Slashdot Mirror


EU Parliment To Vote On ACTA Soon; Take Action Now

sTeF writes "Laquadrature du Net releases 3 videos on ACTA: Every citizen can help defeat ACTA by spreading this video across the Internet, urging their fellow citizens to mobilize, and contacting their elected representatives. ACTA is a threat to Internet users' fundamental freedoms and to EU Internet companies' competitiveness and free competition. The European Parliament will soon decide whether to give its consent to ACTA, or to reject it once and for all."

9 of 115 comments (clear)

  1. The villain always returns by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Reject it once and for all"?

    I find your naivety charming but have no need for your newsletter.

  2. What... by tsa · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That video generates more questions in my brain than it answers. "ACTA is bad, nnkay?" it says, which is not enough. The extremely one-side view on ACTA the video provides sickens me. It doesn't even tell me who "The Negotiators" are. I can't say "No" to ACTA based on this video alone.

    --

    -- Cheers!

    1. Re:What... by theocrite · · Score: 5, Informative

      That video generates more questions in my brain than it answers.

      What questions?

      "ACTA is bad, nnkay?" it says, which is not enough.

      It's enought for the video. Nobody would watch a 30 minutes boring video quoting obfuscated texts refering to more obfuscated texts already signed by countries dozens of years before that.

      The point of this video is to try to get the interest of a lot of people. The one who didn't heard of ACTA before. Once these people are interested, they can seek informations by themselves. The link provided in the video, that's a good start. Or see the wikipedia page, seek on the search engine, or seek on their favorite online newspaper.

      The extremely one-side view on ACTA the video provides sickens me.

      Well, what do you suggest? A more positive approach? Like "Think of the future, nobody will be able to share knowledge, wouldn't that be great?".
      What if everything is bad in ACTA?

      It doesn't even tell me who "The Negotiators" are.

      That's the point. "The Negotiators" are not known. ACTA has been negotiated in secret during the past few years. Withoout the control of the democratically elected parliaments or other institutions. Now the treaty is finalized and signed by some Countries. The other Countries now have a gun pressed against their head "sign it or you're out".

      I can't say "No" to ACTA based on this video alone.

      Of course you can't.
      But maybe you can say no to ACTA based on this video + my comment + few other comments on this news, + on https://www.eff.org/issues/acta + https://www.laquadrature.net/en/acta + http://www.michaelgeist.ca/index.php?option=com_tags&task=view&tag=acta&Itemid=408 + http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/acta/why-acta-declaration + http://www.ffii.org/ + your own sources of information.

      And if someday you want to say no, here is how: http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/How_to_act_against_ACTA :)

  3. Re:My representative should know about this by unity100 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    maybe s/he doesnt know. s/he should. dont risk it.

  4. Re:My representative should know about this by theocrite · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You missed the irony cause you probably don't know who Christian Engström is.


    That said, if your MEP is Christian Engström, maybe you could bother another one?

    That's what I did for the telecoms package. I called a dozen of MEP. Of course, they are less receptive when you tell them you don't vote for them. But
    1/you don't have to tell them (they tend to forget that they are paid to serve general interest and not just to make sure they will be reelected)
    2/when they speak with lobbies, they are less peaky about where they're from and
    3/freedom deserves me trying that (it's just a bunch of phone calls, no harm done, and it's really efficient).

    For more informations: http://www.laquadrature.net/en/acta
    To act, see http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/How_to_act_against_ACTA

  5. Re:Hate to sound cynical but.. by Forty+Two+Tenfold · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Please stop making a fuss about ACTA if you can not objectively tell us what is it going to do and why should we even oppose it.

    Um... no. You should oppose it for this exact reason. What exactly it will do is so multi-faceted and so deeply buried in legal speak it requires a book to explain. This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read. — Winston Churchill

    --
    Upward mobility is a slippery slope - the higher you climb the more you show your ass.
  6. Re:The EU by theocrite · · Score: 4, Informative

    Is the real threat to my freedom! British independence! Now!

    I hope you're joking. :)

    Cause ACTA is not EU specific. In fact, EU might be one of the last chances to stop ACTA.


    USA, Japan, Australia, Canada, North Korea, New Zealand and Singapore already signed ACTA.

    Mexico and Switzerland didn't want to sign the text. EU couldn't sign the text because this case never happend (who will sign the text in the name of the 27 member States?)

    On the other hand, UK has been one of the worst State in the EU on this topic (filesharing, making isp become private police, etc.). Blair was a crazy puppy found of Bush. We though I might change with Cameron. Well, it didn't.

  7. Re:Hate to sound cynical but.. by shentino · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ACTA's secrecy is the biggest reason to vote against it.

    Why? Because it's something that the powers that be are afraid we would oppose if we knew what was going on.

    Oh wait, we're just citizen peons. We don't get to vote on it.

    Only the government does.

    And with no way to recall someone from congress after we've elected them, what incentive do they have to vote how we wanted them to when we elected them?

    If it's lucrative enough someone can easily sacrifice their political career for a handsome payoff in the private sector.

    Or assume rightly in most cases that if they pull a fast one early enough the electorate will have long forgotten by the time campaign time comes around again.

  8. Re:The EU by TheReaperD · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The purpose of treaties like this is to bypass such requirements as amending constitutions and getting a democratic majority. This way, a very few individuals of merit (bribed) can create and institute regulations that supersede national constitutions without bothering you or your elected representative with details until the enforcement phase. It also allows elected representatives to claim plausible deniability when the political fallout hits and since you do not know who the original negotiators were, no one is held accountable.

    --
    "Be particularly skeptical when presented with evidence confirming what you already believe." -