The Internet Has Been Effectively Destroyed: SOPA and PIPA was a distraction for ACTA

I am sorry if this is in the wrong forum.

The internet is effectively being censored by the ACTA legislation which surpasses local and national governments as it is an international treaty signed by executive agreement. It is not simply the 22 EU Member States that have signed the ACTA legislation. The list includes:

-United States
-the European Union and 22 Member States
-Australia
-Canada
-Japan
-Morocco
-New Zealand
-Singapore and South Korea

While 'we the people' were mobilising against SOPA and PIPA, reporting it all over the internet, raising awarness and (for the American citizens) calling senate representitive and congress people and urging them to repeal their support- our federal governments have implemented similiar legislation through executive agreements and other means.

We were duped. However many have mobilised against it. In belguim there were protests 9gag.com... as there were protests in Poland. In Australia many groups concerned with internet freedoms have appealed to our federal government.

However some of the alarming facts are that the public wasn't permitted to see the ACTA legislation untill after implementation. ACTA was being promotted by the G8 in 2008 and early drafts were considered in Wellington New Zealand in 2010. However, both the Bush and Obama administration refused to show their citizens the contents of the ACTA legislation as it would "cause damage to the national security".

en.wikipedia.org...

We were all fooled. It is time we take a stand once again and save online freedoms.

As this is an agreement between nations, i don't think this goes through congress right.?

However, final enactment into law is on hold pending a debate in the European Parliament in June 2012.

en.wikipedia.org...

Still got a lil time left

reply to post by SpeachM1litant


I have an underlying faith that the slumbering society will awaken once they realise the police state iron fist is gently rested beside their chin. They will rise up. This is inevitable. The psychological warfare that we have been under fire from over the past 100+ years has been effective, but it will never lay a final blow to our freedom.

The small minority who are awake and willing to take action, will take action. The idea and movement will snowball, i guarantee it will happen.

The internet always has been under control. Not sure if the gov wants much more control or not by stricter means, but still most ISP , hosts etc are

I would not worry about the interwed to much there are bigger things afoot.
Lets just say when it comes there will be no need for this digital age any more.

reply to post by CaptainNemo

True. The European Parliament has the right of final acceptance or rejection. The only hopeful sign is that they've taken a stand in the past in favor of privacy and fundamental freedoms. But their rejection of ACTA is not a foregone conclusion by any means. They can be unpredictable.

However: Even if they reject ACTA, we still have bills in our own congress and senate that we still need to fight just as ferociously as we fought SOPA/PIPA. More ferociously, actually.

If ACTA passes, we are definitely in a world of hurt. I haven't been able to find out yet who has "standing" to fight such a treaty--or where the case would be considered. As far as I can tell, ACTA is completely outside of traditional authorities.

South Centre: An Intergovernmental Policy Think Tank of Developing Countries

The European Union (EU), The United States, Japan and 8 other countries are negotiating an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) outside multilateral forums like the WTO and WIPO. The ACTA pursues an agenda of enforcement of intellectual property (IP) rights that go beyond the standards under the TRIPS Agreement.

So I don't know who could take it to court and which court it would be adjudicated under. I have no doubt that's exactly what they intended.

I'm starting to think, though, that we should just let it all happen. When the Internet turns into a stagnant backwash filled with garbage and desperate multilevel marketing--while the more technically adept among us come up with an external solution--well, we'll see where it all ends....

I'd like to take this moment to bestow my mild rant on this...

Basically nobody will care.

I say this because people have been duped by the 'app'
Already people have decided it's okay to be told what programs, websites and content they are allowed to be viewing.
I mean what was so cool about apple anyway? I think it was bunch of a crap and hype to support the idea of the app.
In some ways the limitations have been thwarted by it's own popularity in apple's case...

But look at the xbox and other units; They support netflix and youtube and a select megacorporate smattering of "apps"
Why doesn't every device on the world just support a common OS and let me do wtf I want with it?
There could be an excuse from someone suggesting that publishers can't keep up or are too valuable or something...
But the thread about ACTA relating to 3D printing really expresses how well open source works in contrast...

So when will it end?
Never... The youth of today already think the internet is a collection of icons which double as corporate logos...

Cheers /rant

Originally posted by JRedBeard
Why doesn't every device on the world just support a common OS and let me do wtf I want with it?

While I think your heart is in the right place I should add that one OS no matter how open would prove a significant problem. But I do think the open source movement has the potential to take this in a more complete and accommodating direction.

If a large enough group of people work together to create an open and free system to work from and then share that system for free with other groups to then modify to meet their specific needs ... well you see where I am going.

I certainly don't like the idea of any large corporation setting the limits as to how and when I can or cannot access my content, function, etc...

Unfortunately I have found that some people appear to be more than willing to digest the totality of their content by simply clicking on glossy buttons with beveled edges

Yeah mate. If you noticed, our government signed ACTA when the Carbon Tax was in the spotlight. Australia signed it in October last year.

Originally posted by jsettica
I would not worry about the interwed to much there are bigger things afoot.
Lets just say when it comes there will be no need for this digital age any more.

Care to elaborate?

Originally posted by jsettica
I would not worry about the interwed to much there are bigger things afoot.
Lets just say when it comes there will be no need for this digital age any more.

Internet is the future.

reply to post by OrNaM3nT


Internet is the present....Sticks and stones, as Nostradamus may have for told, may very well be the future

ACTA is international law, US law supersedes international law, but then you have to look at the prospect of the US government crumbling.

