I've read the EU Directive on Copyright so you don't have to

It is called "the Meme ban" and if it will be adopted in its actual form, the Directive will most probably make room for a whole lot of Internet limitations in the EU Member States. There's a lot of debate over it in the European Union and while it may change the face of the Internet as we know it, it is also making way for a more correct set of regulations in spreading the income from Creative Industries througout its real authors.

See this meme right here? I've taken it from 9GAG and in the wake of the Directive I've mentioned upstairs, what I did will be considered fraud. Or something like that because I doubt that the final form will also come down to even a poor meme.
The reality of the issue is that indeed, the industry of creative goods and their transmission is changing and has been in constant, powerful change for the last decade, while the legislative reality has not changed a lot.
On one side, I understand the fear of the big platforms, like Youtube, and the concerns regarding the initial proposed form of the Directive as it is aiming to not only limit the realities of this market but also protect the ownership of authors by passing the responsibilities to the platform.
On the other side, we have to accept that the developed businesses, that are already working with the legislation in power, have to also be protected in this Directive as well.

What is an EU Directive?

It is an ample set of recommendations, describing the context and the directions that the EU Member States should take, through their own legislation, in order to achieve a certain goal. When a Directive goes into use, Member States usually have a certain amount of time to implement their own legislation in the sense of the Directive. Usually, the National Laws can't be easier on the issue than the Directive expresses... but they can, on certain levels, be harsher.

source: iStock/Antonio Guillem/Getty/Joe Sohm/Visions of America

Why is the Directive on Copyright important?

Firstly because it comes to regulate two big big interests of the fattest lobbist that the Union is probably wrestling with:

• on one side there are the big distributors of content like Facebook and Google, who are directly targeted by the Directive by placing in their hands the responsibility that nothing copyrighted is being distributed through their platforms
• on the other side stands the creators of content, represented by the big producer labels and big publishing agencies who are fighting for drastically cutting the middlemen and start paying the copyrights to everybody

The Directive was voted by the European Parliament and for sure we will have a final form of how the European Internet of Content will look like but it surely will change. That's a fact.

How abrupt will be the shift, we will see but let me tell you this:

They will have a very hard time implementing without blockchaining it.

This Directive is the first attempt of a law (as far as I know) in respect to the smallest content producer. Although there are paragraphs that for sure will start having amendements, this bill will bring change in how Facebook (for example) will look at its tens of millions users' content.

In order to distribute the revenues (as small as they may be) to the final end user and producer, I see no other means than the blockchain.

Proud to say that I am (still!) part of an Union that goes so deep as to try and bring up laws of such complexity and tries to tackle a problem that will pottentially have an impact upon the daily wallet of millions. On the European Union's approaches towards the blockchain technology you can also read in a very nice material put up by @sorin.cristescu .

The reality is that the game needs a change and certain new regulations in this sense will surely appear. Logistically speaking it will be a mess implementing it and they will have to "coinify" the business. Blockchains like Steem may be a fast and "on the market" solution for this industry to grow on and on which, why not, start making tests.

It's not like Facebook doesn't already research blockchain technology for a while...