UN free speech Rapporteur warns filtering provisions violate human rights

 

13 June 2018

The UN’s Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, David Kaye, has released a report expressing concern regarding the proposed filtering provisions contained in article 13 of the Copyright Directive. The report highlights how pre-publication filtering will be tantamount to “restrictions on freedom of expression without prior judicial review”, noting also that most algorithmic filtering technologies are currently not efficient enough to process context-specific factors (such as parody, educational purposes, criticism etc.). Furthermore, the report notes that the new proposal “will impose undue restrictions on nonprofits and small private intermediaries”; particularly, this could result in the strengthening of monopolies, possibly encroaching on article 15 of the ICESCR (e.g. the right to science and culture).