Thousands Take To the Streets To Protest ACTA

An anonymous reader writes "The protests against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement continue to spread in cities across Europe. The protests began in Poland, where thousands have taken to the streets and opposition politicians have worn Guy Fawkes masks in protest against the country signing the agreement last week. The scenes from Poland and France are remarkable, demonstrating the widespread anger over the decision to join ACTA. A full rundown of protest plans can be found here."

Comments

But does it change anything?

[erick99]

These protests are short-lived and I wonder if they end up doing any good. I am against ACTA and I have called my congressman as has my son to ask him to not support it. Interestingly, he knew little about it and wanted information. We had a fairly long call. At the end of the call he said that he would not vote for it. How many others in congress are not aware of what's in this bill? Protesting is well and good but I think making phone calls, emails, etc. are also very, very important. We can get to folks in congress one phone call at a time and put ACTA out of our misery.

Re:But does it change anything?

[Anonymous Coward]

Even if it doesn't change anything, symbolically its HUGE.

Remember how the media tried to downplay Occupy Wall Street as just a money issue? Well if something as technical as ACTA/SOPA can mobilize people, what does that say about sitting governments and future elections?

Re:But does it change anything?

[Osgeld]

see thats the problem right there, they dont know, but will happily vote for it cause bubba next to them supports it and maybe they got a little money to pad their wallets as well

its pathetic that people have to call them to inform them how to do their effin jobs

Re:But does it change anything?

[qbast]

In Poland both media and politicians are already trying to downplay it too. Either as bunch of thieves who are worried that gold days of getting stuff for free are going to end or as bunch of easily manipulated young idiots who don't even know what they are protesting.

Re:But does it change anything?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, these protests do something. They show people that they are not alone in their anger towards the politicians who are selling them out. When the Swedish Pirate Party formed, it showed people in other countries that proper representation of the internet affine generations is possible, and Pirate Parties formed in other countries. People no longer believe that they are tiny minority whose interests are being trampled. They see other people who think alike. When the German Pirate Party made it into the senate of Berlin, it created a turmoil among the incumbent parties. A flurry of "me too" promises resulted and the parties which had ridiculed the Pirate Party before the election tried to suck up to the "new" voters. It hurts to lose a couple percent points of the votes to a new party. The protests in Poland may well remove people from office, as they're not just about ACTA, but about Poland's signature in violation of the decision of the expert commission of Poland's parliament. The anger is also about the USA's meddling, and ACTA will cause the USA to lose some standing in the world, this time not amongst the countries which it already perceives as enemies, but among "friends".

Re:But does it change anything?

[sjames]

Really, no. It was about a month until the media (reluctantly) mentioned it at all. The mainstream media had to be shamed into covering it. Many are not aware that the Occupy movement is ongoing in many cities.

Re:But does it change anything?

[Luckyo]

Many are also not aware that media clampdown during occupy wall street reporting dropped USA from 20th to 47th spot in yearly Reporters without Borders study. It's officially a third world country in terms of press freedom now, stuck somewhere between Ghana and Haiti.

It's quite sad how USA still sees itself as a paragon of freedom, and often complains about other countries clamping down on their press.

http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2011-2012,1043.html

Re:But does it change anything?

[rsilvergun]

The media didn't downplay, they outright ignored. Worked too. The cops moved in and busted some heads and the whole thing fizzled out. Occupy Wall Street wasn't about a few anti-1% protests. It was about changing America's economic narrative: e.g. work hard and play by the rules and you'll succeed. It was about letting the 99% know the deck was stacked against them; and that no matter how hard they worked they'd keep losing ground. The American Ruling class figured that out right quick and squashed it.

Re:But does it change anything?

[Yvanhoe]

I call my European MP and he said he received tons of calls already. He was honest "we didn't do our homework on this yet, but we are already critical of it because of its part on generic drugs."

