Secret copyright treaty leaks. It's bad. Very bad.

For those interested in learning more about ACTA, or taking action against ACTA, please refer to the following links:

Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

What we know for sure about ACTA...the 150 pages (out of 1300 requested) released under the FOIA can be found at Significant ACTA Documents

Don't forget to write your Congressperson (protest form included below is already pre-filled out) at Time to Act on ACTA: Tell Congress to Open the Secret IP Pact

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.

[edit on 4-11-2009 by fraterormus]

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.

No, but they have some awesome promotional tshirts and hoodies and im either going to save up for one or tranform a salvation army one into a work of art and a political statements.

A tshirt campaign is graphic, visual, attracts they eye and makes a bold statement. This and other nwo issues would be the way to go along with contacting all the mla.

Also, its high time we establish a free internet, dont you think?

reply to post by Snarf


Then peerguardian2 may be an option - if someone was to do that, which I am not advocating in any way shape or form.

Yeah good luck with that.

When everyone was stuffing the tops of cassette tapes or taping the tabs ack closed, did anyone ban me from buying a tape deck?

It's impossible. They'd be better off going after the sites that host this kind of thing and censoring it from the ISP on down the line. But going after individuals for accessing these site ... yeah right.

We had the very same thing in France !
Hadopi law - it isn't secret, though. If you're suspected to download via P2P three times, they cut your internet and you pay a fine. If you manage to prove you're innocent, which can only be done through installing a software that tells them everything you do when you browse the internet, they still cut your internet because you're not able to securise your access.
Enjoy

Originally posted by fraterormus
This is not a solution to any IP problem, but will only make the problem significantly worse.

Very true, however if everyone goes to ground then they are truely acting in an illegal fashion. More sound bytes for the 'free' press, more victories for the government in the battle against crime.

I haven't heard how the bill in favor of requiring ISP's to throttle bandwidth was received by the US congress last week (that's when it was supposed to be floored) but here in Canada it passed with out a word...before, during or after. I feel that particular legislation is either a stepping stone towards this greater goal, or an attack on a seperate front against the pesky persistence of free speech.

Either way, they are trying hard aren't they?

It's like my father has always said about the banks; if they want it, you don't.

[edit on 4-11-2009 by [davinci]]

That's rubbish. Any sort of proof of this "leak?" There is no way any sane administration would make such a ridiculous bit of legislature come to pass. It would crush our country. It would as a result, crush other countries. Do you fully realize how much business is now done online? The economy would utterly crash.. around the world.

No one is going to allow this. It would never be allowed to happen. So no, I'm not scared, because this seems like so much sensationlist nonsense.

you don't understand. Its not something they would do, or the providers could even afford to do all the time. They want to put it in place to kill youtubes and alternative grass roots news sites and can abritrarily shut down anyone they wish to and they're guilty until proven innocent. For the unaware, it will business as usual. That is all they consider it for after all.

one thing people always seem to miss is the power reason, they don't have to enforce any law and in many cases only do so in a discretionary way against target individuals.

Obama is just a figurehead of a million man government not the ruler.

It's things like this that make me want to slap the # out of those idiots that go around saying freedom isn't free.

No it costs everything that is true freedom to achieve it.

I love these copyright infringement situations. And how they pick and choose which battles to fight.

I work in Manhattan a few train stops from world renouned Chinatown. Right now I can head off in that direction knowing I can buy a boatload of knockoff products there really cheap.

CD's, clothes, pocketbooks, watches, you name it, someone is counterfeiting it for us to buy, and selling it out of these shops. For lifetime's this has been going on; everybody who shops there knows, and so must the establishment.

These folks have stores, with physical addresses. They're not working out of the trunk of a car, so why are they not shut down? Can it not be proven that their wares are bogus seconds?

This is a whole zip code devoted to infringing on copyrights through the re-branding of every major logo under the sun and yet, when the sun rises tomorrow, so to will their security gates and the open for business signs will be out in full swing.

Funny how when they want to take J Q Citizen and demonize him/her for perhaps using sound or video clips strung together for a you tube video to express an idea or thought, they have no problem invoking their do not pass go, do not collect $200, go straight to jail, or in this case, lose your right to access the internet mantra. How much money has anyone really made off of their you tube videos or the CD's they burned for a friend anyway?

