Article 13

As if things for the UK weren't uncertain enough already. Let's chuck another Article or two up in the air shall we.

We've known the controversial legislation to strictly regulate shared content on the internet has been coming for a while now. It has come as a surprise however, that the new Article 13 Copyright Law was passed as comfortably as it was yesterday.

348 in favour, 274 opposed to be exact. Campaigners like Paul McCartney and Debbie Harry have been vocal about their support of the law, whilst others say it is the end of our freedom on the Internet. It's a complex one for sure and having been on the receiving end of copyright infringement here at technicallySo, we can certainly see it from both sides.

Perhaps then, initially it would be a good idea to look at some of the verified facts to gain an understanding of what this newly passed law will mean for us. Detailed below are some of those facts from several trusted news sources as we've gathered them thus far:

. Article 13 is a new Copyright law ensuring that any copyrighted material on content sharing platforms across the internet is licenced, guaranteeing the original artist receives payment for its use.

. It will be 2 years until this law will be in place due to the practicality of it being determined. While strongly in opposition to the new law, the big guns of the Internet such as Google, YouTube, Twitter etc. will be involved essentially with the implementation of the restrictions.

. Memes specifically are to be Excluded. This seems to be the area of most concern yet few have realised the European Parliament have tweaked the law to allow memes to be shared for the purposes of "quotations, review, parody, criticism, caricature and pastiche".

. It is not yet known how the UK will be affected by Article 13, you know, because of THAT other one.

Finally, and as with all complex copyright law, it is very uncertain as to how these restrictions will actually be policed, with some questioning if it is even going to be possible. This will be ascertained during the next two years. Whichever way you cut it, (pun intended) things look set to change for the Internet. For better or for worse, who can really know yet.

Maybe it's like Monica Geller once said "Rules help control the fun!" though if we recall correctly, she was left with a pretty empty room.