by tomorrow, mostly all of you will be breaking the law.

[PessimistOwl]

So I have heard about this in the past, yet never really cared enough to do some research on it. I'm speaking of ACTA or the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement.

So I finally did some research on it, it's estimated that the agreement will be completed by September 2010, or anytime after tomorrow.

Thoughts?

Personally I see this as an invasion of human rights, privacy, and free speech. At the same time, whenever I think of this, my thoughts wander towards George Orwell's book "1984" yet the "big brother" in my mind isn't the government, but the business's that already rule over our world and invariably make things worse so that they can become richer.

 

[Valkyrie101]

What exactly is it?

 

[tomtom94]

Copyright law has its ups and downs.

Welcome to a new low for capitalism, everyone.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

Where is the Republican party on this there is no way in hell they would let it pass

 

[tomtom94]

Where is the Republican party on this there is no way in hell they would let it pass

Don't you see? The political parties have no choice. It's called lobbying.

If the parties don't try and stop file-sharing, then Hollywood will stop giving them what little money they pay in tax anyway.

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

Links? Info? I have no idea what you're talking about, only that it seems to have something to do with file sharing?

 

[superbatranger]

I think their intentions are good(trying to stop piracy and all), but I find their methods to be really flawed.

 

[Shale_Dirk]

Links? Info? I have no idea what you're talking about, only that it seems to have something to do with file sharing?

There isn't an abundance of information, because lobby groups are trying to push it through "under the table". I'll post links in a second.

Edit: Post-ninja'd

 

[PessimistOwl]

What exactly is it?

http://www.anti-acta.com/

http://www.ustr.gov/acta

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement

Basically it's a new treaty (note: it's actually a treaty, meaning that it automatically passes any kind of legal action required to sign it in a law) that allows companies to monitor what you do on the internet, and gives them a lot more power to check to see if you are doing "suspicious" activities on the net. This would give them the power to invade whatever privacy you have and pretty much arrest you for no just reason.

Also, it would have a negative impact on free sites such as wikipedia or ED, if you will. Alos, the money that would go into paying this bill would be payed by your internet bill, meaning that there would be a severe price hike in the bills you pay for internet.

There is more but I figure that you would get the most out of it if I left the links there. Plus, I'm lazy, and my fingers are tired so...typing is not really something that I want to overdo right now haha

 

[chinangel]

it won't be signed until late september and the odds of it passing are SO small. Microscopically small. Why? Because it effects too many people. It's just idiotic so it won't get out.

 

[Jack and Calumon]

Yep, and in preparation I have ripped all of my CDs onto my computer and loaded them onto my MP3 player. Besides, they're only fine tuning it. It won't come into practice for a while. Government laws never do. Except Marshall law. Man these sentences are so disjointed.

Calumon: ACTA? Sounds like someone trying to finish off a Pokemon move before coughing!

Red: Go Pikachu! Quick ACTA!

 

[DaJoW]

What exactly is it?

It tightens copyright laws hugely, including making it punishable to have a small amount of copyrighted images on your harddrive, and gives authorities the right to search your computer, mp3 and cellphone for copyrighted material without probable cause. The last one may only be when you bring them on a plane etc.

The current proposal, released after several leaks, can be found here: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2010/april/tradoc_146029.pdf

 

[PessimistOwl]

Links? Info? I have no idea what you're talking about, only that it seems to have something to do with file sharing?

I do apologize, I just posted a message fixing that.

You really won't get too much information on it persay, but that is because shady business like this always goes on under closed doors.

 

[Cynical skeptic]

Where is the Republican party on this there is no way in hell they would let it pass

Uh, the GOP has always been about freedom. But specifically, less for you, more for massive corporations and government.

Personally I think the bit about "nothing you can do" is propaganda. So I've been carpet bombing my congressman's, senator's, governor's, mayor's, and representatives' for the last couple months.

But ACTA will either destroy the entire internet instantly (as due to it's wording, even browsing the web is copyright infringement) or have zero effect on anything.

 

[Danzaivar]

If you're that worried, encrypt your hard drive something crazy. Or emigrate.

 

[lacktheknack]

It's a treaty... it's not law. So once people figure out exactly what it means for them, the outcry will force the involved countries to break their part of it.

 

[Iffat Nur]

Basically it's a new treaty (note: it's actually a treaty, meaning that it automatically passes any kind of legal action required to sign it in a law) that allows companies to monitor what you do on the internet, and gives them a lot more power to check to see if you are doing "suspicious" activities on the net. This would give them the power to invade whatever privacy you have and pretty much arrest you for no just reason.

Sounds like theyre arresting us for watching porn

But seriously, this isnt helping piracy. the day people are no longer pirates is also the day when every dollar note is burned to the ground. Its a way of life, no one wants to pay alot. Im not going to cough up hundreds of dollars for stuff being offered for free on the internet. Plus, do you now how many countries will be affected by this treaty? Countries that cant get alot of imports from other companies rely on piracy in order to keep whatever they have afloat.

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

This definitely sounds like one of those things that could never happen.

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

With U.S. involvement in this treaty, the only thing I can say is this- is our government even trying to appear Democratic anymore? Is it even trying to hide the anti-citizen, pro-elite, excessively Authoritarian stance it has adopted?

Some of the other signing nations, from the perspective of an outsider, seem to have some redeeming quality still, but really the best thing I had to say about the U.S. before this is "well, at least companies can't just rummage through all my information on a whim". Now, it seems they'll be able to.