Under sit EU-formandskab foreslog Estland at indføre en internetcensur, som vi skal til Kina for at finne magen til. Der skal indføres en særlig skat på at dele andres materiale, og uploadning af materiale skal gå gennem et filter.

Så vil man effektivt sætte en stopper for, at der udvikler sig en parallel offentlig opinion.

“A Council of the European Union document leaked by Statewatch on 30 August reveals that during the summer months, Estonia (current EU Presidency) has been pushing the other Member States to strengthen indiscriminate internet surveillance, and to follow in the footsteps of China regarding online censorship,” reported European Digital Rights (EDRi), an international advocacy group. “Standing firmly behind its belief that filtering the uploads is the way to go, the Presidency has worked hard in order to make the proposal for the new copyright Directive even more harmful than the Commission’s original proposal, and pushing it further into the realms of illegality.”

Sociale medier og alternative medier lever af links. Hvis der skulle betales en skat for hver gang man delte materiale, ville det gavne de etablerede medier og samtidig svække spredningen af vigtig information. Det lyder besnærende på papiret, men vil være nærmest umuligt at gennemføre.

Endnu værre er forslaget om filtre for uploadning af materiale. Så kan man gøre det finmasket eller grovmasket alt efter behov. EU og de store transnationale institutioner opererer på et vagt, generelt niveau, som gør det muligt at ramme dem, man vil have væk fra nettet. Det vil handle om meninger man ikke bryder sig om.

In the leaked document, Estonia proposes, “two options for each of the two most controversial proposals: the so-called “link tax” or ancillary copyright and the upload filter.” Both items would be harmful to a free and open Internet, in the opinion of the EDRi.

The document, which was dated August 30, 2017, is available to view in full at Statewatch.