THE DIGITAL SURPRISE ACT – TIME FOR NEGOTIATORS TO RESTORE THE PROMISE OF DSA
The Digital Surprise Act – time for negotiators to restore the promise of DSA
Despite all the lobbying, intelligence gathering, leaks and everything else which goes on before the European Commission launches proposed legislation into the Brussels labyrinth it is not uncommon to be taken by surprise by the published text. It’s more unusual, however, for unwelcome surprises to appear -out of the blue – during the Parliamentary process. But that is what happened during the EP passage of the Digital Services Act (the DSA).
A group of Green/EFA MEPS, including Alexandra Geese, successfully introduced an amendment to the Internal Market Committee’s Report which effectively allows illegal content to “stay up”, i.e.; remain available to pirate users, until an assessment is done of its legality. (Where content is “manifestly illegal” it should be removed “expeditiously”. Neither term is defined.) The amendment was then adopted in Plenary. The rationale for this surprise amendment is not clear but it is very unwelcome for rightsholders.