Protests are not enough to withdraw a law, but they show that the issue is not minor either. There are tons of text being voted. More often than not, representative just vote along their party's line. When they see protests, there is a chance they will investigate a bit further. And when they investigate even a slight bit further, if they just google 'ACTA' they'll find a tone of things to be critical of.

Re:But does it change anything?

[Forty Two Tenfold]

These protests are short-lived and I wonder if they end up doing any good. I am against ACTA and I have called my congressman as has my son to ask him to not support it.

WE THE PEOPLE of POLAND didn't have time for that. ACTA was signed behind our backs. Some of us (myself included) sent letters to our ambassador in Tokyo asking not to sign. They all flicked us. There is a considerable number of us (myself included) who not only want ACTA rejected but also want the regime changed. Go figure.

Re:But does it change anything?

[LordLucless]

It's officially a third world country in terms of press freedom now

No, it's pretty much the definition of a first world country. The term "third world" has pretty much lost all meaning after the end of the Cold War. At best, it's a vague synonym for "undeveloped country'. At worst, it's nothing but a pejorative.

Re:But does it change anything?

[TapeCutter]

I don't know about ACTA in particular, but treaties in general are signed first and ratified later. For example Kyoto was signed by the US but was never ratified.

Re:But does it change anything?

[Kalriath]

While you're at it, you might want to direct your congressman's attention to ACTA's sharper fanged big brother, the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement. TPPA makes ACTA look like fuzzy kittens in comparison - and that's only from the few bits we've seen leaked (the US government demands other negotiating countries protect it on National Security grounds). This particular one is particularly vicious in that it gives Big Pharma the right to sue government purchasing schemes that fail to "accurately reflect the value of the patents" in negotiations for bulk medicine supplies. It will single-handedly quadruple the cost of schemes like Medicaid in the US or PHARMAC in New Zealand (not sure of Australia's equivalent).

Re:But does it change anything?

[The Master Control P]

I think the decision to start Occupy right as winter was moving in might possibly also have had something to do with it fizzling out during winter.

The whole movement has simply presented itself with an insurmountable challenge. As it's put a few posts down, there's an element that's attracted to Occupy like a magnet - communists and anarchists mainly, but also scenester douches who "were totally there, man" - who at once make it impossible to take Occupy seriously because they give the corporate media a bottomless supply of awesome soundbites, but Occupy is unwilling to expel them.

If the whole thing had been conducted in the vein of the civil rights marches, including putting on your Sunday best for the protest and making certain that everyone knew specifically why they were there, it would have been infinitely harder for the media to dismiss. Police brutality only goes so far in making people sympathize with any group.

Re:But does it change anything?

[Ltap]

I think more people should realize how the different "worlds" were initially defined:

First world: USA, NATO countries
Second world: USSR, Warsaw Pact
Third world: Undeveloped or underdeveloped puppet or neutral countries in South America, Africa, and Asia

It's transparently nothing but a way the USA used to rank itself and its allies first by definition, for political reasons rather than economic.

Re:But does it change anything?

[mister_playboy]

It's transparently nothing but a way the USA used to rank itself and its allies first by definition, for political reasons rather than economic.

This is incorrect. As Wikipedia states:

French demographer, anthropologist and historian Alfred Sauvy, in an article published in the French magazine L'Observateur, August 14, 1952, coined the term Third World, referring to countries that were unaligned with either the Communist Soviet bloc or the Capitalist NATO bloc during the Cold War. His usage was a reference to the Third Estate, the commoners of France who, before and during the French Revolution, opposed priests and nobles, who composed the First Estate and Second Estate, respectively. Sauvy wrote, "Like the third estate, the Third World is nothing, and wants to be something." He conveyed the concept of political non-alignment with either the capitalist or communist bloc.

The idea that these countries were undeveloped or inferior is not related to the original usage.

Re:But does it change anything?

[LordLucless]

Language changes, but words have meaning.

