The European parliament has approved a controversial directive introducing sweeping changes to copyright enforcement across Europe.
The European copyright directive is best known for two provisions it contains: articles 11 and 13, referred to as the "link tax" and "upload filter", respectively, by opponents.
The latter requires websites that host user-generated content to take active measures to prevent copyrighted material from being uploaded without permission, under the penalty of being held liable for their users' copyright infringement.
Article 11, the "link tax", includes new requirements aimed at making companies like Google pay licensing fees to publications such as newspapers whose work gets aggregated in services like Google News.
The European copyright directive is best known for two provisions it contains: articles 11 and 13, referred to as the "link tax" and "upload filter", respectively, by opponents.
The latter requires websites that host user-generated content to take active measures to prevent copyrighted material from being uploaded without permission, under the penalty of being held liable for their users' copyright infringement.
Article 11, the "link tax", includes new requirements aimed at making companies like Google pay licensing fees to publications such as newspapers whose work gets aggregated in services like Google News.