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Leaked ACTA Treaty to Outlaw P2P?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the coming-at-you-from-every-side dept.

miowpurr writes to tell us that a draft of the ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) has been posted on Wikileaks. Among others, Boing Boing's Cory Doctorow has weighed in on the possible ramifications of this treaty. "Among other things, ACTA will outlaw P2P (even when used to share works that are legally available, like my books), and crack down on things like region-free DVD players. All of this is taking place out of the public eye, presumably with the intention of presenting it as a fait accompli just as the ink is drying on the treaty."

3 of 387 comments (clear)

  1. If your congress critter is on this list by merchant_x · · Score: 5, Informative

    Tell them to stop selling out their constituents.

    From TFA
    Thank you also to the Members present, who have done so much to advance
        the cause of IP protection, including:
                - Rep. Mary Bono (R-CA)
                - Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
                - Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA)
                - Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA)
                - Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)

  2. Re:Just as with anything... by oahazmatt · · Score: 5, Informative
    It goes further. From the Wikipedia article:

    The proposed agreement would allow border officials to search laptops, MP3 players, and cellular phones for copyright-infringing content. It would also impose new cooperation requirements upon internet service providers (ISPs), including perfunctory disclosure of customer information, and restrict the use of online privacy tools. The proposal specifies a plan to encourage developing nations to accept the legal regime.
    --
    Those who believe the Internet is private,
    find their privates are on the Internet.
  3. p2p == !DNS by swm · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yes, all IP packets are sent from one peer to another.

    The defining characteristic of what people call peer-to-peer systems is that the peers find each other without relying on the Domain Name System. A service that relies on the DNS--like a web server--can be shut down by removing its address from the DNS. Wikileaks had a problem like that recently. If you can force everyone to go through the DNS, then the DNS become a single point of control for the entire internet, and you can easily shut down anyone you don't like.

    The tricky part is establishing the legal principle that forces everyone to go through the DNS. You have to make it illegal to send a packet to an IP address unless you have obtained that IP address through a DNS lookup. Or something like that...