Creative Commons. Copyright for Librarians. Copyright. UK & EU. European MPs throw out online piracy pact. THE European Parliament rejected a global agreement against copyright theft yesterday, handing a victory to protesters who say the legislation would punish people for sharing films and music online. The vote marked the culmination of a two-year battle between legislators who supported the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta) and its largely young, digitally savvy opponents. Tens of thousands of activists held rallies across Europe in February to protest against the law, which they said would curb their freedom and allow officials to spy on their online activities. About 2,5-million signed a petition against the agreement.
European Parliament MPs voted against the agreement by 478 to 39 with 165 abstentions, meaning the proposed law will have to be renegotiated by the European Commission, the European Union's (EU's) executive. Acta took four years to negotiate and has already been signed by several of the EU's big trading partners, including the US, Canada and Japan. Reuters. ACTA: The new threat to the net. 692,547 have signed. Help us get to our new target of 3,000,000 Update: 7 July 2012 VICTORY! Our 2.8 million strong campaign helped MEPs axe the ACTA treaty in the European Parliament. This dangerous treaty would have been rubber stamped - threatening our Internet freedom and allowing corporations to police us online. Read more about the ACTA victory here. Update: 13 April 2012 GREAT NEWS! Update: 10 February 2012 Amazing!
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. [UK] Copyright Toolkit home page. About us. Bernadette Attwell owns and runs in partnership with Alma Hales a copyright/rights consultancy business: Copy-Right Consultants Limited which offers practical advice on copyright/rights across all media with a strong emphasis on the educational sector.
She has a post-graduate diploma in UK and European Law of Copyright and Related Rights and a wealth of experience in advising on and managing the practicalities of rights and copyright clearance in an educational multi-media production setting. Bernadette worked for many years at The Open University as Deputy Head of IP and took early retirement to live in Ireland and devote more time to the consultancy business. Copy-Right Consultants worked with for example, with The British Library Sound Archive to bring much of its sound archive on-line direct to the educational communities.
She is currently copyright consultant on the Open University OpenLearn initiative. Alma Hales is Rights Manager at the Open University, Milton Keynes.