If you treat words as not having meaning, you lose the ability to communicate. You'll end up with a thousand synonyms for "shit", and be unable to communicate complex concepts. Language tends towards the pejorative. Think of how many words we have for something being undesirable - "shit", "sucks", "blows", "gay", "lame", "dumb", "retarded" - just a few off the top of my head. Their use as pejorative makes their literal meaning only accessibly by contextual analysis - and that makes it harder to communicate. To the point now that it's difficult to explain the concept of something interfering with the development of another thing using the word "retard", without some PC-nutjob jumping all over you for discriminating against the disabled.

Re:But does it change anything?

[LordLucless]

Bear in mind, that they weren't actually defined in that order.

"Third World" was the first to be coined, by a French historian. It came from a time when everything was being seen through the lens of the Cold War. He was drawing attention to the fact that there were actually a large number of countries that were being totally ignored by the simplistic dichotomy of Capitalism vs Communism. First and Second worlds were coined retrospectively. Incidentally, I wouldn't say that "undeveloped" is part of the definition; it just so happened that most of the neutral countries were underdeveloped (because neither bloc put any effort into recruiting countries with minimal resource).

I disagree that it was used as a ranking, although the positions of "First" and "Second" obviously display the prejudices of those doing the labelling. "Third World" is more a recognition of an excluded middle, the same way it was used in the "Third Way" political movement.

ACTA Represents the End...

[kuleiana]

ACTA represents the end of political power as we knew it, growing up. ACTA, the NDAA, SOPA, PIPA, and the inconcievably invasive H.B. 2288 (which I am ashamed to say originated here in Hawaii) represent some of the best efforts by the 1% to control what we say and do, especially online. What hubris!

Re:ACTA Represents the End...

[thereitis]

Can we also get rid of the counterfeit politicians who are selling out to big business?

Re:ACTA Represents the End...

[TheGratefulNet]

correction: the end of our *illusion* of being able to be represented and have a say in how we are 'governed'.

I submit that mankind has been this way since we evolved from ooze. its always been about competition and conquest and domination. look at nature; we are not so different from animals, in this respect.

our society, all over the world, is in constant conflict with wanting to be at peace with each other, while also wanting to dominate each other. such a delicate balance and its often not achievable.

what has happened is that the filteration of this concept is being bypassed. people can directly read and understand what the powers 'up there' have in mind and how they view us surfs^Hserfs.

overbearing rulers have always, always been the norm. what's changed is that we all, collectively, are *realizing* that.

yes, it will cause class warfare. and that, too, has always been a continual struggle in the history of man.

Re:ACTA Represents the End...

[DigiShaman]

And that is why the common man should have the right to bear arms. Tread on us will they?

Re:ACTA Represents the End...

[Anonymous Coward]

That used to work back when guns were all about the same size.

Re:ACTA Represents the End...

[Rik Rohl]

With a 9mm vote.

Re:ACTA Represents the End...

[kuleiana]

