in a despairing effort to establish a US-style safe harbor in Europe and undermine Article 13, the Copyright Directive for a Digital Single Market.

Let’s understand that the very concept of a safe harbor for YouTube has its roots deep in the pirate utopias of Internet culture–a fact that may get overlooked if you aren’t a student of the Silicon Valley groundwater.

The Value Gap really owes its origins to the anarchist Peter Lamborn Wilson who wrote the seminal text on pirate utopias under the nom de plume“Hakim Bey” entitled “The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism” (1991) or, as it is known perhaps affectionately in hacker circles, simply “TAZ.”  I for one am not quite sure what makes “poetic terrorism” different from unpoetic terrorism, utopian terrorism, anarchic terrorism, or just plain old terrorism, but it may explain why YouTube just can’t bring itself to block terrorist videos before they find an audience.

But the TAZ helps illuminate my own more truncated term for the Value Gap–the alibi. An alibi for a pirate utopia where the pirates run cults called Google and enrich themselves from the prizes they go a-raiding.

In the early days of online piracy there was a fascination with locating servers in some legal meta-dimension that would be outside of the reach of any law enforcement agency. Sealand, for example, captured the imagination of many proto-pirates, but Sealand is a little to clever to put themselves in a position requiring evacuation by the Royal Navy before the shelling begins.  So Sealand was ruled out.

Instead, Google–largely through YouTube–created its own pirate utopia through manipulation of the DMCA safe harbor, one of the worst bills ever passed by the U.S. Congress–and that’s saying something.  Google busily set about establishing legal precedents that would shore up the moat around their precious TAZ.  None of Google’s attacks on government should be surprising–anarchy is in their DNA.  As former Obama White House aide and Internet savant Susan Crawford tells us:

I was brought up and trained in the Internet Age by people who really believed that nation states were on the verge of crumbling…and we could geek around it.  We could avoid it.  These people were irrelevant.

And “these people” were stupid enough to give a safe harbor to protect the TAZ.  Because here’s the truth–the safe harbor that has made Google one of the richest companies in the world while they hoover up the world’s culture actually is the quintessential temporary autonomous zone.  It only exists in a changeable statute and the judicial interpretations of that statute, whether the DMCA or the Copyright Directive.  And like HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey, they’re not going to allow that disconnection without a fight.

But YouTube’s CEO Susan Wojcicki will not be singing “A Bicycle Built for Two” as she flails about in the disconnect of YouTube.  Her basic argument is that “imposing copyright liability is destructive of value” for “open platforms” like YouTube.  “Open platforms” bear a striking resemblance to the TAZ, yes?  Ms. Wojcicki , of course, purveys a counterintuitive fantasy because unauthorized uses for which copyright liability accrues is what destroys the value of the infringed work.  What Ms. Wojcicki is harping about is how copyright infringement destroys value for YouTubeand its multinational corporate parent, Google.  This is what happens when stock options invade a pirate utopia.

Not only has she got it wrong, but what she is actually whingeing about is the threat posed to her YouTube pirate utopia by the Copyright Directive and the united creative community.  And as HAL might say, the YouTube mission is too important for me to allow you artists to jeopardize it.

 

The Values Gap: CD Baby Shows that the Safe Harbor is a Privilege to be Respected and Not an Alibi to be Cheapened

by Chris Castle, from Artist Rights Watch

It’s hard to believe that after a good ten years of being called out, YouTube still–still–cannot manage to stop neo-Nazi and white supremacist material from getting posted on its network.  We’ve been calling out YouTube on MusicTechPolicy and the Trichordist for these inexcusable failures again and again and again.  And yet they keep recycling the safe harbor as an alibi–and they’re doing it again in Europe on Article 13.

I can understand that YouTube doesn’t want to “censor” users and there may be close cases from time to time.  For example, I could understand why YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki might not want to take down videos from Seeking Arrangement that encourages young women into a “sugar daddy” relationship to pay for college and health care.

Sure, one of her Google colleagues was murdered by a woman he met through Seeking Arrangement.  Maybe Seeking Arrangement is a close case, particularly for a company that opposed the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act.

But you know what’s not a close case? It’s right there in the title of the song–“Who Likes a N—“.  You would think that one would get picked up in a simple text filter of debased language.  But it wasn’t ten years ago and it still isn’t.  Not a close case.

UPDATE:  Author’s note–this YouTube video has been taken down and the account deleted–AFTER this post.

And then there’s “Stand Up and Be Counted” by the White Riders.  It’s not that hard to figure out by listening to any of the many versions of this song that it’s a recruiting song for the Klu Klux Klan.  And it’s not that YouTube doesn’t know it–this version of the hate song has clearly been filtered by YouTube–oh, sorry.  Not by YouTube, but by the “YouTube community.”  But why is it that a KKK recruiting song doesn’t violate YouTube’s terms of service if it doesn’t shock Susan Wojcicki’s conscience?

White Riders

David Lowery called out YouTube and CD Baby for allowing hate rock to be distributed on their platforms.  Within hours, CD Baby pulled the account.  But not YouTube.

Let’s understand a couple things.  First, this is not hard.  The Anti Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center have actual lists of these bands.  Both MusicTechPolicy and The Trichordist have been hammering this issue for years.  Simple word searches could accomplish a large percentage of the task–the N word, KKK recruiting and images of Adolph Hitler are not close cases.

And let’s understand something else.  When users post movies, television shows and recorded music on YouTube, all of those materials have gone through some kind of legal review for standards and practices.  That doesn’t mean there’s no fair use or that there are no parodies.  It does mean that a human has thought about it because free expression is a judgement call.

Free expression is deserving of human examination.  You cannot create a machine that will do this for you.  You cannot rely on crowd sourcing to stop all uses of these vile terms and images–because in every crowd there’s someone who thinks it’s all just fine.  That’s why they’re called mobs.

YouTube, Facebook and all the Article 13 opponents actually are using a complete spectrum of review.  The problem is that they are cost shifting the human review onto artists and to a lesser extent their users for two reasons.  First and foremost is that they hope not to be caught.  That’s what the safe harbor is really all about.  The value gap is just a part of it–the other part is the values gap.  How do these people sleep at night?

But I firmly believe that the real reason that they shift the human cost onto those who can least afford it is because they’re too cheap to pay for it themselves.  They are willing to take the chance because getting caught so far has been a cost of doing business.

The real cost of their business is the corrosive effect that they have on our discourse, our families and our children.  There has to be a way to make YouTube responsible for their choices–and CD Baby showed this week that it’s not only possible but necessary.

If YouTube and their paid cronies want to try to convince legislators that they deserve special protection, they need to live up to the standard that CD Baby set this week  And they need to do that before they get any further special treatment.

As we’ve said for years, the safe harbor is a privilege not an alibi.