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Konfucius

ACTA - Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

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After SOPA was stopped, suddenly the Internet's attention went to ACTA.

 

I've read a bit into the stuff and it seems to me to be just as bad as SOPA if not worse. What especially bothers me is the fact that it was created by people no one elected apparently. Soon the EU will decided whether to ratify ACTA.

 

A short summary, although decidedly against ACTA, is on avaaz.org along with the possibility to sign an online-petition against it.

 

I find this part especially worrying:

The oppressively strict regulations could mean people everywhere are punished for simple acts such as sharing a newspaper article or uploading a video of a party where copyrighted music is played. Sold as a trade agreement to protect copyrights, ACTA could also ban lifesaving generic drugs and threaten local farmers' access to the seeds they need. And, amazingly, the ACTA committee will have carte blanche to change its own rules and sanctions with no democratic scrutiny.

 

Along with the Telecommunications data retention law, I think the EU is seriously limiting the privacy of its people in order to make the entertainment industry lobby happy.

 

What do you guys think?

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Isn't this the law that nobody has any concrete information about? And wasn't it passed in the US already?

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"The oppressively strict regulations could mean people everywhere are punished for simple acts such as sharing a newspaper article"

 

Blatant scaremongering. I'll wait until I see something unbiased.

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It's worrisome if they are hiding it, but I also wonder how they could pass such influential laws without a vote? If it happens it will show just how powerful media companies have become.

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My opinion as usual, governments need to stop interfering with the internet (and most other things).

 

I don't support piracy, but its not a criminal matter, its a civil one. A government's only responsibility is to hear civil lawsuits regarding piracy, not to make laws criminalizing everything every major lobby doesn't like.

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With Poland putting ACTA ratification on hold, and Slovenia apparently regretting its signature, now we've got Romania's Prime Minister, Emil Boc, admitting that he doesn't understand why the country signed ACTA. It appears that opposing politicians are criticizing the government and promising that they will suspend enforcement under ACTA until there are actual public hearings held on the matter.

 

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120205/14043517663/romanian-prime-minister-admits-he-has-no-idea-why-romania-signed-acta.shtml

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I don't know whether to celebrate that people are coming to their senses or cry over the fact that they were so oblivious in their initial decisions.

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Lol @ Emil Boc going "I signed wha...?"

 

Either way, my opinion on ACTA is still pretty tame, considering how little I know about it, but reasonable people also say it's harmful, so... yay :heh:

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