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Google Attorney Slams ACTA Copyright Treaty

Posted by timothy on from the you-would-think dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "CNET reports that Daphne Keller, a senior policy counsel at Google, says ACTA has 'metastasized' from a proposal to address border security and counterfeit goods to a sweeping international legal framework for copyright and the Internet that could increase the liability for Internet intermediaries such as, perhaps, search engines. 'You don't want to play Russian roulette with very high statutory damages.' One section of ACTA says that Internet providers 'disabling access' to pirated material and adopting a policy dealing with unauthorized 'transmission of materials protected by copyright' would be immune from lawsuits but if they choose not to do so, they could face legal liability. Both the Obama administration and the Bush administration had rejected requests for the text of ACTA, with the White House last year even indicating that disclosure would do 'damage to the national security.'"

13 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. Industrial Last Gasp? by headkase · · Score: 5, Informative

    Why would ACTA have been vital to "national security"? Is this an admission of sorts that the US no longer makes actual things but instead the majority of its GDP is based on intangible products? So, piracy as the issue: what if the world doesn't play ball with the situation the US has worked themselves into? If the world does not recognize ideas as property, where does that leave the future revenue source of the US?

    --
    Shh.
    1. Re:Industrial Last Gasp? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      In this case "national security" means the stability and financial success of their supporters and corporate overlords.

    2. Re:Industrial Last Gasp? by Scrameustache · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why would ACTA have been vital to "national security"?

      Because saying so means they don't have to show it to you.

      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

    3. Re:Industrial Last Gasp? by wiredlogic · · Score: 4, Insightful

      More specifically, the "national security" claim is the only way to get an exemption from the disclosure requirements imposed by FOIA. It is undemocratic and insulting that it is abused so often. It is appalling that the Obama administration is working so hard to best Bush II in the scope of this abuse.

      --
      I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
    4. Re:Industrial Last Gasp? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      One book I recently enjoyed was "Dangerous Nation" by Robert Kagan.

      Be careful. Kagan is a neo-con kook at heart. His writings assume a US-Israel hegemony and he represents the worst kind of conventional wisdom that posits the world would be better off if we just let smart people like him make the decisions. He's also tends to be an "ends justify the means" kind of guy when it comes to military entanglements, with the ends usually meaning oil or profits for military contractors. He's an excellent writer, but his books tend to be delicious apples with worms at the core. Basically, an apologist for the military-industrial complex, masquerading as a liberal with "everyone's best interest in mind" as long as their "best interest" involves a huge adventurist US military and support for Israel. He and Bill Kristol were co-authors of the "Project for a New American Century" which was the neo-con blueprint for the Bush Administration's plans to invade Iraq long before 9/11 or even the 2000 election.

      Caveat emptor. I suggest digging for some of the critical reviews of his books before accepting any of his conclusions as gospel.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
  2. "Intangible products"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is this an admission of sorts that the US no longer makes actual things but instead the majority of its GDP is based on intangible products?

    Umm, I think ACTA is bullshit, but if you don't think a movie or TV show is an "actual thing" made in the USA, you're fucking batshit crazy.

    Don't believe me? Try writing a screenplay sometime. Done? It sucks. It beyond sucks. It's an unreadable POS that makes no sense to anyone but you. But you think it's awesome, so go ahead and make it. Yeah, you'll need some money and a crew and some actors and some VFX houses. And props, makeup, locations, insurance, transportation, post-production, Foley, sound mixing.

    You get the point. They make "actual things" and employ real people.

    Same goes for video games, computer software, and those other "intangible products" that believe it or not are also "actual things".

    Again, ACTA sucks donkey balls. I'm just saying that it is related to a "real" industry with "real" products, not some ephemeral, intangible anti-product. If you're going to debate this, you can't just dismiss the concerns (or existence) of the "IP" industry out of hand, because you'll lose on the facts before you've even started. There are plenty of rationals for criticizing ACTA. Saying they don't make actual things isn't one of them. Hope you enjoyed Iron Man 2 this weekend.

