information labs

☀️ Summer Reading Picks (July 2025): AI, Copyright, and the Cult of Creativity This summer's reading selection reveals a complex reality: we're experiencing a fundamental rethinking of creativity itself, one that forces us to examine not just legal frameworks but the very founda...

AI isn’t just rewriting the rules—it’s forcing us to rethink creativity itself. My July reading list explores copyright, culture & compensation in the age of AI.
📚 Read more: linkedin.com/pulse/summer...

🔥 Will the US-EU trade deal put a stop to #NetworkFees? Don’t celebrate just yet!
This might change nothing as the EC switched to "dispute resolution," not fees. Moreover, the EC claims it made “no commitment on digital regulation”.
🔗 www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/...
#DigitalNetworksAct

4/ 🤖 AI lab
🔸 Reflections on:
Japan's approach
The research sector’s missing voice
labelling & the EU AI Act
AI & journalism
🔸 Publications: A @techdirt.com blog post series on rethinking the intersection of AI, creativity & policy

3/ 🌐 internet lab
Hot Item with Benoît Felten unpacking a @plumconsulting.bsky.social report on dispute resolution & EU’s #DigitalNetworksAct (DNA)
Reflection on the ‘level playing field’ ideas in the DNA

©️ copyright lab
Reflection on the Article 15 #DCDSM missing money trail

2/ 🧠 innovation lab
New #5thFreedom capsules in collaboration with @knowledgerights21.org ‬
Kurt Deketelaere | LERU
Julien Chicot | @guildeu.bsky.social
Sergej Možina | Slovenian EU Permanent Representation/#ERAForum
Thomas Sturm | ICREA/@uab.cat
Peter Spyns | @vlaamseoverheid.bsky.social

1/ 🗞️ information labs June-July 2025 recap
🔗 www.linkedin.com/pulse/june-j...
☀️ Summer: We're back in late August
📢 Our Future Memory campaign: Learn about this initiative by the @internetarchive.eu & our take on why libraries need a #DigitalFairnessAc to #ProtectOurFutureMemory

🔥 20 European telco CEOs push network fees disguised as “mandatory arbitration” in new letter to EC. Same old Big Telco playbook, demanding a “fair share" while framing it as a “level playing field.” Learn why a majority considers this a bad idea: www.linkedin.com/posts/inform...

The Missing Money Trail: Why Article 15’s Story Hides a Democratic Failure <p>When European policymakers championed Article 15 of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (DCDSM), they painted a compelling picture. Here was legislation…</p>

Article 15 was supposed to save journalism by making Big Tech pay.

5 years later: millions paid, zero accountability. No one knows where the money went.

New blog on the democratic failure no one’s tracking.👇
informationlabs.org/the-missing-...

#EU #Article15 #Journalism #Copyright #AIpolicy

2/ #DigitalNetworksAct statements:
2️⃣Concerns on access regulation by leading national & European pro-competitive telecom associations, who caution against abandoning Europe’s current model, benefiting European consumers and businesses
🔗 www.ectaportal.com/news/ecta-pr...
#DigitalEU

1/🔥 It’s joint statement season with the EC call for evidence on the #DigitalNetworksAct (DNA) closing today, 11 July!
1️⃣ Call to preserve #NetNeutrality by a broad-based group of 84 stakeholders rejecting large telcos’ #FairShare/#NetworkFees push
🔗 www.beuc.eu/letter/joint...

#ProtectOurFutureMemory: Why Libraries Need Fair Contracts <p>information labs was proud to participate in the launch of the “Our Future Memory” campaign at LIBER 2025 in Lausanne, where library professionals, researchers, and…</p>

EU Libraries are renting knowledge under Delaware law, barred from AI, and liable for student clicks.
It’s 2025, not a dystopian novel.
The #DigitalFairnessAct must end this circus—memory institutions guard our future memory.
📚 informationlabs.org/protectourfu...
#ProtectOurFutureMemory

🔥Hot Item: Dispute Resolution or Regulatory Trojan Horse?🔥
A new @plumconsulting.bsky.social report unpacks how EU’s Digital Networks Act could backfire.
w/ insights from @fibreguy.bsky.social
📺 Watch:: youtu.be/BWE2CCVZBtQ
📄 Report: plumconsulting.co.uk/study-on-the...
#DigitalEU #TechPolicy

Can Europe make the 5th Freedom a reality? 🇪🇺
In our new #5thFreedom episode, Peter Spyns breaks down how the #ERA, the "knowledge cube," and real policy tools can turn vision into action.
🎧 share.transistor.fm/s/ddb7c684
📺 youtu.be/N6cHOlkFzT4
#EUPolicy #OpenScience

Ceci n’est pas un Level Playing Field <p>In Magritte’s famous painting, a pipe is not a pipe. In Brussels today, a “level playing field” is not a level playing field. It is…</p>

“Ceci n’est pas un Level Playing Field.”
The @ec.europa.eu is opening the door to a gatekeeper internet. Dispute resolution? A telco power play. Clarification? A threat to #OpenInternet.
📢 Have your say here: ec.europa.eu/info/law/bet...
📝 Full blog: informationlabs.org/ceci-nest-pa...

