ACTA Internet Chapter Leaked — Bad For Everyone

roju writes "Cory Doctorow is reporting on a leaked copy of the 'internet enforcement' portion of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. He describes it as reading like a 'DMCA-plus' with provisions for third-party liability, digital locks, and 'a duty to technology firms to shut down infringement where they have "actual knowledge" that such is taking place.' For example, this could mean legal responsibility shifting to Apple for customers copying mp3s onto their iPods." Adds an anonymous reader, "Michael Geist points out that the leaks demonstrate that ACTA would create a Global DMCA and move toward a three-strikes-and-you're-out system. While the US has claimed that ACTA won't establish a mandatory three strikes system, it specifically uses three-strikes as its model."

Comments

This is a MUCH bigger threat than terrorism.

[Anonymous Coward]

This is a much bigger threat to freedom and democracy than terrorism ever could be.

Re:This is a MUCH bigger threat than terrorism.

[clang_jangle]

Indeed. Surely some people must be thinking it's getting to close to time to create some drones of our own to take out the corporatocracy. Not me of course, but "some people".

Re:This is a MUCH bigger threat than terrorism.

[causality]

This is a much bigger threat to freedom and democracy than terrorism ever could be.

I wish I could attribute the saying, but here is how I've heard it said: If your law requires a police state to enforce, then your law is a bad law.

The very fact that these meetings were held in secret was a dead giveaway that nothing in our interests is going on in there.

Re:This is a MUCH bigger threat than terrorism.

[Anonymous Coward]

Friend, it ain't done until corporations are no longer entities with rights superior to those of human citizens. And it probably will take a real, old-fashioned insurgency such as our forefathers performed.

--
Remember, it's not terrorism if it's by the people, of the people, for the people!

Re:This is a MUCH bigger threat than terrorism.

[Tuoqui]

You'd be able to help out best by joining your local Pirate Party.

Pirate Party Canada
Pirate Party International - Find your own country's here.

Re:This is a MUCH bigger threat than terrorism.

[GaryPatterson]

Whilst the motives of the pirate party are generally okay, they're all but a gauranteed failure due to their ridiculous name and single focus. Few voters will put a tick next to "Pirate Party" on their ballot form, just from the name alone.

It'd be infinitely better to get real political parties onboard with the ideas than play around with joke parties that will never have the power to implement their ideas. Sadly many nations are stuck in faux democracy two party politics where voters get to choose the lesser of two very similar evils.

Failing that, at least change the name to appeal to the more general population. Something like "Reform Party." Something that isn't trivial to twist in the voters minds. Something that's not setting the party up to be easily demonised into irrelevance.

It's up with "The Gimp" for 'worst name ever' award. It's hard to think of a worse name for a political party, although rural canola producers one day might come up with the "Farmers for Rape" party. I live in hope.

Re:This is a MUCH bigger threat than terrorism.

[GaryPatterson]

Why would you feel safe? The terrorists have already caused your country to cower in fear, installing detectors at airports, ramping up people's paranoia and generally screwing you over.

On top of that, you've spent hundreds of billions on wars, one to hit back at them, the other being an unrelated military adventure.

They won years ago. Few people have been killed, but your country is terrified of them and acts accordingly.

Re:This is a MUCH bigger threat than terrorism.

[Entropius]

A bigger threat to the idea of the Pirate Party in the US, or any like-minded party, is our ridiculous two-party system. It doesn't matter what you call it, no third party has a chance in the US because of the way the system is constructed.

Piratpartiet did decently in Sweden...

Re:This is a MUCH bigger threat than terrorism.

[FiloEleven]

I am an adult. I can be responsible for my own interests. I recognize that what I want is not always what is best for me, and I act on that recognition through self-control. When I fail, I accept the responsibility.

Any group of men who thinks they know my interests better than I do can speak with me and try to convince me that this is so, but it is I who makes the final decision. Provisions decided in secret without public knowledge or consent will result in nothing but more lawlessness. Anyone who approves this agreement clearly shows that he does not represent me.

