Corporations have been having bad ideas about the Internet for about as long as the Internet has been around -- but this one is just about the worst we’ve seen: EU politicians want to give publishing giants the right to charge a tax for simply linking to their content.
Our friends at OpenMedia is calling it 'one of the worst copyright laws in the world' and it’s hard to disagree. We are not talking about stealing content or posting something without attribution -- a 'link tax' literally charges news aggregators and other websites for sending traffic to your site.
The Internet is supposed to be based on principles of openness and sharing information. This law hands all the control -- and profit -- to massive publishing and media organizations. That’s not the Internet we believe in.
Nobody benefits from a 'link tax.' Tell your MEP to vote against this foolish law.
Of course it’s the massive corporate publishing houses and legacy newspapers that are (foolishly) pushing for this law. It will be horrible for ordinary users because it will severely limit the kind of content we see on a regular basis, but it’s stupid even for publishers. When a similar law was introduced in Spain, Google News was forced to shut down completely.
At SumOfUs, we’ve been fighting to keep the Internet free for years. We scored one of the biggest victories for global net neutrality when millions came together and stopped American telecom giants from building an Internet slow lane. Over 100,000 of concerned freedom advocates and Internet users have already come together in opposition of the link tax.
The EU has made some alarming moves against a free Internet lately and it’s time to steer it back in the right direction. The right to link is under attack and it's time we fought back.
Demand that your MEP votes against a 'link tax.'
More information
EU Politicians Try To Create A New 'Link Tax' To Protect Newspapers Who Don't Like Sites Linking For Free
TechDirt. 8 July 2015.
TechDirt. 8 July 2015.
EU Commission formally proposes Link Tax to European Parliament as part of new Copyright Directive
OpenMedia. 14 September 2016.
OpenMedia. 14 September 2016.