What the heck is ACTA?
So, I’ve been holding off on saying anything about ACTA because there is so little known about it.
ACTA is a trade agreement, being negotiated between many countries, including the United States. It was only uncovered by Wikileaks and since then has grown in the public eye.
On the surface, ACTA, which stands for Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, seems to have a reasonable purpose in combating the sale of counterfeit goods. The reality is that it is much broader than that, and from the limited information on the net, seems to call for broad monitoring of the public’s Internet traffic in order to detect and defeat the copying of intellectual property on the web.
The main problem is that the treaty has been negotiated in secret, and the EFF has filed for a Freedom of Information request for more information.
Here is a video that attempts to explain it all:
And here is the wikipedia entry.
There is currently a petition to the EU to say “no” to ACTA here.
Now, ACTA is a proposed Treaty. My understanding is that any treaty has to be ratified to bind the US by a 2/3rds vote in the Senate. If we fail to stop ACTA in the EU, we must oppose it here in the Senate.
Meanwhile, we will continue to research ACTA and urge to you sign the petition, even if you are not in Europe, as it is a global issue which affects us all.
6 Comments on "What the heck is ACTA?"
The ACTA was signed by Obama in September. It’s unconstitutional since it’s considered an “executive agreement” but at the current time, ACTA doesn’t do anything but keep our copyright at the current DMCA level without taking away the very bad NET Act or ProIP Act.
Funny thing is, Biden raised a huge stink when Bush did this. But he remains silent as VP as a huge fan of the movie and music industry.
Politics is like a show with a magician.
Everyone looks at the one hand and forgets about the other hand.
And we are good in forgetting things.
Here is the Techdirt article on what ACTA is and why it is a problem.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120124/11270917527/what-is-acta-why-is-it-problem.shtml
Some of the biggest issues is that it locks US copyright law down and prevents us from making real improvements to it. It takes what would normally be non-criminal infringement and makes it criminal. It completely ignores things like fair use. It makes it nearly impossible for poorer nations to get medicine that is covered by patents. It turns border patrol agents into copyright cops.
Those are just a few of the problems. The fact that it is really vague in areas that need strict definitions means that there will be many many problems with interpretation of what ACTA requires and what it targets.
Unfortunately, Obama has signed it. He claims it is an “executive agreement” but the fact that it effects issues that are assigned to Congress by the Constitution.
I’ve been doing some research on ACTA over the past few days and have just compiled what I have and sent it to you.
Please note that I made a mistake in the email, as I didn’t realise I couldn’t send a copy to your page on facebook at the time.
The information itself, however, is accurate.
MEP Marietje Schaake via Reddit:
As announced, I plan to host a hearing in the European Parliament, most likely on April 10th 2012. Many affected parties and stakeholders of ACTA will be able to explain their position on that day. I intend to cover all topics which will be affected by ACTA, such as access to medicines and copyright enforcement online.
If you feel you or your organisation needs to be heard during this event, please let me know. It would be best if you could send me a short position paper on ACTA, so I can make a shortlist per topic. Due to time restrictions, it will be difficult to let all interested parties speak on the day, but I intend to make a good and representative selection. Please email your submissions to marietje.schaake-office@europarl.europa.eu. I will use my Twitter account @marietjed66 for further updates.
It looks like the heat on ACTA is starting to turn up. Word is that on Feb 11th, a massive protest against it will happen.
Learned it from the Access website, the same one that has the petition going on: https://www.accessnow.org/policy-activism/press-blog/acta-protest-feb-11