The EU's new Link Tax bans the use of Creative Commons and open access for news

One of the most controversial elements of the EU's new Copyright Directive is Article 11, the "link tax," which requires paid licenses for links to news stories that contain "excerpts" (more than a single word from the story or its headline, depending on which draft you're reading).

But link taxes go even farther than merely requiring paid licenses: the accompanying "Recital 32" suggests that copyright owners won't be allowed to waive this right, and will have to negotiate a separate license for every platform that wants to link to them.

The thing is, some of the largest and best news organisations in the world already permit free excerpting, linking and republishing, by choosing Creative Commons licenses and other open access licenses for their work. These organisations like ProPublica, Global Voices and others -- want their news spread far and wide, partially because they want their investigative work to be part of the global conversation and partly because they rely on charitable donations from readers to support their work and offering open access is a powerful way to convince donors that their gifts support the public good.

The Copyright Directive is mostly composed of some reasonable, broadly supported technical updates to EU copyright rules, but at the last minute, a German MEP called Axel Voss crammed a pair of incoherent, controversial and extreme clauses into the draft that was to be voted on by Parliament.

Now, months later, the whole directive is in danger of going down in flames, and if it does, it will be because of outrageous garbage like this. Read the rest