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FTAA Treaty Threatens Innovation
The Importance of writes "IP Justice has published a white paper on the intellectual property aspects of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) treaty, which is an attempt to create a single free trade agreement for the Western Hemisphere. Read the press release. The analysis is pretty devastating. The proposed language of the agreement has a number of serious flaws, including (but certainly not limited to) enhanced criminal penalties, a super-DMCA provision, reduced scope for fair use, and database protection elements.
The proposed treaty is supposed to be complete by January 2005 and go into effect December 2005. Now is not too early to let your representatives and others know what a bad idea the intellectual property elements of the treaty are."
All your mind are belong to us..
just great.. now we will have mexican's filing patents for velcro.
anime+manga together at last.. in real time.
It's sad to see massive amounts of garbage like this getting stuffed into what is supposed to be a Free Trade treaty. In typical fashion, special interests are attaching their wish lists to an initiative that seems to have a good chance of becoming law. Hopefully this nonsense will get stricken out and the real work of expanding trade within the Americas can proceed...
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
Remember: When you contact your representative, do NOT e-mail. Congressmen do not take e-mails seriously. E-mailing tells the congressman that you don't care enough about the issue to actually sit down and put effort into your contact.
There is only one way to actually get your congressman's attention: A good, old-fashioned letter, with $10,000 in hundred-dollar bills paper clipped to it. Please keep this in mind and act accordingly.
1. Expanded Criminal Penalties Would Send Non-Commercial Infringers to Prison
a) Threatens to Mandate Prison for P2P File-Sharing
Wow. Now, I'm not in the camp of people that says "FREE STUFF FOR EVERYONE, SCREW IP!" and I actually support (reasonable) penalties for the people who get caught (after all, they ARE breaking copyright law, whether they atually cost the company anything or not). This, though, is just crazy. Why should Joe Schmoe, who is sharing a bunch of Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit MP3s, spend time in PRISON for doing so?
It would be understandable if he were making copies of the CDs and selling thousands of them, but it says non-commercial infringers.
Scary.
-- Dr. Eldarion --
"Oh, no. Anything but free trade."
The Free Trade Area of the Americas is about protectionism? That's worse than "fighting for peace".
The "free trade" agreements seem to support incumbent businesses at the expense of innovation, which is the opposite of their intended use.
I'm no free trade nut - I think there's plenty wrong with unfettered free trade - but in the scope of problems it can address, let's use it to address them, and not further protect entrenched ways of doing things.
It's not wasting time, I'm educating myself.
b) Article 4.2 Permits Additional Criminal Procedures and Penalties Against Non-Commercial and Non-Willful Infringers c) Articles 4.3 and 4.4 Permit Seizure and Destruction of Property and Assets d) Article 4.6 Permits Criminal Charges Without the Need for a Private Complaint soooo, basically, if middle-class stockbroker Bob Schmoe doesn't know his son is downloading mp3s and warez, the feds can just hop in and seize his comp, and put him away without ever having to hear from some company? Whatever happened to "Stop, thief!".... bleh...
You win battles by knowing the enemy's timing, and using a timing which the enemy does not expect. Miyamoto Musashi
I think this has a snowball's chance in hell of actually being ratified. This isn't the terrorist-frigtened congress of 2001, you aren't going to be able to slip this under people's noses this time like with the DMCA. I can guarantee that only one of those 33 countries will be pushing this. Guess which one.
I'll form my OWN solar system! With blackjack! And hookers!
Why bother? Honestly, what is the outcome here? I have written to my congresspeople probably on the order of 10-15 times each about an item specifically regarding the myth of intellectual property and its associated devestation. I have recived neat and grammatically precise responses each time, full of absolutely nothing of value or substance regarding the issues. Not even my representative's opinion on the matter. You don't get congress to go against measures like this (i.e., measures that assure corporate "donations") unless there is a *really* massive demonstration. The kind that the American public has not shown any sort of willingness or poise to do in oh-so-many years.
