Meet SOPA's evil twin, ACTA.(CNN).By Dan Mitchell.FORTUNE -- It's only fitting that a loud, global outcry over ACTA, an international agreement to govern intellectual property, began just after the anti-piracy bills SOPA and PIPA were shelved by the U.S Congress in the face of massive public pressure. If "copyright maximalists" can't get legislation passed, writes TechDirt's Mike Masnick, "they resort to getting these things put into international trade agreements, which get significantly less scrutiny."
Not that the "maximalists" -- including the movie and music industries -- were following such a timeline, exactly. ACTA -- the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (PDF) -- is their backup, and they've been working on it for years. It's stirring protests now because Poland, Ireland and the European Union announced they would sign on this week, moving the pact closer to reality.
Part of the confusion, and ire, comes from the fact that ACTA combines counterfeiting and piracy as if they were similar, when in reality, they're very different.
Counterfeiting is when a customer is duped into buying, say, a fake iPod or a knockoff Gucci handbag. Piracy is when someone, for instance, distributes an unauthorized copy of a movie or song. Different kinds of laws apply to each, or are supposed to.
Copyright holders (movie studios, record labels, etc.) often try to meld anti-piracy measures with those aimed at counterfeiting, which are usually less controversial. SOPA and PIPA were similar to ACTA in this regard.Critics also say that activities such as non-commercial file-sharing, which are normally handled by civil courts, could be turned into crimes because the agreement is unclear on precisely what "commercial-scale" piracy is.
Piracy for commercial gain is covered, but so is "significant willful copyright or related rights infringements that have no direct or indirect motivation of financial gain." It all depends on what the meaning of "significant" is. In other words, if you download a movie -- or maybe it has to be three movies, or 300 -- it's possible that rather than a summons-server knocking on your door, it would be a cop. But again, this isn't entirely clear because the language is so vague and because it's impossible to tell how U.S. enforcement agencies will interpret it.
There are lots of other problematic provisions in ACTA, having to do with seed patents, generic drugs and other matters (watch this space for more), but the loudest criticisms so far have to do with its copyright provisions. In 2010, 75 law professors signed a letter to President Obama urging him not to sign the pact.They went unheeded. Obama signed the pact -- which was originally developed by the United States and Japan -- last year. Other current signatories include Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Morocco, Singapore, and South Korea.
There are questions as to whether it was even legal for Obama to sign without the consent of Congress. Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon thinks it wasn't. In October, he sent a letter to Obama demanding an explanation. Wyden was a vociferous critic of SOPA and PIPA, and has been critical of ACTA as well -- particularly the opacity of its development. In particular, he decried the failure "to give the public a say over issues that so profoundly affect their lives."
A US-backed footnote removed from the document more than a year ago provided for "the termination" of Internet accounts for repeat online infringers. US internet service providers and content providers, however, have brokered such a deal toward that goal.Today the European parliament approved of it, Belgium would not have been willing to go beyond what is now the plan, in contrast to the U.S., who wants a stricter treaty !In this sense, Belgium joined Germany and Switzerland, which at times heavely criticized the texts of the Convention
Until European Union authorities began leaking the document’s text, the Obama administration was claiming the accord was a "national security" secret.Hmmmm.........."Obama reelection security" secret sounds more like it!Read the full story here, more here.
Related ? - Obama Plans to Create Internet ID for All Americans.(Fox). The National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace is currently being drafted by the Obama administration and will be released by the president in a few months."We are not talking about a national ID card. We are not talking about a government-controlled system. What we are talking about is enhancing online security and privacy.Hmmm.....Lets say you downloaded illegally music or movies what would be the odds that your Internet ID card would be confiscated by the 'Autorities'?Read more here.
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