acta ACTA - the latest threat to internet freedom, just signed by the EU

[ThePitt]

Yesterday the European Union, the UK and over 20 other countries signed the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). ACTA is an international treaty, disguised as a trade agreement, whose purpose is to increase and harmonise copyright and trademark enforcement. Many of the goals of ACTA are similar to SOPA and PIPA - proposed laws which the US congress recently abandoned following a huge outcry. ACTA is, if anything, even more objectionable.

It is objectionable because of the process it has followed - secret negotiations, conducted without democratic oversight, a process so underhand it led to official criticism from the European Parliament [1] and the resignation of the Parliament's rapporteur in disgust [2]. It is yet another example of the power of corporate lobby groups, who buy influence starting with the laughably corrupt US political body, and then foist extremist laws on the rest of the world.

It is objectionable in its content, as an assault on civil liberties. It is likely to require unprecedented levels of surveillance of ordinary Internet users by ISPs [3][4]. It insists that copyright infringement become a criminal offence in a worryingly wide range of situations.[5] It provides for massively disproportionate penalties, including mandatory imprisonment. Anyone who has followed settlements in copyright lawsuits over the past 10 years will find this hard to believe, but it allows rights-holders to make up even more astronomical figures when demanding "compensation" [6].

The extremist position of ACTA will make the Internet fraught with danger for ordinary users. For example, if a blogger innocently links to another website, and that website, without their knowledge, infringes copyright in some way, they may well face criminal charges and prison time for "aiding and abetting" copyright infringement. For a link.

The provisions on Digital Rights Management ("DRM") are so extreme as to be laughable. ACTA continues to demand that attempts to circumvent DRM be criminal offences, meaning that blind people could face jail time for attempting to read e-books using text-to-speech, for example [7]. But new provisions mean that any tampering with information that identifies "the work, its author(s), producer(s) or right owners" also becomes an offence, so merely renaming a file could become illegal.

Enough is enough. The music, film and fashion industries make more money every year. Even if you assume that copyright must be enforced in all cases, that Something Must Be Done -- just because ACTA is "something" does not mean we should do it. The way it was created is unacceptable, its content is destructive and it is against the public interest. The pirate party and I will do everything we can to stop it, and we urge others to join the campaign against ACTA [8][9]. We do not have to stand for this.

http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/press/releases/2012/jan/27/acta-latest-threat-internet-freedom-just-signed-eu/

[The Teej]

Aaaand here we go again,

I thought the EU vetoed this bill?

[djdanster]

Now I want out of the EU! Stupid secret lobbied laws.

[+M2Ys4U Subscriber¹]

Aaaand here we go again,

I thought the EU vetoed this bill?

The European Parliament almost did, but the motion was defeated by 16 votes.

There's still a chance to kill it for good in the EP, though, if MEPs refuse to ratify the treaty. This is where we must focus our efforts.

Now I want out of the EU! Stupid secret lobbied laws.

United States, the European Union (and its 22 Member States), Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Korea have all signed ACTA.

I don't think any have formally ratified it yet, but I'm not 100%

[Sylar0]

No just no it isnt http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2008/october/tradoc_140836.11.08.pdf

[SiCKX]

Yesterday the European Union, the UK and over 20 other countries

EU, UK and 20 countries are 3 separate things according to this quote. EU means al these countries FFS.

As for ACTA, EP must approve it, hope they don't.

[The Teej]

No just no it isnt http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2008/october/tradoc_140836.11.08.pdf

After reading that, this seems more like its going after "real" piracy and actual counterfeit goods (like knock off Wii remotes and nike trainers) rather then "oh this guy posted a link to the Colbert show lets shut the site down", or am I being naive?

[c3ntury]

Time to dig the tin foil hat out of the attic.

[+M2Ys4U Subscriber¹]

EU, UK and 20 countries are 3 separate things according to this quote. EU means al these countries FFS.

As for ACTA, EP must approve it, hope they don't.

The EU and the member states all signed individually, so it's technically correct...

[Growled Member]

These copyright guys never stop, do they?

[citan]

they just want to censor the internet, there's just too much free speech going on here ;) way to go worldwide bankers :D

[acnpt]

Now I want out of the EU! Stupid secret lobbied laws.

Cameron would have (and has) signed anyway.

Isn't the Tory party something like 95% private donations too?

[HyBry]

I think for this to happen there should be a give and take relationship.

All the content should be reasonably available before alternatives can be censored. For example there are a lot of TV shows that I watch that never come to TV in my country or if they do it is months late. In essence if Hulu or Netflix was available here I would be more open towards ACTA, but in current situation I am against it with all fours :)

[Azies]

Wow, our WW2 veterans would be turning in their graves if they knew the kind of blatent fascism that's spreading around Europe. So much for freedom, right?

[FunkyMike]

I think for this to happen there should be a give and take relationship.

All the content should be reasonably available before alternatives can be censored. For example there are a lot of TV shows that I watch that never come to TV in my country or if they do it is months late. In essence if Hulu or Netflix was available here I would be more open towards ACTA, but in current situation I am against it with all fours :)

The issue is that businesses lean more towards the take relationship, this is why Hulu didn't become bigger than it could have been. There are simply too many blockades in the system for content to be available worldwide the moment it comes out.

Take the latest example of Megaupload. The company slowly started a strategy that would allow them to release songs of popular US artists without copyright restrictions. This happened a few months ago and led to a lawsuit against Megaupload and the removal of the music video/content posted on Youtube, even though the MPAA had no right to the content since these artists were signed to Megaupload for that specific material.

The day that you can download shows the minute after they aired, anywhere in the world for a small fee is the day studios, copyright laws and licensing will have a found a near to optimal solution. ACTA in its current form is not helping the situation.