ACTA

[christa]

There's a new treaty being drawn up between all the countries in the developed world and it's all done been done in secret
between governments. It's the worst political abuse ever and the only thing missing for ACTA to become a global treaty is ratification
in the EU Parliament. It was set off by the Bush administration and continued to be pursued by the Obama administration.

Read more here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/01/23/if-you-thought-sopa-was-bad-just-wait-until-you-meet-acta/

And sign the petition over here to stop this: http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_save_the_internet/?fjOeAbb&pv=258

This is so much more than just saving freedom of speech on Internet, and so much worse than SOPA or PIPA will ever be.

Edit: Just found this on Wired.co.uk: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-01/26/eu-signs-up-to-acta

[Fly]

Mmm, interesting read !

[Pete]

Now that's scarey - does anyone get the feeling that the web is going to owned by governments and big business soon?

One day we'll tell our grandchildren how we remember the free web before it became just another sales channel...

[christa]

Now that's scarey - does anyone get the feeling that the web is going to owned by governments and big business soon?

One day we'll tell our grandchildren how we remember the free web before it became just another sales channel...

The deeper you dig into this treaty, the more it reaches out of the Internet, that's the scary bit. It will be impossible to cross borders with already installed
software since copyright and trademarks will be strictly national. And they will be allowed to take away both you and your computer in customs because of it.
This is a whole new copyright law in disguise where intellectual property rights and the problems with counterfeit are being mixed up and valued in the same way.
It will kill creativity and innovation in a snap and leave no room for individuals or small business to contribute to expanding the society in any way. That will all belong
to those who can afford to take everyone else to court and claim that you stole their idea.

I'm concerned about this myself because I make a living as an artist and illustrator. What exactly this treaty will mean for artists around the world if it becomes a reality
I can only phantom. At least if art will become a matter of intellectual rights, a lot of art will simply never happen because someone else already made a similar painting or drawing. Same with photography, music and theatre.

[k4blades]

What a lot of scaremongering nonsense.

1) Why shouldn't owners of intellectual rights / copyrights / etc be allowed to protect their stuff.

2) Why does anyone think they can illegally download stuff and then complain when someone wants to stop them

3) Does Microsoft/apple/ etc allow people to steal their products without paying for them.

4) And in the meantime, they do more snooping into how we use the net than any Govt does, so they can sell on our marketability

5) Govts struggle to stop illegal immigrants / smugglers / terrorists in, they aren't going to be worried about someone with "protected software"

Yes, you are right there is a confusion between free speech and copyright, but I don't think its Govts that are confused, (except China, etc). Some "e business'" are more powerful than some smaller countries and think they can do what they want, because Govts are standing up to them, they spread silly scare-mongering stories about our Freedoms being compromised, bull. Like I said, if anyone is monitoring what I'm doing on my PC, its not the Govt, they are not the ones watching my key-stokes so they can send cookies advertising something, adding value to the search engines, etc, making themselves even more powerful....and who of us actually voted for apple, facebook, twitter, etc.

[k4blades]

Just to make it clear, I'm not attacking anyone on this forum, just the idea perpetrated often by those with self interests, such as google, that we should all be paranoid about the Govt. If there is anything that we should be genuinely worried about please point me to where and what it says in the legislation.

No offence intended guys.

[christa]

Just to make it clear, I'm not attacking anyone on this forum, just the idea perpetrated often by those with self interests, such as google, that we should all be paranoid about the Govt. If there is anything that we should be genuinely worried about please point me to where and what it says in the legislation.

No offence intended guys.

I can only refer you to the links in my first post in this thread. This "hype" was not created by Google or any other company to stir up paranoia about the Government. This is not just one Government either, it's a group of countries working together and it's been ongoing for the past 3 years.
As I said, click the links above and read about it. There are more links about it on those web sites.
Some members of the EU Parliament actually jumped off the bandwagon in protest against ACTA and how this treaty was negotiated, so it's very real.

Also note that this is not a legislation, it's a treaty.
And as for monitoring our computers, if this treaty will become reality, all ISP's worldwide will have to monitor every click we make online to keep track on what we do. Today there are no authority who can make ISP's to monitor anything, but that would change.

Edit: Here are more reasons why ACTA is not a good thing. This is an analysis of the treaty made by La Quadrature du Net: http://www.laquadrature.net/en/acta-updated-analysis-of-the-final-version

[k4blades]

As I said, click the links above and read about it. There are more links about it on those web sites.

I did, and couldn't find anything to worry about, like I said show me where it says my free speech, or freedom to express myself will be restricted. I couldn't find anything.

Also note that this is not a legislation, it's a treaty.
And as for monitoring our computers, if this treaty will become reality, all ISP's worldwide will have to monitor every click we make online to keep track on what we do. Today there are no authority who can make ISP's to monitor anything, but that would change.

So what, most of the big companies monitor what we do anyway, but they are sneaky about it, then use it to sell advertising space. If its done in a more formal way, who cares, the terrorist plotting to blow us up might, the peadophile looking for kiddy porn might, but the fact that I might spend half an hour browsing ebay for a cocncert ticket isn't going to cause any concern, so again, so what?

Here are more reasons why ACTA is not a good thing. This is an analysis of the treaty made by La Quadrature du Net: http://www.laquadrature.net/en/acta-updated-analysis-of-the-final-version

It starts by saying this:
ACTA AS A BULLYING WEAPON FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRIES

So what if Sony, Warner Brothers, etc want to protect their interlectual property. Its theres, why should anyone have the right to steal it. OK, it might be nice for us all to occasionally go on the net and download a track without paying for it, etc, but that doesn't make it right. You can't just walk into Tesco and take stuff without paying for, you can't just walk into Apple store and walk out with stuff without paying for it, so if an entertainment business wants to stop people illegally taking their products, so what, I would do the same if I was them.


I repeat, show me where my civil liberties are being threatened.

[christa]

@k4blades - sorry, but if you don't think you have anything to worry about, then that's fine. So far, it's a free country.

[Kent]

No Arguments Against Any Body Trying To Protect Their Copyright, But this Would leave
These Big Brother Dick Heads to PRY Into Your and Every Bodies PRIVATE LIVE.
 

[k4blades]

And I've no arguments with anyone getting paranoid when there's no need, but that doesn't mean the paranoia should be spread maliciously.