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EU copyright laws face uncertain fate after 11 countries reject proposal
Internet giants like Google might breathe a little easier in Europe... at least, for now. The EU has called off January 21st negotiations for a final vote on the controversial Copyright Directive after 11 countries, including Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, said they wouldn't support the latest version of the proposal. European Parliament Member Julia Reda noted that most of these countries (Croatia and Portugal are exceptions) have previously argued that the disputed Articles 11 and 13 of the directive didn't do enough to protect users' rights, and this may have played at least some part in their opposition.
Google shows its bleak vision of search under new EU copyright laws
Google hasn't been shy about decrying the consequences of the EU's proposed Copyright Directive. Now, however, it's using stark visuals to illustrate its point. The company recently told Search Engine Land that it was experimenting with a version of its search engine to gauge the "impact" the Directive would have on both users and publishers, and provided screenshots to illustrate this test. The result, according to Google would be rather... empty. As publishers would have the right to demand payment for use of tiny snippets of content under the Directive's Article 11, Google believes it would have to avoid using the content altogether -- that means blank thumbnails and missing preview text.
