Why should you care about ACTA? The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (also known as ACTA) raises significant concerns for consumer privacy, civil liberties, innovation, the free flow of information on the Internet, commerce, and developing countries' ability to choose policy options that best suit them. Doesn't the Constitution say a warrant is needed to search my computer? It does! But because ACTA is a treaty, it circumvents the Constitution and takes away our rights! Internet service providers (ISPs) will be forced to monitor what you do online and report to the government anything that is seen as suspicious. How are they going to pay for this? They aren't; instead they will raise our Internet bills. ACTA is dangerous because: 1. It makes distributing free software more difficult. Without file sharing and peer-to-peer technologies like BitTorrent, distributing large amounts of free software becomes much harder and more expensive. BitTorrent is a grassroots protocol that allows everyone to contribute bandwidth to legally distributing free software. 2. ACTA will make it harder for users of free operating systems, such as Linux-based ones, to play media. Consumers will no longer be allowed to buy media without DRM, and it will be illegal to play DRM protected media with free software. 3. It allows your devices to be taken away without any explanation as part of random security checks. Devices suspected of including pirated material and/or copyright infringements will also be confiscated and searched. This means that bringing an iPod or a laptop through airport security could cost hours of your time. 4. ACTA requires that existing ISPs no longer host free software that has the possibility of including copyrighted media. This would substantially affect many sites that offer free software or host software projects, such as SourceForge and download.com. Most software we use on our computers are free. 5. Part of the ACTA treaty states that imported generic medicine are to be restricted and controlled. This could have disastrous effects that cost lives, especially in developing countries. The majority of medicinal companies do not supply medicine to third world countries. This is because more profit can be made by selling it to the richer countries where we live. Most medicine received in third world countries is donated by concerned people and charity groups. If ACTA is to be approved, these medicines would be confiscated for "security" reasons (In order to maintain a monopoly). 6. If ACTA is implemented, privacy on the Internet is no longer a given. Internet service providers will be forced to monitor which websites you visit, what you type into forms, what you search, and what you do in general. People have a basic right to privacy that this treaty clearly ignores. 7. ACTA gives governments and ISPs the right to block websites deemed "unsuitable." There are no clear guidelines as to what is deemed suitable or unsuitable. This power could theoretically (and most likely will) be abused for political gain. China has used this same power to censor the Internet. So far, China has far banned all of its citizens from accessing useful sites, such as facebook.com, youtube.com and blogspot.com. Does this seem like national security? 8. This treaty WILL NOT prevent piracy. ACTA is an ineffective and ridiculous agreement that will harm the common people, without significantly effecting piracy. Why? Because piracy will always find another medium. ACTA will cause a great amount of suffering to those who use the Internet for legitimate means. We cannot sit by and watch this happen. The Internet is a tremendous source of genuine free speech where ideas and criticisms are not limited by the whims of other people. We must stop this now, before it passes. Before it's too late. Based on anti-acta.com's manifesto. Editor's note: There was a three strikes rule was present in a January 2010 draft of ACTA, but was cut from the April release after the European Union complained.1 It would have mandated that ISPs deny your house access to the Internet if you did certain things that ACTA didn't like. Things such as copying music from a CD you own onto your iPod or well as watching fan made music videos with copyrighted music playing in the background. References 1. "ACTA Backs Away From 3 Strikes". Wired magazine. April 21, 2010. Retrieved 2010-7-10. Stop it before it is too late! Number of sites to look at, make sure to spread this information around! [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdSHYBcdtOs]YouTube - Stop The ACTA- An Anonymous Message[/ame] Countless youtube videos were made trying to spread this information around. Internet Freedom Movement Forum - Index page a forum raising awareness about ACTA. Welkom op Facebook the facebook group.
If this shit passes I hope to god there will be a few ISPs that won't report people but yea this is complete bullshit. Anyone know how far its spread like what countries aren't involved?
yeah fuck this shit. obviously they are trying to push this bill for other reasons. cant trust the government
Fuck this shit. They pushed through The Digital Economy Act here recently as well. Sounds like it's based on the same ideas, reducing piracy at the expense of our liberties. I don't think ours goes as far as this ACTA but still. Governments controlling the internet because they realise the threat it poses thanks to the full freedom of speech and expression still possible online. Fuckin corrupt motherfuckers.
TRIPS was already enacted in 1994. The World Trade Organization mandates that members must ratify and adhear to TRIPS to become a member state. ACTA is just TRIPS on steroids outside the purview of any oversight or input of the people of the WTO member states. Who would think protecting rock and roll music would lead to people not receiving AIDS medicines in Africa. Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I'm sure Obama has a lot worse shit to fix than worrying about a few pirated songs/movies at the expense of our liberties.