Today, on 26 February 2019, European Digital Rights and partner organisations from across Europe are re-launching the campaign SaveYourInternet.eu ? with new items in the “toolbox”.
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Today, we add to our website the action prepared by our Austrian member epicenter.works: Pledge2019.eu. The campaign, managed by the EDRi network, has become the main platform for concerned citizens who want to contact EU policy makers about the proposed implementation of upload filters in the European Union.
Pledge2019.eu allows voters from all EU Member States to call their representatives free of charge and convince them to pledge to reject the upload filters included in the Article 13 of the controversial proposal for the EU Copyright Directive. Citizens are encouraged to consider parliamentarians’ stance on Article 13 when voting for the European Parliament election in May 2019.
“One Member of the European Parliament (MEP Axel Voss) and two big Member States (Germany and France) have turned music investors into legislators, ignoring input from academics, the inventor of the World Wide Web, civil society and even the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression. It is now up to people across the EU to set the record straight and make their voice heard,” said Diego Naranjo, Senior Policy Advisor at EDRi.
The final vote in the European Parliament may take place as early as March, with the exact date yet to be announced. The (as of today) 751 representatives from all Member States will then have the option to reject upload filters in the copyright Directive.
“Europeans have made their opposition to upload filters crystal clear in a petition that is closing in on a record-breaking five million signatures,” said Bernhard Hayden, copyright expert at epicenter.works. However, misinformation fuelled by private interests tried to depict these concerned citizens as “bots”. “It became necessary to empower voters to speak directly to their representatives,” added Hayden.
We are very close to getting rid of upload filters and obtaining a more balanced copyright Directive. Citizens need to raise their voice for the last time and use the EU elections in May to build the democratic echo around the #SaveYourInternet chorus.
SaveYourInternet.eu campaignsaveyourinternet.eu/
