Government backs down - thousands of IT companies protest

We at IT&Telecom recently wrote to all Swedish Members of the European Parliament. We urge them to vote against the proposal for new copyright legislation in its current form. More than 1300 IT and telecom companies are now protesting against the controversial proposal.

The European Parliament is about to vote on the Copyright Directive, a new copyright legislation. We at IT&Telekomföretagen think it is good that the legislation is updated to adapt to a modern, digital era. However, the proposal now on the table has major shortcomings, both in terms of freedom of expression, the small business perspective and the technical possibilities for implementation.

Surveillance without suspicion raises concerns

IT&Telecom companies are very concerned about the establishment of systems that monitor and assess the activity of individual users on the Internet, without any suspicion of wrongdoing. Such a system could easily spread to other areas and constitute a significant interference in the online freedom of ordinary people. In combination with other legislation, which aims to increase control over the information disseminated on the internet, this upload filter regime may have undesirable and unforeseen consequences.

New proposal hits small businesses hard

The small and medium-sized enterprises we represent at IT&Telecomföretagen do not have the technical solutions required. The costs of developing, launching and maintaining these will hit both operators and users hard. The rules for who is exempt are also arbitrary.

Publishers, artists and rights holders in general should of course be protected, including online. However, we must be able to find a way to ensure that this is not at the expense of citizens' freedom of expression and creativity online.

Sweden has previously voted down the proposal, but in the latest vote the government changed its position without consulting the Swedish Parliament. In order to safeguard freedom of expression on the internet, we at IT&Telecom hope that our Swedish MEPs will now vote against the proposal in its current form.