Some of you might have seen the recent episode of exile6e where many prepartations for our copyright session were already described. Besides of that we were getting prepared the ICT in ART exhibition (that will be featured in one of the following episodes) as well as the movie screening (We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks).

So, what was our session about?

Earlier this year, an open letter to the European Commission on the copyright reform was sent. The topic was datamining; a practice, that is currently more common, as the technology in this field getting better and better. Manual reading or any other human interaction with text is therefore getting less and less effective. An action is needed: the reform of the InfoSoc Directive of the EP. The letter was co-signed by the following members of European Parliament: Paweł Zalewski, Amelia Andersdotter, Marietje Schaake, Malika Benarab-Attou, Lidia Geringer de Oedenberg and Jiří Maštálka. The commission responded with the launch of Licences for Europe initiative, which concludes on 13 November.

That is the reason why we gathered today in a very nice room inside of the main building of the European Parliament complex here in Brussels. We could have heard those, who are mostly interested in the copyright reform in general, as well as in the current progress of the legal regulation related to datamining. NGO's, lawyers, businessmen, policymakers, academians were there.... The topic was already a subject of some meetings that took place this year, but the one mentioned here was the biggest so far and I guess the most influential. It was co-hosted by three members of the EP (Amelia Andersdotter, Paweł Zalewski, Marietje Schaake).

The fact I've already mentioned in one of the #exile6e episodes and that I - as a polophile really liked - is, that the event was co-organized by a Polish MEP - and therefore we had a lot of Polish representatives there (Centrum Cyfrowe, Fundacja Nowoczesna Polska). And the other presenatation I saw as a very interesting one was shown by Mathias Schindler, a project manager of Wikimedia Deutschland. He showed clearly how datamining slowly emerged as a standalone process, based on the freedom of action when dealing with any content. 

When it comes to the legal perception of datamining, this is still a matter of debate. The discussion however must have an outcome, as the benefits of datamining in general and the easyness of use of this technology in general allows a great leap forward; the the machine compared to a simple human can do things not in years or months, but in minutes. I know that many arts-related people might perhaps disagree with me, but we have to accept the reality still.

It was very nice to see so many people present at our event. The attendance was about 100 people and after the session we had a nice opportunity for talk with the participants. I was very happy that I could speak with our friend in Wikimedia, as well as with Paweł Zalewski, who has very keen to make an interview with us. And you will have your chance to see it in the upcoming episode of our show.