Re-watch the Webinar ‘Free vs Protected Information Online’

July 7, 2020

The current circumstances may have increased the time we spend in front of screens and possibly further raised our awareness of the crucial role played by the management of information online. Defining the problems and putting order in the wide and extremely diverse scenario of online information is not only a very ambitious challenge, but often also an intricate and highly sectorial exercise reserved to experts. Yet, new trends are arising in the digital media world, carrying common risks and similar legislative responses.

The speakers, Paddy Leerssen, Mackenzie Nelson, Giulia Priora and Roxana Radu (moderator), start with a focus on the notion of “free information” and “protected information”, highlighting how technical features (such as the deployment of automated decision-making processes) and legislative reforms (such as the update of copyright rules in Europe) fundamentally shape Internet as we know it.

The speakers talk about trends in European platform governance, and present the findings of the study ‘Operationalizing Research Access: What to Learn from Other Industries?’, published by AlgorithmWatch in cooperation with the European Policy Center and the University of Amsterdam’s Institute for Information Law. They also discuss how it connects to the Commission's legislative priorities in the area of platform transparency, and cover the “hopes and horrors” in the evolution of European copyright law.