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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."

4 of 387 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Guess they don't play WoW... by spun · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Fundamentally, the problem is dealing with sociopaths without reducing the freedoms of the majority of decent folks. How do you let decent folks participate in self governance, and give them freedoms, without ceding control to the sociopaths?

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    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  2. Re:Typical by digitrev · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Nah. HTTP has too many legitimate uses and has been around for too long. It's much easier to attack the fringe first. After all, most people will agree that the majority of P2P sharing infringes on someone's copyright. Whether or not this is fair use is another argument. So by taking out the things with the most illegal use, they get people accustomed to having protocols be made illegal. So when the big media companies create a new protocol, call it "Guaranteed Information Delivery Protocol", or something equally fuzzy, all other protocols will be slowly phased out, as "illegal things" could happen on them. Of course, with GIDP, you'll never have to deal with something scary and illegal like child pornography. Only our nice and safe news/entertainment will be available to you. And how I wish that someone could prove to me that these are just the paranoid ramblings of a /.er.

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    Cynical Idealist
  3. When I was in school by gerf · · Score: 5, Interesting

    When I was in school, we were taught about Francis Cabot Lowell, who heroically copied machine plans in England to use in the US for textile mills.

    England was so worried that their monopoly on their mill technology would be taken that they would search ships, cargo and passenger for hidden plans.

    Fortunately for the US, Lowell memorized the plans and was able to build his own plants in the New World. His business was the beginning of the industrialization of the New World. Without which, the United States would have continued to be merely agrarian in nature. Does anyone know if they still teach this lesson in gradeschools, or was it killed when they started teaching kids to respect copyrights more?

  4. Re:Guess they don't play WoW... by hairyfeet · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Yeah,not too mention WTH is the point of voting if your choice is "rich old money corporate ass kisser A" or "rich old money corporate ass kisser B"? Lets face it,when it comes to kissing the corporate booty the dems and repubs are pretty much the same. Basically anything that can boost profits or screw us out of fair use WILL be passed,no matter whether the guy you vote for has a D or a R in front of his name.What are the copyrights up to now,100 years?


    And while I would be happy to vote for an Independent that had even the tiniest of snowballs chance in hell,I just don't see us getting a real third party anytime soon. Not unless we can get someone like Ron Paul or Jessie Ventura to run and build up a buzz. But that is my 02c,YMMV

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    ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.