    1. Re:"Intangible products"? by cdrguru · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The scarcity is not the product, but the person/creativity/talent behind the product.

      Darwin Reedy is probably the best known example of how far lack of talent can get you. A bit more scarcity would have been good in this case.

      The problem is, once the product is made today it is worthless. Just because it cost tens of millions to make Iron Man 2 doesn't mean I can't download it for free now. So why should I pay for it if it is being offered? Respect? Bah, there is no respect outside of the streetcorner thugs.

      Until we have a good answer for this there is no possibility of revenue from digital goods. We are training schoolchildren to take whatever is offered without any thought of payment. These children will grow up and utterly destroy whatever revenue model is left for digital stuff.

      Personally, I think the end is coming like a freight train.

  3. Please, for the kids... by thestudio_bob · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I really, really hope that everyone remembers everything that BOTH the republicans AND democrats have done to take steps to gradually make our country into a police state in the name of "National Security" over the past few years. In reality, personal freedoms are being controlled and restricted by corporate interest and they have little interest in anything other than making a buck.

    Please, come election time, research independent alternatives for public office. The offerings may be slim, but can you really say that it would be any worse than what's been going on?

    --
    The real Sig captains the Northwestern. This one captains /.
    1. Re:Please, for the kids... by sznupi · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The countries which, as a group, dominate all the "nice things" stats show you to be quite incorrect. As a matter of fact, those occupying top of that group, the Nordic countries...have way more social mobility than the US (which is at the bottom of "highly developed" countries, together with the UK). Canada is equally good.

      So much for "American dream"; it's just that, a dream that has been sold to you. With "nanny states", as you surely like to call them, actually having more freedom.

      PS. Student loans? Trashing good cars? Ridiculous stimulus packages? What's that?

      PPS. Governments are a reflection of theor society. Don't kid yourself that isn't the case.

      --
      One that hath name thou can not otter
    2. Re:Please, for the kids... by FranticPedantic · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is just 'free market as a panacea' nonsense, and I say this as a registered libertarian. A good public education system propelled America into the 20th century. The money you invest in teaching your children is reaped when they become skilled workers. Health care can have the same benefits - you take care of people, and they get back to work.

      Saying that you can't have health care and freedom is just as absurd as arguing you can't have education and freedom. I'm curious how furious you are at our entitled 8 year olds.

      The free market is usually a good idea. It does not solve every problem. Get over it.

  4. Re:Keep in Mind by Phrogman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just how right-wing the US is generally. Even your left-wing politicians are more rightwing in a lot of cases than the most rightwing politicians in some other countries. Our "Conservative" government up here in Canada gets along just fine with Obama's administration, and the association - like that with previous administrations in the States - continues to move Canadian politics to the right.

    You folks have no idea what a normal political spectrum is I am afraid, the influence of the Republicans over the past 100 years or so seems to have skewed things greatly to me.

    --
    "The first time I got drunk, I got married. The second time I bought a chimpanzee, after that I stayed sober" Arian Seid
  5. Blatant corruption by syousef · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Secret laws and laws passed out of the public eye for the sake of corporate interests are nothing but simple corruption. Call it what it is.

    --
    These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
  6. All proof to the contrary by jvillain · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just a few stories down from here on /. is a story that they just charged a bunch of people with selling counterfeit Cisco gear. They even confiscated it. Yet the powers that be (big buisness) would have us believe that is completely impossible with the current laws. It is just like when the US came up to Canada and threatened a trade war if we didn't put in an anti cam-cordering law. Well we did. And some one was convicted of recording a movie in a movie theater. Only they didn't use the spanky new law that was put in just for that purpose, they didn't need it. So what was the point of the US interfering in the laws of a sovereign country again?

    If the US wants to make themselves completely incapable of competing in the global economy because they give only a few companies the right to produce any thing, and those companies no longer feel a need to compete then fine. That is their business. But leave us the hell alone!!!