I’m up for XSS old tricks again but this time I have to focus on the more pressing issue affecting the whole Internet today: Article 13.

Based on the unpatched vulnerability on ec.europa.eu reported by Implosion at openbugbounty.org

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Citizens of the EU and those of the internet,

I’m Cyber Anakin and though I support EU’s human rights ideals all the time, I’m talking to all of you here now using a reflexive XSS trick.

Some of you have already seen how the repressive SOPA law that does lot of collateral damage is being vetoed after you made your voices heard.

And now this: the EU commission has drafted the colloquially named “Article 13” legislation that will force every internet service to take down copyright reserved materials and install an automated filter to police against future infringements.

The proposed filter is of course by today’s standards far from perfect. It’s going to let things which shouldn’t to pass through and block those that should be allowed and it can not discern between outright infringement and fair use.

Worst of the worst, there is a “link tax” rule that will force you to pay fees whenever you link to their content or snippet it in elsewhere.

Those corrupt legislators at the EU think that we will not stand up and fight like US did during SOPA, but if they succeeded in this internet memes that you took for granted will become a rarity while startup companies will have a far harder time in surviving this because they’re not gonna be able to afford this new software. You will not be able to make your remixes, share nice book quotes on Twitter and parody with Hitler-videos too without risking the wrath of the far-from-perfect automated system.

If Article 13 is to pass what’s to stop repressive countries like Russia and China to create a policy that says that any content referring to Tiananmen and the latter’s involvement in Ukrainian war and MH17 must be rejected? What about the Middle East?

Do not think you are not affected if you’re living outside the EU. After all EU is one of the few lucrative key components in today’s internet ecosystem especially those of the free world which is like Texas’ role in regards to American school textbooks or obviously China’s ascending role in the movie market while keeping it’s totalitarian tint.

Especially for content creators you will have to live in paranoia over the risk of being clamped down by the far-from-perfect automated algorithm even if you’re fair-using or parodying other people’s content and you’ll be subjected to a heightened risk of copy-fraud by evil trolls. The internet will become a boring, gloomy place if they have their way.

The European Union is not going to make itself any more better than Russia or China if Article 13 becomes law.

You can be your own Wade Watts by petitioning European Parliament members, start a peaceful protest or black out your website if you have one. Visit saveyourinternet.eu to learn more.

Ask yourself are you willing to sacrifice most of your free time over the next two weeks to fight for an open, diverse and free internet and save it from going into the night?

For all Robloxians who can’t let go of themselves with regards to r0cu’s win of Dominus Venarii, get your priorities straight and focus on this much more pressing issue instead.

May the force be with you.

Cyber Anakin.