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ACTA To Be Signed This Weekend

Posted by Soulskill on from the yep-this-happened dept.

We've been following the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement for over three years, from its secretive beginnings, to the controversy and debate that followed, and to the document it eventually evolved into. Now, Japan has announced that the agreement will finally be signed on Saturday during a ceremony that follows an anti-piracy symposium on Friday. "The negotiation has been carried out among Australia, Canada, the European Union and its Member States, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United States, and reached a general agreement at the negotiation meeting held in Japan in October 2010, followed by the completion of technical and translation work in April 2011. ... The signing ceremony will be attended by the representatives of all the participants in the ACTA negotiations, and those that have completed relevant domestic processes will sign the agreement. The agreement is open for signature until May 1, 2013."

5 of 277 comments (clear)

  1. sigh by Dyinobal · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well damn someone pass the lube I guess it's that time again.

  2. Yeah, so... by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... how's that 'representative democracy' working out for 'ya? Feel represented yet?

    /me :braces for authoritarian collectivist downmod:

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  3. Imaginary Property Warriors by cosm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That is what the US will become. The warriors of intellectual property. If we can't manufacture, create, and export tangible things, then god-dammit we'll charge for any intangible a lawyer can serve papers on.

    --
    'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
  4. Re:Obama 2012! by Nursie · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If Bush had done that the Democrats would have organized marches with millions of participants protesting.

    If Bush had done that the Democrats would have organized marches with millions of participants protesting."

    Invading Iraq on a WMD/Terrorist pretext is wholly different proposition to providing air support to an in-progress popular rebellion.

    I'm not American, I don't care for Obama particularly, but the Libya actions seem to be attracting praise from people *worldwide*, whereas the Iraq debacle has ruined the reputation of the US the world over. This particular area is not something that you can or should reduce to partisan politics.

  5. Re:Petition created at Whitehouse.gov by andycal · · Score: 5, Insightful

    OMFG what a terrible website experience ... no wonder only 11 signatures at the moment.
    requires sigin to vote.. ok
    pop up form incompatible with android touch kybd. ( click text area , lose kybd focus)
    use slide out kybd
    Sends validation mail.... ok
    It's not a link, I have to copy and paste
    Drops me to 404 page
    Move to laptop, try again
    Still, not a link, but copy paste better on laptop, whitehouse.gov says :Validation already used.
    Please login, requests email and password... ( I didn't ever get prompted for a password )
    request lost password
    New validation link, ( still not hot, copy paste) ... OK validated, but link valid only once, please set password.
    OK, logged in .. but *lost* is the link to the page I was on... where is that petition ?
    back to /. re-click link page comes up, .. but "Sign Petition" is still greyed-out
    click "signin" and my choices are "Sign out" and "Forgot Password"
    Now I will try logout and log back in.. will see if that works

    I get the feeling they don't actually want people to sign these things.