Scholars Say ACTA Needs Senate Approval

suraj.sun passes along this excerpt from Wired: "More than 70 academics, mostly legal scholars, are urging President Barack Obama to open a proposed international intellectual-property agreement to public review before signing it. The likely route for that is bringing the [Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement] to the Senate for ratification. ... the intellectual property accord, which Obama could sign by year's end, has pretty much been hammered out in secret between the European Union, Japan, the United States and a few other international players, including Canada and Australia. Noticeably absent is China. That said, these academics suggested that Obama does not have the authority to unilaterally sign the accord, which has been in the works for three years and is nearly final. Instead, they said, it should be considered a treaty, necessitating two-thirds Senate approval."

Comments

Yeah right...

[Kelbin]

Um, yeah right like our unholy overlord is actually going to do the "right" thing.

Re:Executive Agreement vs Treaty

[xnpu]

What are you implying? That nullification, a perfect constitutional tool, should be avoid because of International pressure?

Besides, China is not included, I don't see them suffer from it any time soon.

Re:We need scholars to tell us that?

[cheekyjohnson]

"How can he bypass Congress to implement it?"

How did the patriot act pass? People who didn't value their privacy thought it was okay for the government to take it away if they combated someone they perceived as a threat. If there's as many people as I suspect that hate pirates for their own illogical reasons and they are unaware of what the bill really is, they may end up agreeing with it. Politicians have been making decisions that clearly breach the constitution for a while now.