Originally posted by henryleo

Originally posted by JRedBeard
Why doesn't every device on the world just support a common OS and let me do wtf I want with it?

While I think your heart is in the right place I should add that one OS no matter how open would prove a significant problem.

I think you're right about that. Operating System was probably a poor choice of words.

What I meant to convey there is more like: When I have a device that is internet capable with the hardware it needs to run various programs and features etc, Why can't I just have the regular ol internet. Why can't I see the files on the device, add my own, run the programs I want to run, download what I want ya know?

Sometime's I feel like the cell phones, music players and consoles of today still aren't as powerful as my 486 running Windows 3.11 simply due to the handicaps placed on the freedom of devices today... Why isn't my cell phone just a crappy pentium 2 or something with a tiny screen?

Anyway sorry that's a little off topic...
Would be nice if more people were talking about this ACTA. Hopefully everyone will not have protest fatigue from SOPA.

Makes me wonder what would happen if the different states tried to have drastically different laws regarding the internet... how could that be enforced?

Originally posted by SpeachM1litant
I am sorry if this is in the wrong forum.

The internet is effectively being censored by the ACTA legislation which surpasses local and national governments as it is an international treaty signed by executive agreement. It is not simply the 22 EU Member States that have signed the ACTA legislation. The list includes:

-United States
-the European Union and 22 Member States
-Australia
-Canada
-Japan
-Morocco
-New Zealand
-Singapore and South Korea

While 'we the people' were mobilising against SOPA and PIPA, reporting it all over the internet, raising awarness and (for the American citizens) calling senate representitive and congress people and urging them to repeal their support- our federal governments have implemented similiar legislation through executive agreements and other means.

We were duped. However many have mobilised against it. In belguim there were protests 9gag.com... as there were protests in Poland. In Australia many groups concerned with internet freedoms have appealed to our federal government.

However some of the alarming facts are that the public wasn't permitted to see the ACTA legislation untill after implementation. ACTA was being promotted by the G8 in 2008 and early drafts were considered in Wellington New Zealand in 2010. However, both the Bush and Obama administration refused to show their citizens the contents of the ACTA legislation as it would "cause damage to the national security".

en.wikipedia.org...

We were all fooled. It is time we take a stand once again and save online freedoms.

In Canada it call Bill C-11 to be sign in Feb 9th i think here a link

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I get the distinct feeling that this IS the start of the SHTF. When they have brought down the digital world they will begin on the physical. TPTB will have to stem the free flow of information before they can begin their TRUE agenda.

I found a mark-up copy of ACTA here (assuming anyone wants to actually read the thing instead of speculating wildly). It is a bit difficult to follow, primarily because there are variations between the agreeing nations on the wording, but so far all I see is an International agreement to enforce intellectual property right claims across national boundaries.

I am vehemently opposed to SOPA/PIPA because both of these bills seek to proactively punish websites without due process (as in based on accusation rather than conviction) and based solely on content that may be added without the knowledge or consent of the owners. In simpler terms, it tries to enforce piracy laws onto those who did not promote piracy, but allowed for free speech of others, and does so without anyone being convicted.

That is wrong. It is also a danger to the Internet.

ACTA, on the other hand (at least what I have read so far) is nothing like that. All it does is to agree that intellectual property rights holders in one nation can bring charges against accused pirates in other nations. If you own the rights to a song or video in the United States, for instance, and someone in England is selling it without your consent, you can still sue them.

What's wrong with that?

Singers, songwriters, programmers, producers, and writers all have the right to their property just as much as you or I have the right to our property. The difference is that these people own something that they created rather than something they bought. In my opinion, that makes it more theirs than buying something. It is their creation. That means they get to say how or if it is distributed and how much they want for it.

This is nothing new; people have owned their own creations since the earliest times in history. They have to in order for people to want to create. No one is going to spend untold hours of their time and use their talents to create something if there is no benefit to them. To make piracy legal is to stop all progress.

The problem today is that someone can write a program in the US, expecting to sell it and make a few bucks for all their hard work, and someone in Japan can get a copy and start selling it for less... or even giving it away just to get traffic to their website and make money from the advertising. The creator in the US can't do much about it, because they aren't in Japan. So the person who made the program, the person who owns the program, gets a little income, but someone who simply copied it gets a lot of income.

Someone want to tell me how that is fair?

Under ACTA, the creator can file suit against the pirate in Japan, and Japan will pursue the charge. That's all.

Now, if I have missed something in ACTA that goes too far, please let me know; that could change my mind completely. But please save your keyboard if all you have is what someone said the treaty says or wild unfounded accusations. Show me in print, in the treaty or in legislation, actual evidence.

Or be prepared to show yourself as uninformed.

TheRedneck

what about google change their terms of service

Star for your post sir. Mesh internet is the way of the future. The tech is here Use the controlled net for your Mcdonalds use your control free mesh for your Steak and Lobster.

ACTA has not been ratified by congress as such it can not be acted on under the constitution. Since there are no laws on the books about piracy of copyrighted material, there is no point to bringing it before congress at this time . Any international treaty, which this is, is null until congress approves it.

So they can sign all they want , with no law on the books and no congressional approval they can go rub rock salt. Enter SOPA and PIPPA guess why they were trying to ram this crap down our throats. Oh yeah and the other one that is "for the children". Any time they trot out that baloney I always look for the possum in the wood pile. There's always some other agenda when they trot out that old parable. It's never for the children. There's always something else going on behind the scenes.