How you can stop Europe’s proposal to break the internet 

The time to act is now! [european-parliament-image] [Photo]( by [David Iliff]( on Wikimedia Commons. [CC BY-SA 3.0]( [Tell the European Parliament to stop the harmful copyright proposal]( European lawmakers are drafting new copyright rules that will require online platforms to automatically monitor and filter all user-uploaded content. Their intention is to stop copyright infringement, but the reality will go so far beyond that it will risk breaking the internet. This means that nearly every platform — from Instagram to YouTube to SoundCloud to Flickr — will have to review every single uploaded file for copyright infringements before it is allowed to go online. Such a system would be so expensive that only huge companies would be able to join the market, and it would surely flag tons of perfectly harmless and non-infringing content. The draft law would also allow press publishers to demand fees for linking to headlines and snippets. This will kill news linking on the web. How do we know? It already failed in Spain and Germany. The new “link tax” would drastically disrupt the free flow of information online. These copyright proposals will break the internet as we know it. It doesn’t have to be this way. Here’s what you can do. On July 5, all 751 Members of the European Parliament will vote on whether to fast-track the proposal, or to reopen the discussions so improvements can be made. The proposal isn’t a sure thing — it barely made it out of committee. You can help stop it. If you’re an EU citizen, or if you live and work in the EU, go to [saveyourinternet.eu]( and tell your MEPs to stop the proposal and reopen the debate. If you’re not in the EU, help us spread the word! The one thing we know about bad internet legislation is that it gets copied and exported world-wide. We have to stop it wherever it shows up, before it become the law where you live, too. Europe needs reasonable and balanced copyright rules that foster an open internet, freedom of expression, and the rights of users and the public in the digital environment. It’s not too late. With your help, we can turn this around. [Take Action]( Our mailing address is: PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} [why did I get this?]( [unsubscribe from this list]( [update subscription preferences]( Creative Commons · PO Box 1866 · Mountain View, CA 94042 · USA