When I was a kid and was free from school, I used to help my mother in a market place close to our town where she run a bench.

Our primary task was to sell wares (of course). The task second in importance was to make sure that the wares on display did not “inadvertently” end up in the pockets of some onlookers. We, the sellers, applied the caveat venditor (let the seller beware) principle and bewared.

I happened to witness that this attitude is not proper only of my family or of those times. Throughout the years I visited market places in different parts of the world and I always saw sellers, no matter what was the local culture, behave in a similar cautious way.

Now I have a question. Article 13 of the current draft (2018/06/20) of the new European Copyright Directive aimed at “adapting EU copyright rules to the digital environment” requires an “upload filter” whose function is to check that everything uploaded online in the EU does not infringe somebody’s copyright.

What does this mean? If you run a website where your customers upload content, you have to check that your customers’ content does not infringe somebody else’s copyright.

Why on earth should one do this? If my mother and I watched over our wares, and millions of people in all latitudes and longitudes watch over theirs, why should copyright holders be exempted from watching over their (digital) wares?

My mother and I cavimus, millions of people cavent, copyright holders caveant.

There are plenty of inexpensive technologies that allow copyright holders to watch over their content without putting gratuitous burdens on the shoulders of people who are just doing their own work.