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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.'"
Strike one.
They won't. They'll nab you for child pornography that appears on your desk an hour before the dawn raid.
Quoting from Christian Engstroms blog:
This was a defeat, but it is far from the final word on the issue. The resolution has no formal effect at all, but is merely an expression of how the Parliament feels.
Awesome! This just means higher adoption of encryption and more bodies on darknets!
The problem is you can't hide the data. The bit is either there, or it isn't. It's on or it's not. All you can do is apply statistical and mathematical formula and methods to the data in an attempt to obscure or distort the information to the point that it is no longer useful to anyone other than the intended recipient(s). And almost every method we have of creating plausible deniability is being hunted down by governments around the world. If they want it to stop, they just pass a law saying "If you can't give us the keys, methods, etc., used to mask, alter, obscure, etc., your data, we can simply throw you in jail."
In other words, the mere act of creating privacy between two entities will itself become a crime. That is the next step after ACTA. And it's already being planned.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
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.