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Once-Secret ACTA Copyright Treaty Approved By EU
itwbennett writes "By a vote of 331 to 294, the EU Parliament has approved the controversial and once-secret Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). According to an ITworld article, 'the most controversial paragraph in the final text leaves the door open for countries to introduce the so-called three-strikes rule. This would cut Internet users off if they download copyright material as national authorities would be able to order ISPs to disclose personal information about customers.... The proposed agreement would also place sanctions against any device or software that is marketed as a means of circumventing access controls such as encryption or scrambling that are designed to prevent copying. It also requires legal measures against knowingly using such technology.'"
From there to banning FOSS, the slope is slippery...
How is this insightful? Have you ever heard of hiding data? If I'm sending you pictures where the least significant bit of each pixel is one bit in an encrypted file, how do you even know to look there? If I'm sending log files where the fifth bit of every line timestamped with a date that corresponds to an integer number, whose sum of its digits in hex is evenly divisible by 3.... you see where this is going.
Not to mention various encodings that aren't encryption, binary representations of data structures, etc. How do you know what is encryption and what is not?
Trouble is, that's a lot of pictures you're going to have to send to embed a useful payload. Maybe you could set up something like a 1080p webcam looking out of your window so you have a constant stream of plausible signal in which to hide your "noise."
"Did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?"
"Gee, this guy is using encryption. We'll have to leave him alone then".
Or
"He's using encryption, so he must be a terrorist. Ship him to Gitmo".
Pick the one you think it's more likely.
The real problem is not the occasional copying of a CD for ones personal use, heck, it might not be the same quality, but you can record it off the radio. The real problem is the wholesale mass production of reproducing copyrighted material. Most of this occurs in South East Asia. So, exactly how will passage of ACTA stop it?
some humans are. There are many reasons why this is not prevalent state of affairs of course. Some inherent to human nature of course: minority benefits paid by majority means that motivation to act and participate in political process is big in this minority as ROI is huge because the benefits for these few are paid by many. The motivation of the members of majority is much smaller because their personal losses are small or unlikely albeit taken in absolute numbers massive. This leads to unbalanced policies as the authorities are put under pressure by the militant minority while majority does not even look. There are other reasons of course too - incompetent authorities - these are the essence of the society and society at large has no capability to understand issues more complex than 'this is my beer it is free'. But even with these limitations sometimes we humans are capable of organizing ourselves into something good. The American Revolution is a good example (while of course US is a good example that greatness once is not a guarantee for greatness forever).
Among other nations. The trick is to create a data volume that will decrypt differently with different passwords.
"People don't want to learn linux" hasn't been a valid excuse since '03.
You make a great point about the American Revolution. The masses essentially coalesced because the oppression of England was highly visible and briskly felt by nearly all Americans. But in our day, freedom is more apt to be stolen at the tip of a pen, rather than the end of a musket. Most people don't possess the ability to think critically or abstractly. They simply operate in a world that has been pre-arranged for them. The boundaries have been clearly defined by those in power and there is very little desire to question those boundaries. Thomas Jefferson articulated it beautifully -- "Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty".
I could rant for days about the rate at which freedom is being compromised in every nation on this planet, but most you /.'ers are technical folk who've had the need for critical thought thrust upon you, and therefore clearly see the decline, and hence are of like mind. That said, as technology takes greater hold, it also draws to itself great power. Those in positions of power clearly see this and their natural reaction (since they desire to remain in power) is to exert control over technology and oppress those who wield it skillfully. This is always done under some fabricated guise of "protection".
There is hope however. You see, programmers and electrical engineers hold in their mathematical war-chests, technological battle-axes that can return power to the people. The ability to write an OS, of which the source code may openly viewed by all, the ability to root a smart phone and thereby return control to the device's owner, the ability to craft an encrypted, anonymized, overlay network which allows private data transfer, the ability to patch a binary file and alter a program's course, and on and on.
Use your power for freedom.
Actually I'd say the way us tech nerds can "win" is by using that most glorious and powerful of weapons...propaganda. Just look at how a single attack ad (Willie Horton) could change the way a presidential election was flowing. Now imagine if we geeks here on /. cooked up snarky and funny but biting ads showing how big business is stealing from ALL of us with 150+ year copyrights and ACTA style bullshit, and then plastered them all over Youtube? And if each video had a link to a nicely done website where the populace could let their elected officials know in NO uncertain terms they WILL be voted out if they don't listen?
The future won't be decided with a gun, but with a videocam. The winning of hearts and minds by using the massive power of propaganda against the very ones that currently wield it against us. THAT is how you can change things now, not writing some OS that 90%+ won't use because it won't play their game o' the week.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
This is apparently a vote to ask the commission to clarify the consequences of the treaty. This is EU diplomatic talk for a vote to reject it. With this vote rejected, the treaty was not blocked or questioned by the EU parliament. It is the among Nay votes you have to look for your traitors. (this had me confused for some time too)
That's actually a brilliant idea. It's a shame we couldn't get some independent director and/or studio to shoot a brief commercial and then pool resources together to show it during prime time television (since most of the population isn't aware of anything unless they're fed the information via TV--sadly). Better yet, make it look like a movie preview with a dark overture of sorts, including the same baritone narration style common to previews. I'd imagine it could start off something like this:
[Camera pans through a dark office complex or government building with people in suits walking passed. Perhaps a gray haired actor playing the part of a high powered government official could be seen shaking hands with a corporate CEO of sorts.]
Narrator: Drafted in the darkest bowels of the US federal government lurks a treaty...
[Scene shifts to a young 13-14 year old boy basking in the soft glow of his monitor.]
Boy [sounding panicked]: Oh... no...
[The breaking of glass can be heard in the background as his mother screams. Trampling boots thunder through the house before the door to his room is broken down and armed agents grab the child, dragging him away.]
Narrator: ...that threatens the very essence of our freedoms.
[Scene shifts to a group of scruffy and clearly homeless individuals gathered around a burning barrel sharing stories.]
Bearded homeless man 1: I remember back when I used to be able to buy anything I wanted on the Internet.
Homeless man 2: Yeah, then they took it all away from us for sharing music. Now, we can't even buy groceries. Ol' Jack over here was forced to give up a kidney for sharing a movie, weren't you Jack?
*laughter*
Homeless woman 1: Oh yeah? They took everything away from me just for feeling up a TSA agent.
*more laughter*
--
(Okay, that last part was stretching it a bit.)
Anyway, you see where this is going--and maybe it's even a little overboard. Regardless, I think your idea is excellent! It needs to be professionally produced, written, and directed in order to capture the attention of the average viewer. Then it needs to be posted to Youtube.
He who has no
In a world where viral videos are having a huge influence on the media and a large body of 'anonymous' persons support our ideals?
Yes we fucking can.