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ACTA Draft To Be Made Public Next Week

Posted by timothy on from the why-not-keep-it-secret-forever? dept.

Spitfirem1 writes with this snippet from ZDNet: "Negotiators will on Wednesday publish the first officially released draft of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a new treaty designed to harmonize copyright enforcement around the world. The decision to release the consolidated draft on 21 April was made at the eighth round of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiations, which took place this week in Wellington, New Zealand. So far, the only publicly available information on the negotiating countries' proposals and amendments have been leaked documents purporting to be drafts of the agreement."

27 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. Obama's "transparent" government by biryokumaru · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You can bet the US wasn't behind this decision.

    --
    When you're afraid to download music illegally in your own home, then the terrorists have won!
    1. Re:Obama's "transparent" government by Fluffeh · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You can bet the US wasn't behind this decision.

      You can bet that the lobbyists within the US weren't behind this decision.

      There, think that's more on the point now. I wouldn't at all be surprised if some members of the US party in these negotiations isn't secretly crying out "Booyah!" while putting on their "Oh dear, I'm sorry that happened..." face to the lobbyists who give them money.

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  2. Spoiler by Aurisor · · Score: 5, Funny

    Spoiler: you're not going to like any of it. At all.

    1. Re:Spoiler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      thanks, way to ruin it.

    2. Re:Spoiler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      It was like an overdose of "like"...

    3. Re:Spoiler by Fred_A · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Spoiler: you're not going to like any of it. At all.

      That's assuming they release the real thing...

      I wouldn't be too surprised if they released a decoy. Last time there were such talks, they were killed when they came under the public eye. So a bland document would be a good way to defuse the situation.

      Of course that's assuming anybody cares about it nowadays which might be a bit optimistic of me.

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    4. Re:Spoiler by prefec2 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Maybe I like the cover color and finish?

  3. mass civil disobedence by timmarhy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    all this kind of shit does is insight people to subvert the system even more. people generally have a sense of whats fair, and when you present someone with a $250,000 fine for downloading some piece of crap song, they don't tend to see fair in the equation.

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    1. Re:mass civil disobedence by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2, Funny

      Like, when you learn that Subversion is crap?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
  4. Re:Is it real? by captnbmoore · · Score: 3, Funny

    I would have said pirated.

    --
    The Navy Motto "IF it ain't broke Fix It" "A day is wasted if you don't learn something new"
  5. Five Days by EdIII · · Score: 4, Funny

    That's only five days. How are we supposed to have enough torches and pitchforks before then?

    1. Re:Five Days by shentino · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I suspect that's the point of releasing it late into the game.

    2. Re:Five Days by Rehnberg · · Score: 2, Funny

      Counterfeiting them, of course.

    3. Re:Five Days by Logic+and+Reason · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You wouldn't download a pitchfork...

  6. Why fear terrorists... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why fear terrorists, when government and industry working together do the most damage to our freedoms and liberties?

    1. Re:Why fear terrorists... by BlueStrat · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why fear terrorists, when government and industry working together do the most damage to our freedoms and liberties?

      Why? The same reason why one can simultaneously fear any two (or more) threats which may or may not present equal levels of peril. One can reasonably fear a wasp sting and a gunshot wound at the same time, as long as one does not assign equal responses to unequal dangers. You wouldn't just put some OTC burn/sting ointment on a gunshot wound (well, maybe if you're Chuck Norris!), and you wouldn't call in a trauma team for a wasp sting (unless there's some life-threatening allergic reaction, the wasp used an assault rifle, etc).

      Terrorism has been proven a threat, and so has excessive government control over peoples' lives. I'd say they're much closer in peril-level than the sting/gunshot example above. They both pose a threat to the liberties, freedoms, and lives of Americans. At this point I'm starting to believe our own government is more of an immediate threat to at least our way of life and our freedoms & liberties, if not our lives, than the threat of terrorism or other foreign threat.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    2. Re:Why fear terrorists... by 0123456 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I'd say they're much closer in peril-level than the sting/gunshot example above. They both pose a threat to the liberties, freedoms, and lives of Americans.

      Lives, perhaps, but exactly what threat does bin Laden pose to Americans' liberties and freedoms? Is he going to run for President in 2012?

      All the post-9/11 impositions on American freedoms have come from the US government, not some crazy guy in a cave in Afghanistan. And most of them are things the government have wanted to do for years but had no excuse to impose before that point.

    3. Re:Why fear terrorists... by Rogerborg · · Score: 4, Informative

      Terrorism has been proven a threat

      The death toll from 9/11 was under 3000. 1500 Americans die from anaphylactic shock every year .

      Seriously, without a hint of hyperbole, we - and Congress and the White House - should be more concerned about the threat from wasps than terrorists.

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    4. Re:Why fear terrorists... by jo42 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      And over 400,000 die every year from consuming Tobacco products. So which is the greater evil? The Terrorist or The Tobacco industry?

    5. Re:Why fear terrorists... by mcvos · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Terrorism has been proven a threat, and so has excessive government control over peoples' lives. I'd say they're much closer in peril-level than the sting/gunshot example above. They both pose a threat to the liberties, freedoms, and lives of Americans.

      The main way in which terrorism has proven to be a threat, is through excessive government control over people's lives. The number of deaths caused by terrorism is negligible compared to deaths by traffic, disease, crime or whatever. The terrorists' biggest victory is getting our governments to take away our liberties.

    6. Re:Why fear terrorists... by lightversusdark · · Score: 4, Insightful

      On September 11, 2001, nearly 3000 people in the US were killed by:
      Heart disease.
      On September 12, 2001, nearly 3000 people in the US were killed by:
      Heart disease.
      On September 13, 2001, nearly 3000 people in the US were killed by:
      Heart disease.

      Repeat ad nauseam.

      Watch out for that communist healthcare investment talk coming out of your government..
      You could be spending that money on defence, or Israel, or civilian communication monitoring infrastructure, or any number of other things for the greater good of your society.

      Comparing the cost of the War on Terror (or Drugs or whatever) to government investment in researching heart disease treatments over the last decade is left as an exercise for the reader.

      --
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    7. Re:Why fear terrorists... by MindlessAutomata · · Score: 2, Interesting

      While this is true, do note that the destruction (perhaps think in terms of $) also caused by 9/11 was considerable, and that additional casualties may have been incurred via illness caused from toxins or toxic debris, not to mention overall disruption and panic.

      Not that I'm supporting the US government's subsequent (increased) trampling of rights.

  7. Hm... by Rehnberg · · Score: 3, Funny

    So, I filed a FOIA request for the text of the treaty yesterday (figured it couldn't hurt and could possibly help move the process along if one more person filed one...), and now the government says it will release the treaty... I find this suspicious...

  8. Treaty? by tpstigers · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Really? I can't help but laugh. Treaties are diplomatic tools we use to end wars. Or avoid then.

    1. Re:Treaty? by BlueStrat · · Score: 2, Informative

      Or fuck knows . . . the treaty is being published after it's been ratified.

      Um, like, what happened to political debate?

      AFAIK the treaty still needs to be ratified by Congress before becoming enforceable.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    2. Re:Treaty? by thoughtfulbloke · · Score: 2, Insightful

      ACTA is being negotiated, from the USA perspective, as a "Sole executive agreement". This does not need congressional approval. See the Lessig and Goldsmith article in the Washington post
      http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/25/AR2010032502403.html

  9. "Policy laundering" by SteveFoerster · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Treaties are diplomatic tools we use to end wars. Or avoid then.

    The abuse of treaties as an excuse for governments to enact unpopular policy changes is common enough to have a name: policy laundering.

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