[onion2k]

Can Europeans avoid their content being ~~censored~~ filtered by using a VPN?

I suspect content hosting companies will let anyone upload anything but only make the content visible to people in countries that allow it. A VPN won't help. The directive isn't saying "An American uploaded this so it's fine for everyone to see." It's saying "The original version of this is owned by someone else so no one in the EU can watch this derivative work." Who uploaded it doesn't actually matter.

[nkkollaw]

Thank you.

How will the EU enforce that? Will they obscure any website that don't implement filters?

[rum3]

The website will be liable for the copyright infringement as if they would have uploaded the material themselves if they do not implement a good filter whatever that is.

[mises]

It seems as though they would have a hard time doing this. If the website is based in America, they can't take it down. They probably can't extradite either; the rule is typically that it has to be illegal in both nations.

How can they enforce this?

[rum3]

If the website is not hosted in the EU then the law will have no effect.

I think many websites will simply move to other parts of the world. That is what I would do anyway.

[mises]

That's what I figured. The worst part about it is that it won't affect shady cyberlockers whose business models are rather suspect and often not known to tax authorities, but legitimate sites that do business in the EU will be impacted.