Re:This is a MUCH bigger threat than terrorism.

[nebaz]

Are you sure? They passed the DMCA, without much fanfare.

Re:This is a MUCH bigger threat than terrorism.

[hairyfeet]

Thank you. And for those that labeled me a troll? Come out to middle America and see for yourself. our towns are nothing but corpses. Walled up store fronts, half the houses are abandoned, folks living out of their cars, whole towns just walked away from. Just in the two mile daily walk around my town I passed boarded up building after boarded up building, tons of for rent and for sale signs that have sat so long they have faded, the only reason my home town isn't completely dead is because it has a college. Those towns nearby that don't have a college? look like something out of an "after the apocalypse" movie.

It is actually pretty simple folks. You can't pay for two wars and bailouts of thieving bankers without taxes, and kind of hard to tax the unemployed. If the fed were to release REAL numbers, instead of their bullshit numbers where they drop all those whose benefits ran out, or who gave up because there simply isn't any work to be had, we would probably be looking at close to 30% unemployment and rising. They can talk about their "positive" indicators all they want, the jobs aren't coming back, they've been offshored to places were they can poison the workers into an early grave and dump toxins out the back door.

From driving through middle America and seeing the vast wastelands I personally think we are gonna have a depression that makes the 30s look like a joke. And I don't think it will go nearly as meekly, do you? We are a hell of a lot more mean than they were back then, and a hell of a lot better armed. We'll see how nasty things will get when it takes a basket of money to buy bread, with the way they are printing money at the fed probably won't be too long. China will only put up with buying our worthless dollars for so long before they just switch to the Euro and say fuck us. When that happens it is gonna get nasty folks, you mark my words.

Mining the DMCA safe harbor

[John Hasler]

Sounds more like "DMCA-minus" than "DMCA-plus", with mines being planted in the DMCA safe harbor.

So, what can we (US Citizens) do to stop this?

[jr2k]

I think I have posted 1 time since I opened am account here. This issue caused me to find my login /password. This thing scares the shit out of me. Something that is seemingly "all encompassing" treaty for internet use should be out in the public for ridicule. What would be the due process for contacting whomever in government has the power to stop this thing? Or do we have no option? I am generally apathetic about internet policy because I have FIOS, but this treaty has changed my outlook.

Re:So, what can we (US Citizens) do to stop this?

[geminidomino]

What would be the due process for contacting whomever in government has the power to stop this thing? Or do we have no option?

We have no option. You know how, when talking about annoying/abusive advertising practices, people love to say "you're not the customer, you're the product?"

Welcome to reality: the government views you exactly the same way.

Re:Tyranny vs Liberty

[geminidomino]

An equally wise American once said "..and that government: of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

And? One would have to be a deity of disingenuous rhetoric to make a case that there is anything "by" or "for the people" about the contemporary government system. It's been gamed, expertly so, and the only ones who could fix it are those who benefit from it.

You'd better start to love it, because ACTA and more like it are going to happen, and there's not a damned thing anyone can do about it.

Cue naive, high-school idealists who blame the voters and/or claim that voting could stop it.

Re:This is absurd

[causality]

As a whole, does anybody really think the DMCA was beneficial to the economy?

It was incredibly good for the economy, if by "economy" you mean "campaign funds."

Re:Tyranny vs Liberty

[BradleyUffner]

Which is true today?

People can't be scared of things they aren't aware of. Most people aren't aware of much the government is doing these days.
Governments passing laws to control people so much seems to indicate that the government is scared of the people and is trying to regain control.
Oddly enough it seems we are in the situation of government fearing the people more that the people fearing the government. So that means... We have Liberty?

Doesn't matter

[einhverfr]

The fact is that each of us probably commits three felonies a day as it is, or so says Harvey Silverglate of the EFF, ACLU, and FIRE (see his book "Three Felonies a Day.") Heck, it's probably a felony (under wire fraud statutes) to surf Slashdot while you are at work. And given that it's a felony there, it's probably also a felony under the CFAA. So if you surf Slashdot at work, you are already two thirds of the way there.....

The fact is it doesn't matter if you have done anything wrong. The current state is that the government can prosecute just about anybody on vague laws and make it extremely difficult to fight (try hiring a lawyer will all your assets frozen).

I am of the opinion that the Constitution is in shambles anyway. I oppose this treaty but I am too cynical to think that will make a difference. Prosecutors can ALREADY go after anybody they want to.

Re:Maybe it'll be a good thing...

[Spad]

No, you're not, but you are still in a minority.

Face it, 90% of the population of any given country involved in ACTA don't care in the slightest about copyright and patents and net neutrality and the like; at least, they don't realise they do, even if they do. They're quite happy to carry on with their lives and put up with or work around any shit that new legislation throws at them without changing their day-to-day routine.

Re:Tyranny vs Liberty

[91degrees]

The much wiser man was a complete moron then.

When government fears the people there is a ineffectual weak populist government that fears making difficult decisions because people collectively are pretty damn stupid. Alas that isn't catchy and doesn't use a clever mechanic of opposites, but alas, reality can't always be handled in a pithy statement.

Government should respect the people, earn their trust, and work as their loyal servants. Neither side should fear the other.

Re:Treason, and terrorism

[Spad]

Next up, you're not allowed to know what you've been charged with or what you've been sentenced to.

Re:Tyranny vs Liberty

[Adrian Lopez]

So that means... We have Liberty?

If ACTA is anything to go by, it appears there are those who feel we do have [too much] liberty.

Canadian solution

[jvillain]

For me the proper solution to the piracy concerns from the US is to stop the import of all movies, music, tv shows and any thing else they are so worried about people stealing at the border. If other countries did it as well then production would move from the US to other locations. Problem solved they wouldn't have to worry about people stealing their content any more. I swear, I try not to hate Americans, but when they start demanding that we abandon our laws and customs and adopt theirs I just loose it. How long till the next secret treaty is about making every one, every where abandon their gun control laws because that is how it is in the US?

Re:This is absurd

[Ethanol-fueled]

It's a matter of national security. As the American manufacturing sector withers away and we become a service economy, our creative content* will remain our largest export, and we have to protect our country's cash cows. I'm not joking.

* Of course, I don't agree with bullshit like ACTA and the DMCA. The content providers haven't produced anything worth a shit in decades so the best solution to this is not to buy their shit and instead donate that money to the EFF and The Pirate bay.

So now you know!!

[noz]

Keeping it secret is a matter of national security when the nation is controlled by private interests.

Re:Tyranny vs Liberty

[zach_the_lizard]

An equally wise American once said "..and that government: of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Unless you want to leave his government, then he is all for jailing you without trial and suspending habeas corpus. He is also cool with using total war in order to invade one section of the country, burning down such cities as Atlanta and devastating the region. He also brought about the income tax, which was at the time unconstitutional (like much of what he did). Sure, he freed a terribly oppressed group of people, but he used another form of slavery (conscription) to achieve it.

Re:Tyranny vs Liberty

[zach_the_lizard]

Not that I agree with your parent, but just because a man is famous and revered does not mean that he was infallible. Many wise men have made mistakes throughout history; Jefferson is one of them (ever hear of the embargo he put in place? That was one of them. Let's not get started on him and slavery)

unenforceable

[circletimessquare]

seriously, let them pass every goddamn unenforceable law they want

ten million technologically sophisticated, media hungry and POOR teenagers have them beat, sight unseen. they simply cannot enforce ACTA. seriously. its castles in the sky

i understand completely the concept of a legal framework to encourage the creation of cultural works via economic incentives

