And if you still don't believe us, The Official Doc. of ACTA : http://www.ustr.gov/sites/default/fi...e760_15084.pdf
Do your part everyone, do your part in the fight to save our web. This is truly the greatest conflict or threat the Internet has ever faced, do not merely sit there, stand up and fight before we lose it all.....
Let's take a look, shall we?
Hello Internet Citizens. I would advise you to wake up to whats coming to harm our web. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, OR "ACTA" treaty being proposed in secret at the International level, could, and would if passed, ruin our free Internet as we currently know it.
Q: Why has the ACTA been kept from the public?
A: This process has not been kept from the public. On October 23, 2007, the partners involved in the proposed agreement at that time publicly announced that they had initiated preliminary discussions on the development of ACTA. The United States has invited and received public comments on the ACTA negotiations, as have several other participating governments. The following materials are available on the USTR website:
• USTR statement on second round of ACTA negotiations August 2008
• USTR statement on first round of ACTA negotiations June 2008
• Responses to ACTA Federal Register Notice
• ACTA Federal Register Notice February 2008
• ACTA Press Release October 2007
• Fact sheet from the October 2007 announcement
• Ambassador Schwab’s remarks at the October 2007 announcement
So no, it's not a secret. :cer_disbelief:
in short, this would enforce a 3-strikes and your out policy that would result in you being banned from web access if you get 3 "accusations" from anybody of copyright infringement. ISP's would now be forced by legal liability to police the web for copyrighted data, and take-down anything that would be assumed copyrighted, and that includes just about any data online since anything may "possibly" be copyrighted. So what this would result in, would be the end of all user generated-based websites.
Benefits of ACTA:
• Enhancing international IPR enforcement by partnering with countries that recognize the critical importance of such enforcement.
• Strengthening the international fight against pirates and counterfeiters who steal from businesses and workers, discourage innovation and creativity, threaten health and safety, provide an easy source of revenue for organized crime, and cause loss of tax revenue.
• Building on the successes of the Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP) initiative, a government-wide effort started in October 2004 to confront piracy and counterfeiting.
Our goal is to achieve a new kind of agreement combining commitments to strong laws with a framework for ongoing cooperation and the promotion of effective enforcement practices. This approach aims not only to strengthen legal frameworks, but also to bridge the gap between laws on the books and strong enforcement on the ground, and to foster ongoing cooperation and leadership. This combination builds on solid foundations:
• Past agreements have addressed the legal framework for IPR enforcement.
o The WTO TRIPS Agreement defines international minimum standards for IPR enforcement – a base on which the ACTA will build.
o U.S. free trade agreements (FTAs) also provide models for building on the enforcement standards contained in TRIPS.
• International cooperation and enforcement practices have already been enhanced through growing efforts in international fora such as the G8 and APEC, and efforts with the EU and with Canada and Mexico starting with the US-EU and SPP summits in 2005.
A critical mass of key trading partners is engaged in the ACTA effort. Participants in the first round of negotiations (June 2008) included Australia, Canada, EU, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
Provisions of the ACTA are still under negotiation, but participants aim to reach agreement in three main areas:
• International Cooperation: Potential provisions include capacity building and technical assistance in improving enforcement, and international cooperation among enforcement agencies.
• Enforcement Practices: Potential provisions include formal or informal public/private advisory groups; fostering of specialized intellectual property expertise within law enforcement structures to ensure effective handling of IPR cases; and measures for raising consumer public awareness.
• Legal Framework: Potential provisions include criminal enforcement, border measures, civil enforcement, optical disc piracy, and IPR enforcement issues relating to Internet distribution.
Q: Where did the idea for ACTA come from?
A: ACTA represents the coming together of many related efforts by the United States and our trading partners. On the U.S. side, the STOP initiative announced in October of 2004 led to increased cooperative engagement with a wide range of trading partners to step up the fight against piracy and counterfeiting. That engagement gave impetus to the ACTA.
Q: Do you think other countries will join in the future?
A: We hope that other countries will join over time, reflecting the growing international consensus on the need for strong IPR enforcement.
Q: What is the value of this agreement if more countries are not initially a part of it?
A: The ACTA will provide leadership toward better protection and enforcement of IPRs, and enhance partnership with countries that share a similar level of ambition. Piracy and counterfeiting are growing global issues that have become a concern for all. They have adverse effects on a nation's economy, as well as on the public health and safety of its population. Through enhanced leadership and partnership, the ACTA can improve the international climate for IPR enforcement in ways that potentially benefit all countries.
So this is about targeting large-scale abuse of intellectual property rights and international cooperation to stop copyright violations and theft. Dear God. :cer_cry:
Finally this would give police around the world strict new powers to confiscate your electronic devices at national and state borders. And if they happen to find copyrighted material on them they may take your device and send you the fine!
Q: Will the border enforcement provisions of the ACTA require searching travelers’ music players or laptops for infringing content?
A: No. The focus of the discussion on border measures has been on how to deal with large-scale intellectual property infringements, which can frequently involve criminal elements and pose a threat to public health and safety. Past U.S. free trade agreements have called for ex officio authority for border enforcement, meaning that border officials are empowered to enforce the law on their own initiative, without waiting for a complaint from a right holder. But this in no way requires searches of travelers’ music players or computers.
So no, there won't be raids on your electronic junk. So your stolen songs and porn folders are safe. :cer_shifty:
It is time we stand up for our Internet before it is gone.
Q: Will the ACTA rewrite U.S. law?
A: No. Only the U.S. Congress can change U.S. law.
This is a *discussion* between international trading partners to promote ways to protect free trade and the property rights of people and to properly enforce copyright laws and fight copyright violation.
:cer_no:
Come join us, in fighting this tyranny!
Oh yeah, copyright laws for protecting intellectual property rights is the modern day version of the Stamp Act. :cer_pissed: