Governments Around the World Writing New GLOBAL Treaty to Control the Internet

[Caprican]

Secret copyright treaty leaks. It's bad. Very bad. - Boing Boing

Secret copyright treaty leaks. It's bad. Very bad.

The internet chapter of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret copyright treaty whose text Obama's administration refused to disclose due to "national security" concerns, has leaked. It's bad. It says:
* That ISPs have to proactively police copyright on user-contributed material. This means that it will be impossible to run a service like Flickr or YouTube or Blogger, since hiring enough lawyers to ensure that the mountain of material uploaded every second isn't infringing will exceed any hope of profitability.
* That ISPs have to cut off the Internet access of accused copyright infringers or face liability. This means that your entire family could be denied to the internet -- and hence to civic participation, health information, education, communications, and their means of earning a living -- if one member is accused of copyright infringement, without access to a trial or counsel.
* That the whole world must adopt US-style "notice-and-takedown" rules that require ISPs to remove any material that is accused -- again, without evidence or trial -- of infringing copyright. This has proved a disaster in the US and other countries, where it provides an easy means of censoring material, just by accusing it of infringing copyright.
* Mandatory prohibitions on breaking DRM, even if doing so for a lawful purpose (e.g., to make a work available to disabled people; for archival preservation; because you own the copyrighted work that is locked up with DRM)

I voted for Obama, but i'm done with that shit. The fact that this had to be leaked in order for us to find out about it, and the extreme lack of due process for citizens to accomodate the media giants who have blamed every problem they have on piracy is so blatantly corrupt I can't even begin to rationalize the implications...

For reference, if this passes say goodbye to the internet as we know it - All it will take is an accusation of piracy to have your house cut off from the internet.

Have you heard? We've re-written the constitution! You're now guilty until proven innocent!!

More info and analysis here
Michael Geist - The ACTA Internet Chapter: Putting the Pieces Together
Secret Anti-Piracy Treaty Turns ISPs into Pirates | TorrentFreak
Secret Copyright Treaty Details Leak: ISPs Worldwide to Become Copyright Cops? - Secret Copyright Treaty ACTA - Gizmodo
Trade Talks Hone in on Internet Abuse and ISP Liability - PC World

[JBrady]

I'm really not surprised. Global warming is the greatest scam of modern times.

[Caprican]

This has nothing to do with global warming you're thinking of the climate treaty - This is a DIFFERENT treaty that is a whole new kind of slime

[pineapple skunk]

/sigh

[letsgetPOD]

Anything can be concealed from the public under the guise of "national security"

[Caprican]

The only good thing thats happened/happening is the US public seems to be waking up to what a load of crap obama is pushing, how its gonna raise all our taxes by creating ANOTHER giant government beurocracy.... I read this morning that a republican senator introduced a amendment to the healthcare bill that said, essentially, that if a Public Option was in the healthcare bill ALL CONGRESSMEN AND SENATORS would have to drop their current healthcare and use the public option. After all, if we're saying its good enough for the american people - it should be good enough for the people writing the law.

Unfortunately, the democrats arn't really into that so it'll likely be pulled. At least it gives the dems another opportunity to show how they lead with words rather than actions.

[kstigs]

Originally Posted by Caprican

Unfortunately, the democrats arn't really into that so it'll likely be pulled. At least it gives the dems another opportunity to show how they lead with words rather than actions.

You think the Republicans want to lose their "Cadillac" plan? They just want to see the Dems turn it down to make them look bad. The party in power always looks bad, while the one with little/no power always gets to be the champion of truth when, in reality, they're two heads of the same beast.

[Caprican]

I completely agree with you kstigs, both major parties are the same... If you want a good example of that, look at the NY race last night - The dem and republican were pretty much carbon copies of each other, and the INDEPENDENT was looking like he was gonna win - Then about halfway through the vote the republican candidate dropped out and ENDORSED the democrat!!!!

I think that right now the dems are in power, and the dems are the one driving this healthcare government takeover agenda, so I'm speaking out against the dems. In 2010 when the pendulum swings the other way and the republicans are in control i'll be bitching about them. Perfect world we have an even split in house and senate so nothing can be accomplished ever.

[kstigs]

Originally Posted by Caprican

I completely agree with you kstigs, both major parties are the same... If you want a good example of that, look at the NY race last night - The dem and republican were pretty much carbon copies of each other, and the INDEPENDENT was looking like he was gonna win - Then about halfway through the vote the republican candidate dropped out and ENDORSED the democrat!!!!

I think that right now the dems are in power, and the dems are the one driving this healthcare government takeover agenda, so I'm speaking out against the dems. In 2010 when the pendulum swings the other way and the republicans are in control i'll be bitching about them. Perfect world we have an even split in house and senate so nothing can be accomplished ever.

In a perfect world, we wouldn't have people forcing other people what to do. In a perfect world, there would be no House and Senate to rule over us.

As for bitching at the different parties when they're in power, I say bitch at both all the time until they're gone. Screw this two (more like one) party system.

[justawhiteguy]

damn is that right?

[kstigs]

Originally Posted by justawhiteguy

damn is that right?

Yes. Soon, if you download something illegally, they'll just shut your internet off.
The government is trying to take away as much freedom as they can get their hands on. Power grab after power grab after power grab and so on and so forth...

[brett119]

Originally Posted by letsgetPOD

Anything can be concealed from the public under the guise of "national security"

Truth. To add to that, all of our rights are being stripped in the name of security

[Nokturnal420]

I'm going to say what I said in the HR 1207 Gutted thread, time to re-inact Athens.

[Herbin Legend]

I need to move to another country...just so the bullshit can be shut out. It's always about having to pick sides when in reality the sides have been static all along, the rich and the poor.

[Shade]

Originally Posted by pineapple skunk

/sigh

I second this. I sympathize with the idea that piracy does hurt some business, not just in terms of profit margins but also in terms of the scope of produced material (i.e. a film production company might not be as willing to take on a risky screenplay - though I don't think this particular example is currently that much of an issue considering the amount of movies that are still being pumped out).

But if you take an honest look at it from another angle, piracy does contribute to employment. Software companies and game studios are more likely to employ anti-pirate protections whether they are done in-house or through another software company. Movie theaters are pressured into hiring on additional help or offering additional hours to their employees to help police theaters that might be prone to bootleg piracy. Websites like youtube and the like are more likely to employ people to specifically police their content for illegally uploaded content. And so on and so forth.

On another note, piracy is also a skewed form of publicity in many cases, and what company doesn't love publicity for their product?

So while piracy is generally 'bad', there is some 'good' that tends to come as a result. As well there has surely been a lot of technological advances in all of the related industries from companies trying to prevent piracy of their products.

Another point on the flip-side of piracy is the submission that perhaps if some products were priced at a more acceptable rate there would be less desire to pirate these products. Piracy exists for several reasons and willingness/ability to pay the set price for a desired product is certainly one of them. I sure as hell hate spending a couple hundred dollars on the next version of Windows every 2 years when Microsoft decides to 'upgrade'. A stretch of an 'excuse' perhaps, but still an example of a contributing factor to one degree or another.

In any case I don't see how this new legislature is going to improve much, to be honest. Most the people who were pirating whatever aren't going to suddenly start buying the products that they were previously pirating, so it's not likely to increase profit margins by all that much, if at all. Other businesses and services will fail, or at least suffer greatly, as the OP mentioned. Many employees and businesses who were previously dedicated to anti-piracy will probably lose their jobs. And I'm sure this will also have an effect on the 'free' market as well.

In short, I'll just echo what pineapple skunk posted... "/sigh"