So I'm sure everyone's seen the new EU copyright law that, if implemented, will do a whole lot of terrible things to the internet. I have a simple solution based on one of the provisions in the #Linktax.
We may not be able to build a filter that keeps all copyrighted content off the internet (it turns out there's no foolproof way of telling which sequence of 1's and 0's is copyrighted, who knew?). We can, however, build a filter that blocks scabs.
The EU law requires the copyright owner to activate the requirement that they be paid for linking. This process will inevitably need to be public to some extent, or else it'd be unenforceable; there would be no way for re-linkers to know which work had to be reimbursed.
I am calling on some computer-savvy do-gooders to build a free, simple, open-source filter that blocks website source material, similar to a hosts file.
If a given site decides that it wants to burn all user goodwill, they can demand to be paid for quotes and links to their content. Their domain is then submitted to the filter team, and added to the list. Anyone who wants to participate in the boycott just has to download the filter and install it, the rest happens automatically.
Boom, Article 11 solved. Now we just need to figure out Article 13... I'm thinking civil disobedience?
