Post-Copyright Directive, Bright Future For Britain

Could this be one last positive from Brexit? The European Commission has scrapped 300,000 UK resident-owned .eu domain names. The EU is pushing through its anti-meme (and more importantly, data) Copyright Directive. Increasingly-frequent disruptions raise the serious question of the future of European business with such uncertainty.

The UK government is making no changes to online copyright, domains and data. This strongly signals Britain cares about its data industry and is still a place of stability for them in an otherwise ever-changing landscape. As such, the UK is well-placed to receive a boost from data industry businesses moving somewhere they are valued.

Big data expert and founder of Big Data London -the largest data event in the UK- Bill Hammond has this to say about the future of the UK in light of these changes.

Bill Hammond, Big data expert and founder at Big Data London:

“The UK’s thriving data industry is well-positioned to answer this new compliance challenge. Depending on how it is implemented this could lead to either shackles limiting the freedom of the internet, or it could be another step toward a more data-ethical society.

The new EU copyright directive voted this wednesday has numerous caveats and still present a lot of uncertain ramifications. However, the amended text sets the direction for conversation on the issue, and we now know what questions to ask.

This new directive poses some thorny challenges to UK data experts that will have to be more vigilant than ever in order to be compliant to this demanding regulation.

The EU copyright directive will have consequences beyond consumers not being able to post memes online, or regulating tech giants like Google or YouTube. It will also affect SMEs and the tech start-up scene. The good news is that the directive is not one-size-fits-all, as the burden will be appropriate to the size of the company, indicating the main targets are Silicon Valley giants.

It’s up to UK data experts to inform, communicate and partner with the government in order to best implement this directive. Data experts will also have to dialogue internally and with all stakeholders to make sure they won’t get fined. Data industry should discuss best practices, the right tools and engage in the right discussions.”