IP Enforcement Treaty Still Being Kept Secret

Hugh Pickens writes "More than a thousand pages of material about Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), are still being withheld, despite the Obama administration's promises to run a more open government. The EFF and Public Knowledge filed suit in September of 2008, demanding that background documents on ACTA be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). 'We are very disappointed with the USTR's decision to continue to withhold these documents. The president promised an open and transparent administration,' said EFF Senior Counsel David Sobel. Publicly available information about the treaty shows it could establish far-reaching customs regulations over Internet traffic in the guise of anti-counterfeiting measures. Additionally, multi-national IP industry companies have publicly requested that ISPs be required to engage in filtering of their customers' Internet communications for potentially copyright-infringing material, force mandatory disclosure of personal information about alleged copyright infringers, and adopt 'Three Strikes' policies requiring ISPs to automatically terminate customers' Internet access upon a repeat allegation of copyright infringement. 'What we've seen tends to confirm that the substance of ACTA remains a grave concern,' said Public Knowledge Staff Attorney Sherwin Siy. 'The agreement increasingly looks like an attempt by Hollywood and the content industries to perform an end-run around national legislatures and public international forums to advance an aggressive, radical change in the way that copyright and trademark laws are enforced.'"

Comments

Re:you are not a good person

[Scrameustache]

during WWII in Germany, you probably would have told everyone to ignore what was being done to 6 million jews

a godwin? Really?

So I guess, by your logic, we should completely ignore anything which abrogates the rights of millions of people as long as there's one other injustice going on

You're as stupid as they come.

Re:EFF is nice....

[drinkypoo]

Better yet, you could drop your sense of entitlement, stop being such an insufferable freeloader, and pick up the phone to call an actual private attorney.

Yeah, suck it up and spend thousands of dollars to secure your rights! What are you, some kind of pussy? Or worse, someone who works for a living? Why the fuck aren't you rich and privileged?