German privacy watchdog: upload filters lead to significant privacy problems
The director of the German privacy watchdog says the upcoming EU copyright directive could lead to significant data protection problems. He states that upload filters threaten a scenario of a few large parties that will increasingly collect data from users.
In his position as head of the Bundesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit, Ulrich Kelber acknowledges that the new EU Copyright Directive does not make upload filters mandatory, but that the directive will in practice lead to the establishment of these filters. He argues that especially small platforms and service providers are unable to conclude licensing agreements with all conceivable rightholders.
In addition, he says, these smaller parties are also unable to set their own upload filters, which Kelber describes as an ‘immense programming task’. Instead, they will fall back on tools, filters and technology from large IT companies, as is already happening with other things like analytics tools, where the building blocks of Facebook, Amazon and Google are used by many apps, websites and services, writes the director.
Ultimately, what he calls an “oligopoly” will reduce the number of suppliers for filtering techniques, meaning this small group controls more or less all Internet traffic from relevant platforms and services, Kelber said. According to him, this gives them far-reaching information about all users.
The director therefore states that the current plans for the EU copyright directive entail an ‘acute danger’ as a side effect, namely a further concentration of data in the event of an oligopoly of providers. Kelber believes that the opposite should be achieved, especially against the background of the recent decision of the Bundeskartellamt, which in January ordered Facebook to stop collecting certain data in Germany.
Kelber argues that the EU should be clear about its claim that platform operators can also fulfill the responsibilities under the EU Copyright Directive without upload filters, including about the ways in which this can be done. “In that light, I am very much looking forward to the recommendations announced by the Commission on how to deal with the new rules”. If this is not made clear, Kelber believes that the rules “need to be fundamentally changed from a data protection standpoint.” “The need to provide authors with a modern supporting copyright should not come at the expense of internet users’ privacy,” he says.
The part of the directive that Kelber’s criticism focuses on is Article 13. That article ensures that platforms become liable if users upload copyrighted material. Critics fear that the Article 13 regime will inevitably lead to upload filters being set up, otherwise liability will loom too soon. Upload filters are likely to involve overblocking, which also blocks material that is not copyrighted or protected by exception rules.
It has now become clear that the final vote on the directive will take place between 25 and 28 March during the plenary session in the European Parliament. Previously, agreement was reached behind closed doors on the copyright directive.
The critical MEP Julia Reda, member of the German Pirate Party, calls on residents of EU member states to take to the streets on March 23 and demonstrate against the upcoming new rules.