The Way Forward For AI: Learning From The Elephant & The Blind Men This series of posts explores how we can rethink the intersection of AI, creativity, and policy. From examining outdated regulatory metaphors to questioning copyright norms and highlighting the ris…

Caroline De Cock (@informationlabs.org ) explains AI regulation through the classic tale of the “blind men & the elephant”, where tunnel-vision regulation risks ushering in a “data winter” where AI lacks quality input.
📖 Read on @techdirt.com.web.brid.gy
👉 www.techdirt.com/2025/06/20/t...
#AI

🧠 The #5thFreedom is more than a metaphor—it’s a roadmap for Europe’s future.
Thomas Sturm calls for a borderless #ERA where researchers, knowledge & funding move freely.
Let’s make it a right, not just a goal!
🎧 share.transistor.fm/s/d29b281e
📺 youtu.be/TjZ12zJwfRU
#ERAAct #EU #research

Don’t Blindly Blame the Bots: How AI Is Helping Journalism <p>Let’s face it: artificial intelligence (AI) has become the punching bag of choice in parts of the Brussels bubble, particularly in press-related discussions. From public…</p>

Journalism isn’t dying because of AI. It’s evolving with it.
🧠From small newsrooms using AI to break big stories, to giants like NYT & FT rethinking how they work: the bots are boosting, not busting, the press.
Brussels, take note.⬇️
informationlabs.org/dont-blindly...

#AI #journalism #EU

🔥 @theophane.euractiv.com analyses who stands to win & lose from the EC’s deregulation push in the upcoming #Digital Networks Act.
🏆 Winners: A few billionaires owning large telecom groups
😟 Losers: European consumers & businesses
🔗 @euractiv.com‬: www.euractiv.com/section/tech...
#DNA #DigitalEU

🚀 Time to make the #5thFreedom reality!
Sergej Možina calls for turning ideas into infrastructure: let researchers, knowledge & tech circulate freely across 🇪🇺.
🎧 share.transistor.fm/s/7fe21673
📺 youtu.be/SITGVO5xwak
#ERA #EU #EUpolicy #OpenScience

Too Much, Too Little, Never Just Right? The Labelling Dilemma of Article 50 of the EU AI Act <p>Imagine scrolling through TikTok and encountering a hyperreal “person” doing a goofy dance with uncanny precision—only to discover it’s not a Veo 3 creation but…</p>

Humans are now pretending to be AI on TikTok. 🤯
The #EUAIAct wants all #AI content labeled—but what if humans act like AI? A new blog explains why “label everything” falls short and what real transparency should look like.
🔗 informationlabs.org/too-much-too...
#TechPolicy #GenerativeAI

🔥 @euractiv.com‬ examines EC’s 2030 #DigitalDecade data “cherry-picking” in telco deregulation push.
🍒 “This year’s presentation was skewed to support the forthcoming #DigitalNetworksAct (DNA),” argues @theophane.euractiv.com. He sees no structural market failure!
🔗 www.euractiv.com/section/tech...

🔥 EU is on track for full 5G & fibre coverage by 2030, @euractiv.com reports!
💡 @theophane.euractiv.com highlights this is “bolstering arguments for keeping the current regulatory framework on telecommunications.”
🕵️ Timely findings for the #DigitalNetworksAct!
#DNA
🔗 www.euractiv.com/section/tech...

🧠 Europe needs free movement of knowledge!
Julien Chicot (@guildeu.bsky.social) explains why it’s time for a strong #ERAAct in our #5thFreedom innovation lab with an academic culture reform & more legal certainty for R&I.
🎧 share.transistor.fm/s/6b2e61cc
📺 youtu.be/7Onoe4wruWg
#Science4EU #EU #ERA

Copyright, Creativity, and Generative AI: The Research Sector’s Missing Seat at the Policy Table <p>There is a longstanding tendency in policy debates to narrowly interpret “creative industries” as shorthand for music, film, and the performing arts. This tradition certainly…</p>

🎭AI & copyright policy keeps centering music & movies—but what about science?
🧪Researchers are creators too. AI helps them cure diseases & fight climate change—but only if they can access data. Copyright rules block that.
Time to fix it. #ERA2025 #AIpolicy
🔗 informationlabs.org/copyright-cr...

4/ 🗞️ info labs April-May 2025 recap
🤖 AI lab
🔸 (Video) podcasts with @kevintfrazier.bsky.social, Milton Mueller, @emmiehine.com‬, @annamillsoer.bsky.social & @xolotl.org
🔸 Reflections on rightsholders’ fight, new #EUIPO report, #AI training debates & the history of creative industry alarm bells

3/ 🗞️ info labs April-May 2025 recap
©️ copyright lab
🔸 We reflect on a visit to George Blood LP, where we witnessed the magic of the #Great78Project — run in partnership with @archive.org‬: preserving history should not be illegal, it is crucial for building our future!

2/ 🗞️ info labs April-May 2025 recap
🌐 internet lab
🔸 Hot Item on the #Netzbremse #NetNeutrality complaint against DT & reflections on the impact for EU’s digital future of this initiative by @epicenterworks.bsky.social, @freiheitsrechte.org‬, #vzbv & Stanford Law‬ Prof @vanschewick.bsky.social

1/ 🗞️ info labs April-May 2025 recap

🔗 www.linkedin.com/pulse/april-...

🧠 NEW: innovation lab
🔸 Discover the first capsule of our #5thFreedom project, in collaboration with @knowledgerights21.org, featuring none other than Janez Potočnik, a true pioneer of the freedom of knowledge!

🔥 EC ‘call for evidence’ on the #DigitalNetworksAct: closing 11 July!
DNA's objectives for so-called ‘level playing field’ could include:
↪️ 1) #FairShare in disguise ( #DisputeResolution )
↪️ 2) Modifying #OpenInternet rules
💪 Time to give your feedback 👉 ec.europa.eu/info/law/bet...

🚀 The #ERA needs legal teeth!

Kurt Deketelaere makes the case for a strong #ERAAct in our #5thFreedom innovation lab: anchor EU research in law & remove national barriers.
🎧 share.transistor.fm/s/81a75a40
📺 youtu.be/ks6zx7pHQ9o

#EU #Research #Innovation