Publishers AND Internet users are standing together against the Link Tax

Publishers are against ancillary copyright too! As the deadline for the save the link consultation closes more and more businesses are speaking out against the link tax.

As we rapidly approach Wednesday’s deadline for the European Commission’s consultation on the link tax, this issue might, at times, seem like  a case of us -v- them. After all, the Commission’s ancillary copyright (link tax) proposals are advocated as benefiting press publishers, with the cost to be borne by search engines, aggregators, and Internet users.

But as soon as you start to scratch beneath the surface, it’s clear that there is certainly not a simple divide here of search engines vs publishers or Internet users vs lobbyists.

We’ve said before that these plans will have a terrible effect on the publishing industry, especially the smaller players (there’s plenty of evidence of that from Spain and Germany, where link tax laws are already in effect). And there are plenty of publishers who are standing with us, and who recognise what a terrible idea these plans are.

For instance, we recently came across mediapublishers.eu; a new publisher’s association speaking out against ancillary copyright.

Their website essentially says ‘not in our name’.

The association is led by AEEPP (Asociación Española de Editoriales de Publicaciones Periódicas). They are publishers who have experienced the disaster that the link tax was in Spain and are calling for their sector-colleagues to join with them in opposing copying that flawed law and pasting it into EU-wide legislation.  They also want to get rid of the existing laws in Spain and Germany.

Like us, they too want an ‘innovative modern and diverse publishing sector’. They also have a very interesting FAQ that is worth checking out - making many of the same points we have across our campaigns, and showing a real human awareness of how this link tax or snippet tax as they call it, will harm the Internet as a whole. So if you are a publisher and interested in opposing the link tax you can also take action at their website: join this coalition and take action on the EU Commission’s consultation.

Don’t forget that the deadline is 15th June: Act today!

This kind of thing is exciting and hopefully another nail in the coffin of the link tax — we know from experience here at OpenMedia that when we all work together we can make a real difference.

Whether you’re a publisher, an Internet user, a researcher, librarian, writer, journalist, teacher or artist you too can help make sure that the Link Tax never becomes law by taking our action today, and by sharing it with everyone you know on Facebook and Twitter.

If enough of us take action by Wednesday, we can make it impossible for the Commission to proceed with this reckless plan. Speak up now!