ACTA Could Make Nonprofit P2Ps Face Criminal Penalties

dan of the north writes "Based on sources and leaked documents, Knowledge Ecology International now asserts that ACTA drafts are in fact 'formally available to cleared corporate lobbyists and informally distributed to corporate lawyers and lobbyists in Europe, Japan, and the US.' — The ACTA proposals currently include language that would make copyright infringement on a 'commercial scale,' even when done with 'no direct or indirect motivation of financial gain,' into a criminal matter. Both KEI and Canadian law professor Michael Geist, who has been working his own sources, say that the current proposals require all signatories to 'establish a laundry list of penalties — including imprisonment — sufficient to deter future acts of infringement.'"

Comments

With such a clear definition of the scale required

[AvitarX]

There is no way this could be misapplied.

"Criminal Matter"

[nurb432]

The ultimate goal of all the "industries". This shifts the burden ( and cost ) to the government ( tax payers ) and even further stigmatizes a 'non societal' act.

It also introduces jail times, long term detention during proceedings and a life time of persecution after prison..

All they will have to do is randomly accuse people with and sit back and watch the show and collect money.

Re:"Criminal Matter"

[aurispector]

This the other shoe dropping now that the RIAA claims they have stopped filing suits.

The problem here is that citizens of signatory countries will have no recourse within the laws of their own countries since it's a treaty. This will get very ugly if the bastards get their way - and they probably will. This makes me physically ill.

this would kill

[ionix5891]

the internet as we know it :(

Re:this would kill

[Anonymous Coward]

I think that's what they want...

Anti-Competitive Harassment.

[plasmacutter]

What is not covered in this article, but buried deep in the links, is that this treaty calls for nations to act immediately upon accusations without any burden of proof, and to absolve copyright companies from any responsibility if they engage in false accusations.

Imagine DMCA takedown notices for the physical world. Talk about a cudgel for anti-competitive harassment with impunity.

Re:Anti-Competitive Harassment.

[Anne Thwacks]

and to absolve copyright companies from any responsibility if they engage in false accusations.

I cant see that being possible to enact in Europe.

Also, in Europe, the loser pays the court fees. That will not change for one particular treaty. It would require a change in the European Law of Human Rights. (On a par with chanigng the US constitution for the publicity it would get).

In the UK, for the state to bring a prosecution, it has to be virtually certain of a conviction before starting (to avoid tax payer's money being sqandered on litigation when there are better things to squander it on). A mere suggestion that the evidence might fall to pieces if challenged by experts will normally crush a criminal charge.

Only if the mass media convince their readers/viewers to believe that CD pirates are worse than Somalian pirates will this to work. Since most of them seem more willing to buy pirate DVDs for $3 in the Asda (Walmart) car-park than buy a newspaper, I would not hold my breath.

This will die if exposed to the light

[mbone]

They are trying to keep this secret because it would be politically poisonous if revealed.

As I think our friends in Europe have begun to realize, laws based on treaties prepared in secret by bureaucrats without democratic accountability are inherently corrupting of democracy itself. They are also an invitation for the corrupting influence of special interests, who will try and accomplish in secret what they cannot in public.

If these restrictions are worthwhile, let them be proposed and debated in public, as normal laws are. Otherwise, I think this whole process should be shut down. It has been going on far too long for any good that we have been getting from it.