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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."

9 of 387 comments (clear)

  1. Guess they don't play WoW... by Deathdonut · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Considering it uses p2p for patches.

    1. Re:Guess they don't play WoW... by snl2587 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Or that, if you really want to get technical, everything that takes place over the internet exchanges information between two or more parties. How does one quantify p2p as opposed to simply transfer of information between two people, two servers, etc?

    2. Re:Guess they don't play WoW... by nurb432 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And you don't think that is the ultimate goal, to kill off the internet as we know it ( and most digital media devices ) and return to the old form of 'media distribution' where they had pretty much total control?

      --
      ---- Booth was a patriot ----
    3. Re:Guess they don't play WoW... by digitrev · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You educate. You inform. More importantly, you teach people how to think. That's the real lesson. Make sure that the average man knows as much as he can, and is able and willing to think and criticize what he's told. That way, when push comes to shove, people will make a reasonable decision. As for avoiding tyrants...it boils down to trial and error. The key thing is to make sure that power is not and can not be consolidated by any one group or person. Which is what the Constitution tried to do.

      --
      Cynical Idealist
    4. Re:Guess they don't play WoW... by iminplaya · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I just don't see us getting a real third party anytime soon.

      Hell, I'll settle for a second one.

      --
      What?
  2. Typical by nurb432 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sneak it in the back door via treaties that trump sovereign laws.

    Im glad our collective governments have all the real issues of the world solved ( like famine, disease, terrorists , etc ) and can focus on such important things as saving some corporate entity from having to adapt to the future.. ( and make us all criminals in the process )

    Can you say 'one world government by proxy' ?

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
    1. Re:Typical by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "have all the real issues of the world solved"

      This isn't about music and/or copyrights, thats just a smoke screen for what they are really doing which is controlling the flow of information that they cannot watch. People in power get into power because they seek power over others. They fear the loss of power and so they want to control as much as they can. They fear any spread of information outside of their control as it can undermine their positions of power. This is all about constructing a global information gathering network. They want power over the internet and what flows on it. Most of us who don't seek power don't think like the people who seek power. The power seekers spend decades learning to gain and hold onto power. They are always looking at new ways to control and so far the Internet has grown up largely outside of their control and they dont want that.

  3. Re:If your congress critter is on this list by Shakrai · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Tell them to stop selling out their constituents.

    I don't know any of those names but one: Rep. Mary Bono (R-CA). The only 'constituents' that she gives a rat ass about are those that work for the content industry.

    This is the woman that pushed the Copyright Term Extension Act through Congress. This is a telling quote: (emphasis mine)

    "Actually, Sonny [reference to her late husband, Sonny Bono] wanted the term of copyright protection to last forever. I am informed by staff that such a change would violate the Constitution. As you know, there is also [then-MPAA president] Jack Valenti's proposal for term to last forever less one day. Perhaps the Committee may look at that next Congress."

    WTF is wrong with our elected officials? IANAL but I've read the Constitution enough times (and paid enough attention in civics class) to understand that the power of Congress to grant patents/copyrights is time limited. Let me help you Congresswoman:

    To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

    I also love the bit about what the MPAA President wanted. Care to tell me why his concerns should carry anymore weight then those of any American citizen?

    In short, she's a bitch and I wish I lived in her district so I could vote against her. Since I wouldn't live in California if you paid me a million bucks a minute (sorry to my friends on the west coast!) I'll have to be content with donating money to the campaign of whomever runs against her.

    --
    I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
    We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
  4. I'm a terrorist by Duncan+Blackthorne · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If I use P2P of any kind for any reason, legal or not, I'm a terrorist/terrorist sympathizer.
    If I get for free, legally or not, what I could PAY for, I'm a terrorist/terrorist sympathizer.
    If I don't spend every last penny I make on what corporate America tells me to, I'm a terrorist/terrorist sympathizer.
    If I don't purchase a gas-hogging SUV every three years, I'm a terrorist/terrorist sympathizer.
    If I ride a bicycle because gas is so expensive, I'm a terrorist/terrorist sympathizer.
    If I don't consume, consume, consume, and CONSUME, I'm a terrorist/terrorist sympathizer.
    I object to having to live in a fucking nanny-state, so OBVIOUSLY I'm a terrorist/terrorist sympathizer.
    If I don't live exactly like EVERYONE ELSE, then I'm a terrorist/terrorist sympathizer.


    ...

    Know what? The fucking bastards can fucking drop me in an oubliette in Gitmo then, because I guess I'm a fucking terrorist. I don't do everything I'm told to do, believe everything I'm told to believe, and keep my mouth shut because my opinions aren't "politically correct", so that makes me an "undesirable", worthy only of societies' scorn, and I should be treated like a dog.

    Let them sign their fucking little treaty. It's all paperwork bullshit anyway. I say it over and over again like a mantra: You can't stop the signal, goddamnit! Outlaw BitTorrent? Let's see them try, and if they do, someone will re-tool it into something completely different. Make the public internet unusable for anything other than their corporate bullshit? We'll find a way to subvert it into doing what we need it to do, or we'll tell them to go fuck themselves and go back to SneakerNet -- or maybe we'll just start creating a mesh network of our own and SCREW the ISPs!

    ..Said it before, I'll say it again: If this is the shape of things to come, then they can KEEP their fucking fucked-up internet. I'll go back to PRINTED BOOKS and actually TALKING TO LIVE PEOPLE IN PERSON, and these fucking politicians and their ISP lap-dogs won't get a SINGLE PENNY more of mine.
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