Mahalo for the correction/clarifications (esp. i.e. the *illusion* of being represented fairly, or at all, by our phony "representatives" in Washington, D.C., in the State Capitol, and the local governments); it's very telling that these people whom we have trusted for years, no matter what their claimed political bent, is ultimately serving as public relations agents for the top one hundredth of one percent of the wealthiest, internationally. Scams like our current taxation system, phony environmental "regulations" which actually *deregulate* and allow much worse pollution to occur, and anti-discrimination legislation which actually winds up *creating* hatred and resentment... In the past, we were simply told that we were not "holy" or "pure" enough; these days, we're not "law-abiding" or "in a high enough tax bracket". In the absence of scientific knowledge--when you could prevent people from knowing something by simply burning down the library [i.e. the Library at Alexandria] and hoping that no-one had managed to make copies of the books inside first--now these same facetious people are attempting to burn down vast swaths of the Internet simple because they do not like what people are saying. As the censorship of our free speech becomes more obvious, the illegal detainment of people like the brave (gay) soldier Bradley Manning and the mud-smeared heroism of Julian Assange and the overt actions of beautiful/talented programmers of Anonymous, including an new, inspiring wave of incredibly akamai (female) computer programmers becomes more relevant and more highlighted in the public eye. The more that the news cronies refuse to cover the thousands of daily protests involving thousands of Occupy demonstrators in thousands of locations around the world, the more important this type of thinking becomes in my mind. I just don't understand how these people keep going; I mean, when it comes down to it, the foundation of all those peoples' lives is only money. As a member of a sociopolitical party which by definition can only ever include: 307,000,000 people in the U.S. (times) .01% = 30,700 top wealthiest people in the U.S. 7,000,000,000 people in the world (times) .01% = 700,000 top wealthier people in the world; ...that's a huge minority. Especially once they start looking around at all the people they've screwed and continue to screw, pretty soon all their bankers, lawyers, buddies, gardeners and pals who make slightly to much less than them will start realizing who it is that's been messing with their finances, their medical health, their families, and their freedom in order to keep their bosses in charge all over the world. Deliberately. Deliberately. How long after this realization hits the supporters of the top .0001 (i.e. me and you and 99.99% of the rest of us on this Earth) will we tolerate these phony revolutions, these assassinations, these character assassinations, this mutual atta-boy backslapping and disgusting Real Housewives international jet-setting while the rest of us try to afford a single bag of poi (which now costs $9 in our local grocery store and is no longer affordable)? It won't take long for people to realize that this economic prison is just as illusory as the other ones those people have created for us to believe in and so peacefully slot ourselves into at their demand. I, personally, will be much more aware of political pandering to my liberalism, my homosexuality, my economic status, and I will not be supporting those who say one thing and do another. If Hawaii is going to start keeping track of every website that we visit from now on, I demand a list of every website that our public legislators visit, and those of the lobbyists who pay them. I want this "public record" to include those unexpurgated records of our highest politicians and religious leaders, alongside our own. Only then will people see how disgustingly filthy this system is, from bottom to top.

Re:ACTA Represents the End...

[UnknownSoldier]

> I submit that mankind has been this way since we evolved from ooze. its always been about competition and conquest and domination. look at nature; we are not so different from animals, in this respect.
You raise some good points but I must respectfully disagree with some of them.

1. Are you aware of what civilization was like 20,000 and 12,000 years ago?

2. While it is true that "you must kill something so that you can live" the world is becoming less about "us vs. them", and more "us AND them."

3. You are assuming that 'competition' is the only viable way to live. That is true -- it HAS been. Guess what though -- there is a better way -- it is called 'cooperation'. Some guy 2000 years ago says 'Hey, we should respect one another and get along' and so what does the ignorant masses do? They stake and killed him because he was a _perceived_ power threat.

While we have evolved from directly killing one another, the battle has changed from one about finance, to one about power -- controlling what people belief, think and feel. Television and Education are nothing more then propaganda tools (for the most part.) As people wake up to the fact that "WE _are_ the governments", the power will shift back to its those who created the government in the first place -- we, the people.

Conflict is an -unnecessary- aspect of life. It IS possible to live in balance with:
a) nature
b) each other

Its only the spiritual immature adults that don't "get it."

Proof:

Most people don't go around killing one another. They don't need "legal laws" to remind them there are consequences for their choices. At an intrinsic level, they grok "Treat others how you want to be treated."

Only children needs rules, because they don't know any better.

The human race are still children learning how to become a teen. Learning Authority & Accountability. As people _demand_ transparency in government (Accountability), and learn to separate Politics and corporate whoring of sponsoring *cough buying* laws, government will change.

Sadly, People (for the most part) do NOT deserve freedom, because they do NOT know how to govern themselves WITHOUT government. It is my hope the one day that everyone acts responsibly, civil, both as the governor,and governed, like some _advanced_ civilizations do. Until then, we have a long ways to go ...

