ACTA ignites concerns about threat to Internet freedom. BERLIN – Braving subzero temperatures, hundreds of thousands of Europeans across the continent took to the streets Saturday, protesting an international trade agreement many say will overrule democratic institutions, jeopardize civil liberties and stifle technological innovation. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is designed to put in place international standards to protect intellectual property rights. But some lawyers say it forces private companies to police cybertraffic — and across the globe the treaty is being seen as a serious threat to Internet freedom.
"It's becoming an issue of citizens' power," said David Hammerstein, senior adviser on intellectual property for Trans-Atlantic Consumer Dialogue, an umbrella consumer rights organization in Brussels. "The front lines of the defense of civil rights today is the defense of an open, free Internet and that (is what ACTA threatens.) " The European Parliament still needs to sign off on the treaty by June. ACTA. ACTA. European Commission Looks To Backdoor In ACTA By Pushing For Same Results Through 'Voluntarism' This year saw two huge victories for digital activism: against SOPA in the US, and against ACTA in the EU. The big question is now: what will be the next moves of those behind SOPA and ACTA as they seek to regain the initiative? For SOPA, we've had a clue in the call for a "Son of SOPA" from the US Chamber of Commerce. But what about the European Commission?
Although it is supposedly waiting for the European Court of Justice to rule on the compatibility or otherwise of ACTA with European law, that's more a matter of saving face -- even a positive result there is not going to bring ACTA back in its original form. But two public consultations from the Commission that are currently open for comments share a common theme that points to one possible approach to bringing in some of ACTA's ideas through other means: the increased use of extrajudicial punishments.
The first one, which closes soon -- on 5 September now extended to 12 September -- concerns Europe's e-commerce directive. Stop ACTA Brussels. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a multinational treaty for the purpose of establishing international standards for intellectual property rights enforcement. The agreement aims to establish an international legal framework for targeting counterfeit goods, generic medicines and copyright infringement on the Internet, and would create a new governing body outside existing forums, such as the World Trade Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, or theUnited Nations.
The agreement was signed in October 2011 by Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, and the United States. In January 2012, the European Union and 22 countries which are member states of the European Union signed as well. No signatory has ratified (formally approved) the agreement, which would come into force after ratification by 6 countries.
After entry into force, the treaty would only apply in those countries that ratified it. Just Say 'No' to ACTA. Privacy Policy Last modified: November 11, 2011 This Privacy Policy is continually under review to ensure your privacy and security. This website, (the “Site”) is operated by Access (“We” or “Us”). We work hard to protect your privacy. We’re members too, and we treat your privacy as we do our own. We wrote this privacy policy to let you know how we treat your personal information and the ways we work to keep it safe and private. We strongly believe that you have the right to control the use of your personal information and that your privacy must be respected. In this policy, "Access" refers to Access staff, board members, cooperating attorneys, interns, volunteers, and consultants, all of whom are bound by law or contract to keep information they receive as part of their assistance to Access confidential.
Collection of Information Access does not sell, rent, or lease your personal data under any circumstances. Disclosure of Information Cookies. Stop ACTA ! ACTA: The new threat to the net. 2,008,307 have signed. Help us get to our new target of 3,000,000 Update: 10 February 2012 Amazing! We smashed our 2 million target as we delivered to key decision-makers in Brussels this week -- let's get to 3 million before the crucial parliamentary debates Posted: 25 January 2012 Last week, 3 million of us beat back America's attack on our Internet! ACTA - a global treaty - could allow corporations to censor the Internet.
Europe is deciding right now whether to ratify ACTA -- and without them, this global attack on Internet freedom will collapse. It's outrageous -- governments of four fifths of the world’s people were excluded from the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiations and unelected bureaucrats have worked closely with corporate lobbyists to craft new rules and a dangerously powerful enforcement regime. Big corporate interests are pushing hard for this, but the EU Parliament stands in the way. End ACTA and Protect our right to privacy on the Internet. Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. What Is ACTA? The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is an agreement to create new global intellectual property (IP) enforcement standards that go beyond current international law, shifting the discussion from more democratic multilateral forums, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), to secret regional negotiations.
Through ACTA, the US aims to hand over increased authority to enforcement agencies to act on their own initiative, to seize any goods that are related to infringement activities (including domain names), criminalize circumvention of digital security technologies, and address piracy on digital networks. ACTA was negotiated from 2007 through 2010 by the US, the EU, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Singapore, Morocco, Japan, and South Korea. Eight out of the eleven negotiating countries signed the agreement in October 2011. Why Should You Care About It?
Provisions of ACTA What’s Next? La Quadrature du Net | Internet & Libertés. Stallman - News & Reviews (mashable.com) Why The Firm, Simple Declaration Against ACTA — Free Software Foundation — free as in freedom. ACTA (1), a treaty designed to attack the rights of computer users in some 40-odd countries -- and others later -- is encountering increasing opposition. ACTA threatens, in a disguised way, to punish Internet users with disconnection if they are accused of sharing, and requires countries to prohibit software that can break Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), also known as digital handcuffs (2).
In advance of a secret meeting of government representatives to plan the attack, New Zealand citizens organized their own public meeting, PublicACTA, to criticize it. The attendees published the Wellington Declaration, calling on the ACTA negotiators to reject several injustices that they suspected might appear in the treaty. This event was a milestone in the fight against ACTA. But even though I would support each of the declaration's objections to ACTA, it makes two major concessions that I cannot put my name to. Aside from these points of substance, there are also points of wording. Support a firm, simple declaration against ACTA — Free Software Foundation — free as in freedom.