except what they are talking about goes WAY WAY beyond that concept and extends into the realm of corporate ownership of culture for no purpose that serves the general public in any way whatsoever

seriously, when

1. grandchildren of some guy who wrote a song are legally entitled to a cash flow, and
2. when pseudolegal structures are empowered to intrusively monitor the supposed free exchange of ideas central to a healthy society,

then the very idea of intellectual property law is philosophically and morally broken, and must simply be ignored and/ or outright actively destroyed by anyone with a moral compass and a passion for the concepts underlying western liberal democracy

ip law is a parasitical device distribution companies have bought and paid for via legislative interference to somehow validate their existence. distribution companies that have simply been replaced by the internet. they can buy all the fucking laws and all the prostitute legislators and all the legions of corporate legal goons. who fucking cares. unless they actually break the internet to the extent of china and iran, which even their legislative whores would feel uncomfortable about, their entire legal fantasy is an unenforceable joke for some highly motivated teenagers to route around, package as a point and click interface, and give away for free

technological progress is a bitch. no law can trump it unless you want to stop the very notion of progress itself. so for all of the power of media companies, i simply don't see them powerful enough to crush the foundational concepts of western liberal democracy simply in order to retain their antiquated reason for existence

death throes of a dinosaur. people should fucking know when they are defeated already. and the entirety of the media industry has most certainly been defeated

if they won't go peacefully, we'll just kill them. p2p is only the beginning. there are a million more technologically sophisticated methods. dark nets. steganography. obfuscation. protocol impersonation. and best of all: play countries against each other. set up shop in one, jump to the other. always a step ahead of the assholes. who are we? any goddamn poor terenager. there's no structure needed. a simple desire for one's own culture is the only imperative needed to defeat these assholes. let them sniff all they want. it's a pandora's box. a hydra: cut off its head, we grow ten more. they're doomed. let's make sure they fucking know it

bring it on media corporate assholes. bring all your legal goons and all your bought and paid for legislative puppets and all your paid for tech hacks and all your pseudo corporate governmental entities. we have you beat, and we welcome the fight in the name of the greatest principles of the free exchange of ideas and a free society and simple moral integrity. you're fucked, and your defeat is for the common good

you can't own our culture. we won't let you. we are simply motivated for the love of music, literature, and cinema. you don't own it. we the people do. fuck off and die. we will burn your toll booths to the ground

bring it on. bring your worst. we have you beaten, hard

i spit on you corporate assholes. i relish your comeuppance

Both are terrorism

[bussdriver]

If you can be terrorized and that is their intent then they are terrorists. You do not have to be killed for it to be terrorism.

A team of industry lawyers taking you for everything you have, your time, possibly your freedom and now even more criminal law. They want to make examples and terrorize their customers. "Hired guns" now wear suits but the phrase lives on for a reason.

Re:been accused counts as a strike = easy DOS

[Hurricane78]

How about aquiring a list of those who created ACTA, and accusing them all of whatever.

But I think a new virus would be better. One that targets ACTA creators and their friends, and has a child porn payload. Then it automatically triggers a call to the cops. ^^

Re:Keep dreaming *AA

[geekmux]

Lofty goals. This isn't enforceable, legally or practically. Three strikes and you get kicked off the internet? How? Will I have a chip in my arm that keeps my router from working? Even if they were somehow able to blacklist me from every ISP how would they stop me from using freely available Wifi? How will they shut down Freenet? How will they stop me from burning CDs and just handing it to my friend?

This isn't going to change anything.

(In my best Morpheus impression when speaking to Neo during training). What makes you think these laws have anything to do with enforcement? You think they care about what numbers they change on this Internet?

Remember NO law is ever suggested without it ultimately meaning money and/or power to someone.

Re:Not sure it's even good for them.

[fucket]

Did you include a check?

Re:Why isn't China a Partner?

[oldhack]

It's a sad, sad world where we have to rely on China and Russia to "protect" our freedom.