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The ACTA Fight Returns: What Is At Stake & What You Can Do
An anonymous reader writes "The reverberations from the SOPA fight continue to be felt in the U.S. and elsewhere, but it is the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement that has captured increasing attention this week. Several months after the majority of ACTA participants signed the agreement, most European Union countries formally signed the agreement yesterday (notable exclusions include Germany, the Netherlands, Estonia, Cyprus and Slovakia). Michael Geist has a full rundown on what is at stake and what you can do, wherever you live."
shut is all down.
How about a week long blackout?
Or a week of backhoe accidents.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Signing does not mean a thing because the European Parliament still has to decide whether to give its consent, and when a single nation asks the European court of Justice, or the Constitutional court then it's dead, because it is against EU Treaties/constitutions. it's not too late to get involved.
Bend over, grab your ankles, and hold your breath.
This is why those scumbags let SOPA sputter so easily. They knew this was in the pipe. How's that "victory" taste now? Yeah, thought so.
Until there's actually some tangible consequences to stop them doing so, you'd all (and that goes for everyone in any country) best come to grips with the fact that you exist to be boned in the bottom by your governments.
He signed the treaty, despite it not being ratified by the Senate. I don't think he can weasel out by whining the Senate was ignoring it. The Constitution is pretty clear on this.
[The President] shall have Power, by and with Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Assuming that the White House actually takes the petitions seriously, the current ACTA related petitions are:
... and, not ACTA related, but as I'm an ALA member, there's also one that needs another 6k signatures by next week for funding for school libraries. (although, personally, I'd rather it go to regular public libraries, so they have access over the summer)
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
he signed it a few months ago.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Michael Geist has a full rundown on what is at stake
No, he doesn't. He rambles on about how it's controversial and terrible and stinky, but doesn't say why. He says India has raised concerns about how it interacts with TRIPS, but doesn't bother to say what TRIPS is, or even what the acronym stands for. (Neither does the linked article on indiatimes.com.)
If you don't already know exactly what ACTA is, then it's a waste of time reading it. Nowhere does he say what's at stake. He just says "here's how to contact someone about it, and you should because it's a bad thing (insert jedi hand wave))"
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/business-tech/technology-news/120127/top-eu-official-kader-arif-resigns-protest
They are pressured by the US (mostly). In Serbia (where I'm from) for example, Biden attempted to force Serbia to allow importing of GMO food, currently forbidden by the Serbian law. Here's a statement made by the American ambassador in Serbia during a speech to the Serbian Chamber of Commerce: (http://serbia.usembassy.gov/g100302.html) (emphasis mine)
"Our Foreign Agricultural Service, for example, facilitates a U.S. Department of Agriculture Technical Assistance Program to assist Serbia in its WTO accession process. This support aims to help Serbia establish a trade regime consistent with the WTO and other international standards-setting. Our Foreign Agricultural Service office is currently assisting the Serbian Ministry of Agriculture to amend the new Law on Genetically Modified Organisms – or GMO’s -- to bring Serbia's GMO regime into WTO compliance and advance Serbia's WTO negotiations."
They are doing their job -- pushing interests of big corporations, we have to do ours -- defend against it.
Here is what the Feds say
But it seems to me that an "Executive agreement" as it is defined in that reference is pretty much unconstitutional.
I think your average reasonable man would say that a Treaty, duly ratified, has the force of law and is applicable to all citizens.
An Agreement, on the other hand, would have the parties conduct themselves in a certain manner (follows certain protocols or procedures) with respect o the subject matter. but do so within the framework of the law.
So, while an "Agreement" would have the Feds use the existing U.S. laws to enforce the goals, they would still have to follow the law (i.e. get a court order to shut down a site).
A Treaty, on the other hand, would have the force of law and presumably not require the government to get a court order.
That's my guess anyway. But only a fool relies on internet posts for their information eh?
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
When in Poland a parliament commission approved resolution asking prime minister to postpone signing ACTA, official from US embassy called demanding explanation why it was voted and who voted for it. Here is translated link from Polish source.