What the Copyright Directive is all about A little reported vote, which took place in Europe this week, could have changed how we share content, including photographs, online. However, European parliamentarians rejected the Copyright Directive, a reform of copyright rules in the digital world proposed by the European Commission and previously approved by the Union's Legal Affairs Committee. It was Article 13 of the directive that drew particular attention, as it called upon service providers and content repositories, such as Google and Facebook, to take "measures to ensure the functioning of agreements concluded with rightholders for the use of their works… or to prevent the availability on their services of [their] works." In plain English, these companies would have been held responsible for the infringement of any copyrighted content uploaded on their platforms by their users. Had the measure passed, say someone stole one of your photographs and upload it to Instagram, you would be allowed, under that directive, to hold Instagram responsible for that infringement. The adoption of such legislation would have drastically affected content repositories, which have, so far, been insulated from claims that they play an integral role in the infringement of copyrighted content – from movies and television shows to music and photographs. There's little doubt that companies like Google and Facebook have transformed how we create, consume and share content; at times decimating the business models of other industries while generating immense profits for themselves. Europe's directive doesn't reverse that - it just asks that these service providers make sure they are not giving a platform to copyright infringers who might benefit from work they didn't create. If recent events are any indication, Google is starting to realize that its position is untenable. Just a few weeks ago, it agreed to radically alter its image search service, which Getty Images accused of encouraging copyright infringement. Previously, anyone could easily find a photo and download its original file all thanks to Google. No more. Google's change of heart only came under legal duress from an industry leader in photography — maybe it's about time that photographers receive the support from a multinational authority like the European Union. - Olivier Laurent | 
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