How Long Until the EU Tries to Regulate Blogs?
Only an EU bureaucrat could have written this:
The development and acceptance of new technologies have led to the emergence of new media channels and new kinds of content. The emergence of new media has brought more dynamic and diversity into the media landscape; the report encourages responsible use of new channels.
In this context the report points out that the undetermined and unindicated status of authors and publishers of weblogs causes uncertainties regarding impartiality, reliability, source protection, applicability of ethical codes and the assignment of liability in the event of lawsuits.
It recommends clarification of the legal status of different categories of weblog authors and publishers as well as disclosure of interests and voluntary labelling of weblogs.
What does it mean? Honestly, your guess is as good mine. A couple of smart people think that the EU is moving closer and closer to making an attempt to regulate blogs.
If you read the whole document, it sounds like a grievance manifesto from a journalists’ union. Taken in that context, it’s not hard to see how the EU could use protecting journalists as a pretext to online regulation, labeling, mandated impartiality and all the rest.
I don’t have enough experience with EU reports to decipher this sort of prose. (Which in itself is a commentary on the problems of the EU.) But I know that I what I’ve read makes me very nervous. And glad that my server resides happily outside of the EUreaucrats jurisdiction.
Tags: blog, bureaucrat, EU, regulation