I will write my congressperson again this time, only with a heavy hand, and a large dose of bitterness in knowing that I don't have the pocketbook required to make a real impact.
Corporate politics is ruining what's left of the U.S., and is pulling a lot of other nations down with it.
--rhad
Slashdot needs to interview Natalie Portman.
If you live in the USA, contacting your representative will be fruitless. The Senate ratifies treaties without consulting the House. Try contacting your Senator instead.
If Fair Use is redefined in this manner, it seems like the FTAA could be interpreted to outlaw public libraries. If you check out a book as opposed to buying it, under the FTAA's new economic-based model of assessing Fair Use, a library would be liable for causing financial damage to the publisher.
Kudos to our corporate overlords for their foresight and wisdom.
"... significant willful infringements of copyrights ... that have no direct or indirect motivation of financial gain shall be considered willful infringement on a commercial scale. ..."
Let me get this straight....there is no direct or indirect financial motivation, yet this is somehow equated with commercial infringement?
I'm all for throwing the real IP pirates in jail -- the ones who copy CDs and DVDs, press 1000's of counterfeits, then sell them for a huge profit. Making money like this really is piracy (in a newer, less-traditional use of the word anyway). But to equate that kind of crime to that of the college student sharing a few tunes on their computer for free....mind boggling!
"The market alone cannot provide sufficient constraints on corporation's penchant to cause harm." -- Joel Bakan
My favorite quote:
As of October 2003, an estimated 60 million Americans use P2P file-sharing software in the US alone and the number of overseas users is even higher. This level of civil disobedience sends the crystal clear message that intellectual property laws are in stark contrast with the will of the people and should be changed to clearly legalize P2P file-sharing. Without the consent of the governed, FTAA's policies have no legitimate place in an international treaty between democracies.
That's the most succinct way I've yet heard to describe the people's demand that Hollywood drag themselves into the current century!
In typical fashion, special interests are attaching their wish lists to an initiative that seems to have a good chance of becoming law.
Congressman 1: "Then it is unanimous. We are going to approve the bill to evacuate the town of Springfield in the great state of..."
Congressman 2: "Wait a second, I want to tack on a rider to that bill. Thirty million dollars of taxpayer money to support the perverted arts."
Congressman 1: "All in favor of the amended Springfield-slash-Pervert bill?"
(jeers and boos)
Congressman 1: "Bill defeated."
NAFTA threatens environmental protection will FTAA be any better? NAFTA threatens public services will FTAA be any better?
Lower barriers to trade is a good Idea, but the FTA, NAFTA, and FTAA has little to do with trade, and everything to do with making governments subservient to trans-national corporations.
IP Justice Presents the Top 10 Reasons to Delete the IP Chapter of the FTAA Agreement:
1.
Threatens to Imprison Millions of People for P2P File -Sharing of Music
One option proposed for Article 4.1 of the intellectual property rights chapter in the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Treaty would mandate that countries must send noncommercial infringers such as Peer2-Peer (P2P) file-sharers to prison. By changing the standard that triggers criminal penalties from commercial infringements to "significant willful infringements," people will be sent to prison for infringements that have no financial or commercial motivation or gain. An otherwise law-abiding person who swaps dozens or hundreds of songs over the Internet would be subject to imprisonment under this lower standard. An estimated 60 million Americans use P2P file-sharing software in the US alone.
2.
Restrains Trade and Prevents Competition
Mislabeled as a "free trade" agreement, the FTAA Treaty will actually harm free trade and restrict competition in the market. Anti-circumvention prohibitions, such as those contained in the FTAA Treaty, prevent people from bypassing trade barriers like DVD region code restrictions. They also create monopolies for entrenched corporations over the manufacture of compatible or interoperable devices. These provisions prevent consumers from purchasing after market replacement parts in industries completely unrelated to copyright. For example, Ford could embed a chip in a tire in order to require consumers to only purchase Ford tires. In the US where anti-circumvention laws are already in place, they have been used to sue a competing manufacturer of printer cartridges and a competing manufacturer of garage door openers for providing compatible parts.
3.
Chills Freedom of Expression and Scientific Research
Anti-circumvention laws outlaw tools including software and technical data that could help someone to bypass technological restrictions on digital media. Computer programs and research papers that assist in circumventing these restrictions are illegal under provisions against trafficking in circumvention technologies. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) outlawed circumvention in the US , creating a chilling effect for scientists and computer programmers who publish information about the vulnerabilities of media companies' technologies. Many researchers have been threatened with prosecution for their research and one Russian PhD student spent 6 weeks in jail on charges of trafficking in circumvention devices for the legitimate software he had written. Prominent scientists have publicly stated that they will not travel to or publish their research in jurisdictions that have passed anti-circumvention laws out of fear of liability. Scientific conferences are relocating to countries outside the US , where the organizers and speakers will not be subject to imprisonment for disseminating technical papers that describe the weaknesses of certain technologies. The FTAA Treaty threatens to expand these anti-circumvention provisions and extend them to all signatory nations, in violation of both the US Constitution and the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantee of freedom of expression.
4.
Stifles Innovation and Inhibits Free and Open Source Software Development
Anti-circumvention provisions in the draft FTAA agreement limit the ability of innovators to develop media devices that are compatible with existing devices. Companies and individuals are prevented from building new and innovative technologies that would enable lawful uses of media, such as playing a DVD movie on nonproprietary software. Large multinational corporations can build on their monopolies and force small innovators out of the market. Open Source and Free Software developers, a major source of innovation in the software industry, are explicitly discriminated against in one proposed clause to Article 21.1, which provides less protection to software that is not being produced for commercial gain
I'm not sure those FTAA provisions would pass here in Brazil. There simply isn't much political support for it. In the current state of matters, President Lula is trying to become kind of a leader for Latin American countries, and has already partnered with President Kirchner of Argentina in FTAA-important matters. Brazil was one of the founders of Mercosur (Common Market of South Cone Countries), and intends to, first, strenthen Mercosur, and then negotiate with US as a unified block. This makes sense, since each of the Latin American economies has, individually, not much power of bargain.
First, FTAA must be approved by all countries willing to participate. In some countries, like Bolivia, there's no popular will to do that, and the population may resort to violence if the government insist to push unwanted policies. If FTAA manages to do that, and I seriously doubt it will be succesful, it's very likely it will fall sooner or later. And if this happens, I hope it will be soon.
My neighbor's
For those who remember, the FTAA was the reason for the massive protests in Quebec City in 2001. It was the biggest shindig since the Battle of Seattle. Ah, the memories of getting teargassed while peacefully protesting... damn that CS gas is wicked stuff.
http://members.tripod.com/infobank1/
In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane. -Oscar Wilde
The FTAA has been in development since 1998, and its not even supposed to be completed until 2005, there's still a lot of room for changes in it. Luckilly, Brazil has led the push for more reasonable IP rights including compulsory liscensing for drugs, allowing governments to produce pharmacuticals at lower prices. Also, the Brazilian govt. is pushing to leave out of the FTAA the more contentions parts of IP laws as well as restricitons on providing services and allowint the WTO to deal with that. Finally, the breakdown of the WTO talks in Cancun will hopefully lend credibility to the push for more fair and moderate regulations. So maybe the sky isnt quite falling yet, as the IP Justice people think. For a different take, check out the official website here
If these so called Free Trade agreements were really about free trade, they would be a lot less complicated. They would just be about reducing tarrifs. What these "Trade Agreements" are really about is granting special rights and privilages to corporations, sometimes even making them above the law, at the expense of our national sovereignty.
For example, with NAFTA Canada sued the United States saying that banning asbestos is an infringement of Free Trade.
A few years ago before the WTO became a household word (err Acronym) they were trying to pass the Multilateral Agreement on Investment which would have given coporations an explicit Right to Profit above and beyond a citizens rights and privilages.
And just look at the current example. In the name of Free Trade they are trying to make fair use of our own legally purchased IP illegal, such as bypassing DVD Region codes.
It is not a matter of U.S. vs. Mexico or whatever. NAFTA has been bad for the general population of all three countries, and now they want to extend it to the entire western hemisphere.
It is all about the special interests.
This signature used to contain a cute kitty virus with ansii art. Please set the slashdot editors on fire. Thank you
bi-lateral trade
agreements between the U.S. and Australia, Singapore, and presumably
anyone else that will sign that pushes the same agenda.
Another word for this is "corruption." Free trade should not come with strings attached.
Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
Ross Perot was essentially correct. NAFTA and the US involvement in the WTO has been accompanied by massive transfer of US technological infrastructure overseas. This has been facilitated by substantial government deficits, massive immigration and transfer of US capital and real estate assets(as well as an increasing trend of the US government to vote on the basis of political donations rather than popular will). The problem was less apparent in the 90's because there was a brisk trade associated with facilitating the early parts of this transfer.
The latest "Free Trade" bills also contain provisions that expand L1 non-immigrant visas. These trade deals more or less mandate the US cannot effectively control its borders.
The only candidate for president seriously addressing this issue is Dennis Kucinich(www.kucinich.us).
It appears that there is a Free Trade of the Americas website. They also have links to who to call if you feel the need to sound off. I trust we all know what to do with this information. :)
Why yes I am paranoid! Thanks for asking!
Why bother? Honestly, what is the outcome here? ... You don't get congress to go against measures like this (i.e., measures that assure corporate "donations") unless there is a *really* massive demonstration. The kind that the American public has not shown any sort of willingness or poise to do in oh-so-many years.
... provided we have the will and the sense to try.
Moveon.org was able to get together a very large public outcry against the FCC's recent attempt to further diminish diversity in the American media. Although the fight is not over, this 11th hour effort has managed to get congress to vote overwhelmingly to revoke Baby Powell's attempt to use the FCC as little more than a frontman for the media cartels. It appears likely some (though not all) of Baby Powell's appalling sellout to the media cartels is going to be reversed, in a manner that is extremely rare in Washington.
This was done as a belated reaction to an already done "insider" deal among Washingto Republican Burocrats (the FCC vote was divided precisely along party lines).
We have over a year to get our act together. Doing so would allow us to speek with at least as loud a voice, quite possibly as effectively, but only if people actually GET OFF THEIR ASSES and actually do it. If, on the other hand, everyone follows your advice, nothing will get done and the tyranny of evil, corrupt men will continue to erode our freedom of expression, our freedom of thought, our freedom to innovate, and ultimately our freedom to live, until there is nothing left.
This is what was meant when the founding fathers said "Freedom requires eternal vigilance," and quite frankly, this is the acid test our generation is failing miserably.
The question is really this: will we continue to fail miserably, until there is no freedom left in our lives, or will we stand up and be counted? Given the degree of forwarning we have on this particular issue, any failure to stand up and be counted will be our own, not "the system's" or "those corrupt people over there." No, it will be our apathetic selves who are at fault, and the freedom we would in that event be so unfit for and undeserving of is almost certain to diminish as a result.
If dispirited and demoralized liberals could finally grow a backbone and stand up when the chips were down with the radical right's recent media power grab at the FCC and get congress moving in record time to stop it, surely we technophiles, who transcend such traditional left-right, liberal-conservative, democrat-republican lines should be able to do at least as well
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
Sure, IP restrictions are evil and so forth, and there will be many rants here about how terribly the nerds, visionaries and innovators will be oppressed, but that's a whole lot of narrow, selfish thinking by said nerds, visionaries and innovators (there goes my karma). This discussion misses the larger picture and focuses only on what the enlightened, educated, US-based majority of the readers care about and/or can be affected by: bigger, stronger RIAA's and MPAA's, and draconian corporations hoarding more and more knowledge.
What's left out is that the spirit of the whole treaty is basically to make the Central and South American nations subjects to the rule of the US economy and the corporations that feed off it, much like what NAFTA has done to Mexico and Canada. It will create one huge Export Processing Zone all the way from Mexico to the Southern tip of Chile, where such peachy corporations like Nike, Adidas, Ralph Lauren, Walmart and so on will practically enslave thousands of displaced farmers while other corporations rape their land for natural resources. It's already happening in countries all over the world, with more localized treaties and deregulations, where the governments don't care, are blinded by the money or have their arms twisted by the might of their patrons. Free Trade in this context is a euphimism for economic conquest by transnational corporations.
Canada has a unique position in all this, because unlike the other (soon to be) subjugated countries, we have a high standard of living and an educated, skilled workforce. Hence, we don't have sweatshops - instead, our manufacturing left for the sweatshop factories of Mexico and the Export Processing Zones in the Phillipines and China along with that of the United States. Still, we're very much slaves of our big brother, constantly battered over fishing, softwood lumber, grain and so on. No political action that contravenes the US ideology goes without the consideration of what it will do to our economy. Legalize weed? Sure, sounds good, but can't you see Dubya over there shaking his head? Don't want to go to war with Iraq? Just you wait 'til the next time we set lumber tariffs.
Even as you read this, your pants are strangling your loins! Aaa!
This is the just the tip of the iceberg with the FTAA, affectionately known as "NAFTA on Steroids." It would wreck havoc on the hemisphere, bringing living standards, wages, environmental protections, etc. down everywhere. This isn't about free trade, it's about a corporate-driven race to the bottom.
Conveniently, the next meeting to plan it is in Miami next month, giving us the convenient opportunity to deliver our thoughts on these matters in person. For more info on the FTAA and the Miamo demonstrations, check out the Citizens Trade Campaign.
Red All Over: Rambling Missives from an Aspiring Revolutionary
I can't but help imagine the reactions our Founding Fathers would have to this, and other similarly proposed acts of our federal goverment. These people died, they DIED, to free themselves of this kind of rule by a governemt not subject to the will of the people. These men had a vision and this is certainly NOT it. I mean, imagine if Franklin had a covered wagon. Say he wanted to fix a broken wheel, and the best and cheapest wheels came from "region 3", but were made incompatible with his wagon on purpose by the manufacturer. But say he possessed the capibilites to make it work somehow through his own modifications. But then making this wheel work violated the law and he was SENT TO PRISON FOR MAKING IT COMPATABLE. What rubbish. If this kind of shit flew back in the late 1700's we'd be reading about it along with the outragous tea taxes, et al. At what point did we let power slip from our humble hands to our corporate/government overlords? It just seems like day after day we become one step closer to living like serfs again paying the already rich for the right to simply exist. I for one am fucking sick of it. But what can I do? I don't have the money or connections to be influencial. The mainstream media doesn't give a fuck. They're busy keeping people outraged with pointless shit like "The Pledge Debate." While clueless people get all wound up over 2 fucking words, the Government cronies (Democrats and Republicans, fuck em both) are using the fog to pass drastic societal changes right under our noses. AND NO ONE SEEMS TO CARE! Outside of a few places, like Slashdot, NO ONE cares, much less even knows about it. When did we become so apathetic? When did we decide that Brittney kissing Madonna or the 6 remaining fuckers on Survivor were more important than our inalieable right to live as free men and women? Will we ever revolt and take back what is rightfully ours, as our forefathers did for us? Or are we now just a bunch of mindless pathetic consumers that gobble up anything seen on tv as fact and all we are meant for is to spend spend spend. I fear we have become the latter...
"To lead the people, you must walk behind them"
Speaking of outsourcing, the ppl who say 'expand your skill set if you want to stay competitive' always amuse/horrify me. They neglect to realize that they are not the only ones adding to their skill set, the corporations are trying to move as much of their workforce oversees to cheap labor as they can so they too are increasing the skill set of their oversees workers. Right now, a few people coming off the relaitive gold rush of the dot coms have enough cash to continue to constantly retrain themsleves to learn more and more but eventually the corporations with their near infinite resources will out pace them. They will drop our pay and increase our hours making the work of learning new skills almost impossible all the time increasing the training of their oversees people. How long do you think you can continue to increase your skill set until it is either no longer enough to stay competitive or the field reaches the point where your job becuase obselete cause there is no more valuable skills in that area to learn (for example, compiler developement.) A lot of people are contenting themsleves with the opium of job security, that certianly there job won't go overseas - they can always retrain or increase their skill set. It isn't going to go on forever; reality is catching up and this treaty and the scenario you depict may just be the wake up call. Unfortunitly, I also agree that in 10-20 years ppl will be jumping ship but it will be too late. I think the proverbially titanic is already doomed and the only thing is to get the hell off the boat while there are still life boats to be had. For those who are still into free trade, this is your wake up call right here.
Some other minor notes, how long before our international business start getting taken over by all the overseas talent we are cultivating while not doing the same abroad? I'm going to laugh my ass off when all these overpayed ceos start getting canned for ceos that will accept a lot less and who are more in tune with their employees who will be all forieng outsourced workers. People are going on about how we are moving to a service economy. They neglected to tell us those services were all fastfood and Janitor services - service jobs we all seem intent on setting up robots to do. We're screwed. The manufacturing jobs disappeared and we didn't miss them cause they weren't our jobs. Our newly graduated students jobs disappeared and we told them to retrain even though they were in hopelessly in debt that not even bankruptcy will avoid. When your job disappears I hope you remmeber that 'increase you skill set' bullshit. And has anyone ever thought about the section of our economy that jsut isn't capable of doing these great new jobs that have replaced all the lower ones. Not everyone can be a manager. Not everyone can be a doctor. How many people can only handle a manufacturing job and are now forced to do a dead end abysmal pay job since the job sector they used to work for is now in mexico and the jobs that free trade promised them are ones they just can't do? It's nice to say increase your skill set and that free trade is only removing the lower end jobs to allow people to do higher ones, but the fact is that there are a lot of people that just cant do those white collar jobs and are now forced to work at even lower jobs cause there manufacturing ones disappeared. And it is quickly becoming apparent that removing low end jobs doesn't mean that we can all now not waste time with them and instead go on to higher jobs and instead means you will lose your job and no upper levels jobs will open for you. Simply put, free trade means an ever increasing section of our population is becoming unemployeed or underemployeed, our standard of living is dropping, and all those people who swore free trade was going to save us all are now abandoing our country for tax shelters while paying off our politicians and screwing over the public.
There's a growing sense that even if The Future comes,
most of us won't be able to afford it.
-- Lemmy
Unfortunately, not even the Senate has the authority to negotiate policy on the FTAA. Why? Because on August 6th 2002 they gave up that right when president Bush signed into law 'Fast Track' trade promotion authority, granting the president the ability to negotiate trade treaties as he sees fit, independant of Congressional input. All Congress gets to do now is vote 'yes' or 'no' on the finalized text of agreements such as the FTAA.
The best action against this corporatization of national policy is to take to the streets. The FTAA's next Ministerial meeting is in Miami on November 20th and 21st. Get some friends in a car, drive there, and make your voice heard by the people making the decisions. Write articles. Put them in your local weeklies and on websites and in flyers and posters and handbills.
The FTAA isn't a national issue because there isn't enough public outcry. There isn't any public outcry because people don't know whats at stake. Educate yourself and others. Support Indymedia.