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Names of Advisors Cleared To Access ACTA Documents
1 a bee writes "With the White House claiming national security grounds for failing to release ACTA related information, including negotiating documents and even the list of participants, the spotlight is now on just who does have access. Turns out, according to James Love, hundreds of advisers, many of them corporate lobbyists, are considered 'cleared advisers.' The list looks a who's who of captains of industry."
weird how things seem to stay the same
ACTA raises serious concerns about citizens' civil liberties and privacy rights. The contents and text of ACTA remain secret, but a document leaked to the public last year shows that ACTA could include stronger criminal measures, increased customs border search powers, and requirements for Internet service providers to cooperate with copyright holders. Some public suggestions from content companies have included requiring ISPs to engage in filtering of their customers' Internet communications for potentially copyright-infringing material, mandatory disclosure of personal information about alleged copyright infringers, and adoption of "Three Strikes" policies requiring ISPs to automatically terminate customers' Internet access upon a repeat allegation of copyright infringement.
Why is it that so many 'merkins seem to think that Obama was considered "the second coming"? As far as I could dell, the ones who thought that were about equal in number to those who said that Obama was the New Dark Lord Of Evil (tm).
I.e. nutters.
Most seemed glad of a change because it wouldn't be Bush.
And you know what? It isn't Bush. Even if he screws up as badly as Bush did, it still wouldn't be Bush.
But the same people who seem to forgive Shrub for being as thick as a yard of treacle or making mistakes are exactly the ones who seem to consider Obama to have been "the second coming".
This is the part that confuses me. How on earth can something that deals with copyright be considered a matter of national security? How can anybody in the gov't say that with a straight face even? It's appalling, and it should be challenged in court NOW.
all that transparency, all that pro internet attitude, and even declarations of support for net neutrality to the extent of making full definitions of it on his website, getting support and donations through the net and actually succeeding to amass the budget needed to beat mccain through those donations and all that, and ...
so he fails us in the most important thing, at the most important moment, in almost half of those he promised us then ?
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It's pronounced Corporate Oligarchy
*DrugCheese rants*
Can we look back in four years time and think of George Bush as a benevolent caretaker in light of the atrocities commited by the new administration? YES WE CAN! -- It's more and more obvious with each news week that all the glitzy promises and election rhetoric that came Barack Obama was a load of meaningless drivel to deceive people - please don't expect things to be better, lest you sink into complacency and don't notice the BS until it's up to your armpits.
/. crowd to be hold a degree of discernment an order of magnitude higher than that of the average person, yet I urge you all to avoid groupthink and keep your eyes open :)
Things are changing for sure, but NOT for the better; certainly not at all in the direction the American public was led to believe. The whole election campaign looked very surreal from here in New Zealand - our election was on at the exact same time. The Labour party had about 3 television ads that were seldom played on television. National didn't have any television advertisements.
The limits in place in this country to prevent candidates from spending HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS in a clear crusade to brainwash the citizens highlighted the ridiculousness of the Obama insanity, while our puppet media sat there telling us more about Obama than about Helen Clark or John Key.
I sympathize with people that gave in to the herd mentality leading up to the election; these people made an absolutely unprecedented effort to deceive everybody with their silly puppets; because the media climate differs here in NZ it wasn't very hard for us to see through... Heck, every time I watch a video of Obama I feel that it's a movie, it just doesn't feel real.
I expect the
Peace from a New Zealander
This post was made in complete sincere seriousity; as such any attempts to derive humour are doomed to instant failure.
As I pointed out the other day, ACTA is about so much more than copyright. This "counterfeiting" treaty will almost certainly include provisions for stricter controls on generic pharmaceuticals, amongst other things.
Just take a look at some of the companies that are represented on that list: Eli Lilly, Merck, Monsanto, Schering-Plough... I guarantee they're not there because of pirated CDs.
Just to clarify, I don't think that changes the fact that the "national security" claim is bogus. It's just further proof of the enormous democratic deficit that exists at the international level.
"Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
The constitution still requires treaties to be approved by 2/3 of the Senate. Quoting from article 2, section 2:
He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur;
Without Senate approval, any treaty is just a worthless piece of paper.
-- Support a free market in the field of government
To be fair, it's hardly a "secret" society. We know exactly who the Barons are, and which fraternities they were in.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
The FOIA denial letter is signed by Camen Suro-Bredie. From what I can find, she has been in the USTR office since at least 2004. While President Obama has sent down an executive order that FOIA requests should be responded to in preference to withholding information, that is a new policy and it is going to take some time to get everyone in line with it.
It will be instructive to see how this is handled now that it has been brought out into the daylight. If the Obama Administration overrides Ms Suro-Bredie and releases the treaty that would be a very positive step.
Every single thing we read, no matter how small and inconsequential, must be read as IRREFUTABLE PROOF!!!1! that Obama is a liar! He said he was for change, and that change didn't happen everwhere, all at once, and in every single nook and cranny of the government! Sure there's the changes at Justice and the release of various memos a docs there. And, ok, fine, the Gitmo thing and probably some other stuff.
But this one thing didn't change, and that means it's all 100% bullshit! Fascism and censorship!
Democracy provides the illusion of control, permitting people to act in ways that seem to benefit themselves as political actors, and thus permitting the hegemony of capitalist industrialist relations to continue as the modus operandi of civilisation, unabated.
Thankfully geology and nature get to play last, and will make harsh hash of this ponzi scheme called capitalist industrialism.
Obama is no different than Roosevelt. Contrary to right wing bullshit, Roosevelt SAVED the ruling class from self destruction. Obama is attempting the same.
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
This is the same president who hired two **AA attack lawyers to top Department of Justice positions. That wasn't old, entrenched bureaucracy. That was new Obama-picked bureaucracy and we saw what way he swings.
Instead of screaming fury from your computer chair, you should be organizing from your computer chair and screaming in the streets. Things will never change so long as people sit back and take it. You don't have to get violent but you need to be persistent. Protests are held against copyright abuse, but they bring in a few hundred people out of millions.
And don't bother giving examples of why people don't care, start giving solutions to make them care. We need to increase the visibility of the problems this poses. Plaster signs on walls, try to take out ads in news papers / websites, door to door campaigning, conduct nationwide surveys with the right questions, so on and so forth. The public can't form an opinion if they don't know what they are talking about and they certainly can't form an opinion over a situation they may not even know exists.
It's time for society to start standing up for itself again.
because copyright/ip is the modern, hard to defend excuse to implement all kinds of controls on public. FISA ? you already have a lot of arguments against it, and you already have strong public opinion shaped against it. you know what it is, you know how they do it, you know how you can stop it.
but copyright is the new excuse. with it, they can push for implementation of 'controls' that will allow for deep packet inspections of all traffic ( puts fisa to shame ) to 'throttling' of various protocols and even banning certain individuals or organizations off the internet through usage of stuff like 'three strikes'.
in middle ages, there was religion to use as excuse for controlling the people. in 19th century, it was the nation's interests. in 1950s, there was the commies. the world society has grown out of most of these excuses - they hardly pass as valid nowadays.
today we have copyright and child porn as the acceptable excuses to push for suppressing public freedoms. public doesnt know what these are yet, cant shape an opinion. and therefore they are the best excuses to use for pushing self centered agendas of interest groups.
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Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Sure, the wording there from your citation is also important: two thirds of the senators present. If ACTA gets drafted, the 'on-board' senators will simply schedule a weekend or holiday session quietly and hope no one notices. Once in session, even if there's only 3 of them, they could call the vote unanimous of senators present. The treaty portion you quoted simply needs to be re-worded as follows to fix this:
He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the elected Senators concur;
Treaties are a big deal, and cannot be treated with enough seriousness for any country. If this loophole isn't fixed, you can literally kiss your virtual rights goodbye as corporate interests move to change our world to favor their greed and desire for control. Really, people, wake up.