Of course this must be done because that person must serve as an example. I love their examples. Always us, never them. Always the individual little fish and not business's that really do the real damage.

Like that mom who's kid was downloading music, the little evil doer, lol. Remember what they socked her with? Something like 1.4 million dollars in damages. Makes sense, she was loaded right? Making Madoff money right? They can expect to recoup that can't they? Nope. She was just a mom, with a kid, who found a hole in the system and exploited it. TPTB don't do that do they?

2012, the shift, the ascension, the collapse, whatever.... It can't come fast enough!

if you download something by torrent, I think they cannot know what you are downloading, so, they cannot punish you, since not everything avaliable in a torrent network is illegal ...

reply to post by circuitsports


I didnt miss this. That is the reason for it, they wont do this massively, but they can take anyone out they want and focus on making life really hard on the best grass roots awareness sites there are. This tells me youtubes can change the world, and they can arbitrarily make life miserable, or try to cut off the ones doing the best job of reaching others any time they wish and it would take ages, not to mention using someone elses net to get things down, or a good proxy.

Don't know if this has been pointed out, but it's an absolute piece of cake to log onto an unsecured wireless network (not that I condone or endorse such things, but bear with me, I'm making a point). People are just going to start driving around town with their laptops and logging onto other people's networks to do their copyright infringing, so that Joe Blow gets his service canceled rather than the person breaking the law.

TPTB really don't think these idiotic proposals through...


TA

[edit on 4-11-2009 by TheAssociate]

reply to post by Voxxrocks


"Funny how when they want to take J Q Citizen and demonize him/her for perhaps using sound or video clips strung together for a you tube video to express an idea or thought, they have no problem invoking their do not pass go, do not collect $200, go straight to jail, or in this case, lose your right to access the internet mantra. How much money has anyone really made off of their you tube videos or the CD's they burned for a friend anyway?"


This is what its all about. Most people are neither rich enough, talented enough to put together professional quality videos. And few are as beautiful and wonderful, (and she is truly a wonderful in this light inside and out, and blessings to her) as

Morning mayan is.

So they're not going to want to put themselves in the video, and meditation or awareness videos benefit from music especially.

This is because youtubes can change the world.

I have a question...

Rather than you your internet connection to access the world wide web (that is nothing more than porn and advertising now adays) with all the super smart tech geeks...why is there not alternative www?

Instead of http why not have a ?Linux type of WWW - XXX that uses a strain or alternative HTTP.
So instead of using mainsteam www (microshaft) use the xxx (linux) > type of concept?!?!?

The goverments all want to control the www then lets make a detour...

Recycling that ACTA fear propaganda again?
I guess Halloween isn't over yet....lol

Trick or Freak

Threat Level Privacy, Crime and Security Online
Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement: Fact or Fiction? September 15, 2008

I'm just about ready to stop typing and start shooting any way.
All civility means to the politicians, is Mass murder in an orderly fashion
anyway.
They're nothing but a scurge to our world.

Yes and you all should understand that they want to ban all "free" download over the web, or website not under controll.

Really you should think about the difference betwean what is legal and what is illegal , and what is the law ?

Really, there are open source licence, creative common licence, and a lot lot more, and don't forget public domain ...;

WHAT is the law ?

First the idea of public domain was to accept that when the "artist" died ( and their child) all their stuff must belong to the community ( or humanity : this is part of "humanism" ).

But what ? What if you require to your congressman to apply this "philosophy" and vote law in this direction : the culture will be FREE, the information will be free.

Internet is in fact a war against "economical statu quo", with computer and network, and the capacity to duplicate, what is the price of books, a movie etc ? In term of energy : really nothing !

So please : really thing about that : do you want a free internet, where culture, knoledge, information is free / or do you that the ancient economic world to rebuild internet for their profit ?

Yes internet, sharing through network : is an other form of econony.

awww shucks. i think everyone here know what needs to be done. they think we're weak and they can play us like puppets. they will suck our blood unbtil its dry then they'll extract our soul. are we going to let this happen? what can we do to stop this? well, they need to know we're not kidding. the death toll need to rise on you know who.

As has been stated, this could actually kill of many ISP's. Forcing people to use, dare I say it, Internet 2?