Wikileaks Releases ACTA Negotiations As "0-Day"

An anonymous reader writes "Wikileaks has released a new document about the ACTA negotiations occurring in Washington over the next three days. This might be the shortest time between authorship of a document and its publication on Wikileaks so far. The brief 3-page memo, dated today, could add quite a bit of oil to the fire of the ACTA debate. It is titled Business Perspectives on Border Measures and Civil Enforcement and it contains a set of proposals to the 'ACTA negotiators' issued by 'Concerned business groups operating in ACTA nations.' Among many highly invasive methods and approaches proposed in this memorandum, the reader can find detailed demands for: full disclosure of relevant information by Customs to trademark holders so that they can mount private investigations; disclosure of identities and other information about copyright infringers; and increased inspection of goods. This document is especially important to raise public awareness on these negotiations and their implications for the future." We've been watching ACTA develop for a few months now.

Comments

ACTA?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it really that hard to say what the initials stand for just once in the summary?

wikileaks

[olddotter]

Part of me thinks that had the technology been around in the mid 1700's the rights of something like Wikileaks would have been enshrined in the constitution by the founding fathers as the ultimate check and balance.

Re:wikileaks

[DragonWriter]

Part of me thinks that had the technology been around in the mid 1700's the rights of something like Wikileaks would have been enshrined in the constitution by the founding fathers as the ultimate check and balance.

Despite the fact that the technology was far more primitive in the 1700s, the rights of "something like Wikileaks" were enshrined in the Constitution -- that is, in the Bill of Rights:

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

wtf

[mattsqz]

so now a collection of 1's and 0's with a filename ending with .mp3 will be searched for as if it were a kilo of coke? this makes me happy to be a gun owner... when the sh1t goes down, you better be ready..

Re:wtf

[megaditto]

Since you are a gun owner, you should realize that they will first come for YOU (since they know where you live).

And the rest of us will cheer ("make streets safe for our children" or whatever) them on until it's too late.

Re:wtf

[hey!]

All those protections against government data snooping that were passed after Watergate are now nil, because those restrictions left a loophole for private entities to do this and for the government to buy it from them (thank you Cap Weinberger).

All the things the government is banned to do for itself, it can buy from the private sector. If you use a frequent shopper card or a credit card, they know you are buying pseudoephed at the pharmacy. They don't need a form to know that you're buying a gun. They can buy that information. They probably can figure out how much ammo you buy too.

All in all, the background check form is the least dangerous intrusion because it is (a) accurate, (b) transparent, (c) and regulated by law. Every bad thing you imagine them doing with the form they can do with data bought from the private sector, only it won't be accurate, you won't know you are being profiled, and there are no legal restrictions on how they use that data.

Of course, in a world without criminal background checks for firearms purchases, you could avoid detection by conscientiously buying your firearms, shooting supplies, books and magazines (off the rack, no subscriptions!) with anonymous cash transactions. But most people won't, and they've got you after you've bought your first box of bullets on your credit card.

The most important place to protect the right to bear arms isn't in firearms regulation. It's in protecting consumer privacy. In the US, there is no legally recognized right to privacy. Change that, and the ability of the government to target any group by what it purchases is severely restricted. Including people who purchase firearms. Criminal background regulations are actually less dangerous to gun owners, because of post-Watergate laws restricting the government's ability to mine its own data.

end?

[Anonymous Coward]

I used to wonder what the end of our free societies would look like.
Now I know it looks like ACTA

The Days of Internet Freedom

[Anonymous Coward]

The days of Internet freedom are quite sadly coming to an end with these international movements toward information totalitarianism, unless the geeks of the world are able to effectively unite and push back.

Re:The Days of Internet Freedom

[ShieldW0lf]

The days of Internet freedom are quite sadly coming to an end with these international movements toward information totalitarianism, unless the geeks of the world are able to effectively unite and push back.

Local renewable energy, Wireless mesh networks and RepRaps are a good place to start. It is really more about walking away than it is about pushing back. If all you do is protest and make demands based on the rights you feel entitled to, they own your soul. If you render these centralized industries irrelevant, they die of neglect.

Re:ATCA

[phoomp]

I would think nerds would like to know about a treaty which proposes to search your mp3 player for unauthorized copyright material at international borders.

Re:ATCA

[MrNaz]

40 years ago they thought that they'd never be able to waste time searching the bags of every person that traveled.

All it took was a generation to be force fed apathy inducing, mind-numbing pop culture and now they are free to use your tax dollars to make your life a living security nightmare.

To the guy who posted earlier about only wanting to hear about the latest greatest motherboards and ignore anything remotely political, I'm looking at you. Only caring about the latest hardware is no different, effectively, to the teenage girl who reads Cosmo cover to cover to stay up to date on the latest adventures of Paris Hilton.