According to reuters, a court in the Netherlands as just ruled that linking to content is illegal unless you get the author's consent.
According to the article
Playboy just won a lawsuit...
Content owners argue that the ease with which people can post links to copyrighted material on the internet infringes their rights while internet users say restricting people's ability to post links goes against the principle of freedom of information.
The ECJ recognised that the internet "is of particular importance to freedom of expression and of information and that hyperlinks contribute to its sound operation and to the exchange of opinions and information as well."
The European Commission, the EU executive, is set next week to propose tougher rules on publishing copyrighted content, including a new exclusive right for news publishers to ask search engines like Google (GOOGL.O) to pay to show snippets of their articles.
I haven't visited Europe since my tour of duty in the military. But if you live in the EU, you should be outraged by this. Both the ruling and the plans by your government to require payment for simply linking to content.
This is going to cause a new internet darkage, because search engines aren't going to pay to highlight you. They will simply delete you from their results. You should take action to let your government know that this is going to have major adverse economic impact.
Now the question for steem. Who's copyright laws do we plan to enforce now the ECJ has ruled that linking text and images constitutes copyright infringement as well?