The opposition continues to grow with Europe’s Article 13. Popular video game streaming service Twitch has joined the movement.
As the protests against Article 13 continue to gather momentum, some organizations are not waiting for March 23. In another example of the growing chorus of those who oppose the copyright directive, Twitch hosted a live-streaming event with politicians to showcase what they feel is one of the many harms that could be brought on by the legislation.
In an article published on PCGAmesN, the service had a live event featuring lawmakers and Twitch streamers playing Mario Kart. From the report:
“Twitch could be forced to impose filters and monitoring measures on all works uploaded by residents of the EU,” CEO Emmett Shear wrote in blog post back in December. “This means you would need to provide copyright ownership information, clearances, or take other steps to prove that you comply with thorny and complicated copyright laws.
“Creators would very likely have to contend with the false positives associated with such measures, and it would also limit what content we can make available to viewers in the EU.”
Twitch joins with groups like #SaveYourInternet and Create Refresh in opposing Article 13. Critics broadly suggest the law will be too wide-reaching to be fully enforceable, but it could still have serious effects on content creators in gaming and other fields.
What impact this will have in the overall debate is unclear at this point. Still, it’s another example of more and more player joining the fight to save the Internet in Europe. With bigger and bigger heavyweights joining the movement, the movement is only going to continue to expand.
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.
