Move over, SOPA: ACTA is coming to Europe

OmegaFenix

OmegaFenix

The Legendary Troll Hunter
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SOPA and PIPA have been (at least temporarily) put to bed in the United States, but the slippery slope is soapy indeed, and Europe's taken notice. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement has been hiding in the shadows, waiting to inflict itself upon Europeans, and it's just as bad as anything proposed Stateside.


As with SOPA, the purpose of ACTA is to needlessly reinforce existing rules. Unlike SOPA, it's far more obfuscating (it wasn't written by a dumbass desperate to impress his Hollywood friends) and a lot of it was developed in total secrecy.


Critics of ACTA warn that it would kill freedom of expression online, and create an atmosphere of paranoia and surveillance. Existing due process could be bypassed as rights holders go directly after suspected copyright infringers with new powers that allow them to violate their right to privacy. The Free Software Association also says that the creation of free software will be threatened, especially free operating systems, which will not be allowed to play DRM-protected content.


It's a nasty little bill alright, made all the more insidious by how much has been hidden from the public since 2006. We should all be keeping eyes on this one, because it's just as big a threat as SOPA ever was, if not bigger.
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Source: Destructiod
 
at the rate everything is going, they may as well just can the net... if any of these bills get passed the net is halfway dead anyways... just put her out of her misery
 
Some more info ACTA;

Tough EU piracy laws branded 'Europe's SOPA'

But little evidence suggests ACTA would enforce censorship
New measures to prevent internet piracy across Europe has sparked both criticism and debate online. 


The ‘Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement’ – a legal understanding between ‘participating’ nations around the world –protects companies from trademark and copyright infringement, which is rampant across the internet.
Countries in the EU ready to sign the agreement, particularly Poland, have been targeted by internet attacks on government websites by groups such as Anonymous who believe ACTA could lead to a form of online censorship.
Some Polish websites have also pledged to stage blackouts in protest to the government’s pledge to sign.
Michael Boni, Poland’s minister for administration and digitisation, hit back to criticism stating that ACTA “in no way changes Polish laws or the rights of internet users and internet usage”.

Comparisons have been made to the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act, which was recently “indefinitely postponed” by congress in the US.
Whilst debates continue over the consequences of ACTA, the agreement does not appear to directly allow as far-reaching measures as its US counterpart, such as the blocking and removal of websites by companies.
Any potential action against internet service providers (ISPs) would also be in contradiction against currently to a ruling made by The European Court of Justice ruled in November. It stated that EU law precludes injunctions taken against ISPs requiring them to block users from file sharing.
Previous versions of the bill seemed to suggest that ISPs would be forced into handing over personal data concerning their users if accused of streaming or illegally downloading copyrighted material.
The authors of the agreement denied this claim.
Polish trade body ZAIKS, which represents a group of authors and composers, has said that ACTA would in fact not affect the freedom of the internet, but would protect creators’ rights.
One issue with the treaty is the ambiguous nature in which it has been drafted. There appears to be no definitive, clear instruction on what rights holders and ISPs can do to prevent online piracy.
They are however encouraged in the agreement to establish a set of guidelines for the actions which should be taken.
Tags: acta, anti-counterfeiting trade agreem, censorship, internet, internet service provider, sopa, stop online piracy act.
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Source: Develop-Online.Net
 
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They are all trying get on the bandwagon of the internet is not free, we own it and you have to live with it. They want the net for them selfs just like countries own land and everyting on it.
 
I dont think its a case of they want it for themsleves. Its more about cencorship and monitoring what people access online
 
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