As a consumer and a technology user, I am concerned about recent revelations regarding the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) being negotiated by the United States Trade Representative.

Instead of coordinating the global fight against fraud and counterfeit merchandise, this international proposal has now expanded to include wider issues of public policy. New regulations on the Internet and digital technology are included, and I fear the delicately-crafted balance of intellectual property law in the United States may deviate from the freedom and flexibility key to the new information economy, without Congressional oversight.

The ACTA provisions being proposed by the USTR behind closed doors give new powers to rights holders and law enforcement to search and seize information technology; it is said to include whole sections on digital rights management and Internet distribution.

ACTA should restrict its considerations to fighting counterfeit merchandise, rather than be sidetracked into radical changes to that will affect the Internet users, technology companies and innovators that are so vital to this country's future.

Please contact the Office of the United States Trade Representative and colleagues on the United States Senate Committees on Finance; on Foreign Relations; and on the Judiciary, and request that the USTR make public its negotiations. Require that this pact remain limited to fighting counterfeit goods and stay away from Internet and technology policy.

Please encourage the new Administration to reject this secretive agreement in favor of a more open and accountable discussion of intellectual property in its proper forum - Congress.

Originally posted by Shadowflux
reply to post by quackers

---

The Pirate Bay was told they had to remove all copyrighted material a while ago and I have yet to see a change in the products they offer.

When we talk about ISPs we're not talking about a small group of people running a website, we're talking about million, if not billion, dollar companies in most cases. Companies like AOL are not of the size to be simply pushed over and bullied into submission. That goes doubly for ISPs like Time Warner which are part of a much larger company.

It should be on the copyright holder to provide proof of theft. If someone stole some artwork I did and I took them to court it would be my responsibility to prove that it's mine and that they stole it.