The idea of a government is a "hack" designed to teach everyone how to self-govern! It provides a "template". This is the reason people confuse "morality" with "legality" -- not understanding the purpose and difference between the two. (Government also serves another useful purpose by providing a 'standard' -- but a bad standard is worse then no standard at all, but that is another topic.)

Do you want to know what the secret root cause of conflict is? Aside from basic human nature (greed which is just another name for 'control' which is another name for 'power'), that is:

"The false belief that there is 'never enough' "

- There is never enough money
- There is never enough land
- There is never enough food
- There is never enough time
- There is never enough _insert_thing_i_want_

(Part of the problem is that we as a species only live ~ 100 years and therefore tend to have a myopic view of life. In ~400 years when when the average lifespan starts becoming 1,000 years, our view of "how the fuck to grow up" will drastically change.)

Ironically, the universe provides everything in abundance.

The sun provides us with free energy -- I don't see anyone whining about what we have to "pay it back."

The earth provides us with a place to live and food. It can support up to ~20 billion people. I don't see anyone whining about what we have to give back to it. Only those (maybe with justification) about 'other humans' because they want 'my land, my income, etc.'

Animals have survived on this planet for millions of years. Only idiot humans "demand

Re:ACTA Represents the End...

[green1]

If the numbers are truly on your side, the guns aren't necessary at all. If they aren't the guns can't help you.

The problem isn't whether or not you have a gun. The problem is in convincing enough of the population to join you that the members of the armed forces see it as anything more than a few terrorists to put down.

Re:ACTA Represents the End...

[sd4f]

Soldiers are trained to follow orders, now they havn't completely perfected this, but in a nutshell, look at egypt and libya, a lot of soldiers did defect, but not all. Any US soldiers defecting would probably be court marshalled and executed if something like that were to happen, so unless a very large number of them decide to defect all at once, many of them would have to more or less put themselves up for effectively death.

The best examples are the ex communist countries, romania was particularly bad with the army fighting against its own citizens in quite overt urban warfare, until the army decided to switch sides, that effectively stopped the war there and then. Other eastern bloc countries had prolonged periods of bloodshed, like poland which had a period of martial law and the secret police were killing many upon many people for most of the 1980's, many see the point of no return was with the sadistic murder of a polish priest named Fr. Jerzy Popieuszko by the secret police

I think that, first that whatever weapons the defense forces wield, so should people be able to, or, it should be defined in the constitution of the respective country, that the army is not allowed to mobilise against its own people, that is an illegal act, but the problem with the last one is, well, at the end of the day, whoever controls the army, well, rules or constitutions don't matter do they.

Re:ACTA Represents the End...

[countertrolling]

Do you really think that all 3 million of those soldiers are prepared to fire upon their countrymen?

Well, if the civil war, with the death of some 625,000 was any indication, I would have to say it's quite possible.

Good to see someone standing up against this junk

[Strych9]

While artists and such do deserve a right to be able to make a fair shake on what they produce, why should patentable items only have a 20 year shelf life while a song have 100+ years of protection?

This is insane.

That should give the entertainment/content industry pause, if there was a strong united Internet demand for fair copyright terms.

That should give some pause to those trying to hijack the production and distribution of ideas.

Let's do Brussels next weekend...

[TheRaven64]

There are going to be about 4,000 geeks in Brussels next weekend for FOSDEM - I bet at least half of them could be persuaded to pop over to the EU parliament for a little bit of protesting...

Re:Let's do Brussels next weekend...

[Anonymous Coward]

Teargassing/pepperspraying a group of 2000-4000 protesting geeks MIGHT backfire somehow later on.

Re:Let's do Brussels next weekend...

[Anonymous Coward]

No they don't ... they clearly don't ... Also some nice facts about Belgium:

- It's not illegal to run from the police at all
- it's not illegal to try to escape from jail (as long as you don't do anything illegal by doing so)
- You won't get charged with "assaulting a police officer" if you "touch one"
- You won't get charged for "resisting arrest" (unless you shoot some cop) by just "moving your hands on your face"
- You won't get a 10 years jail sentence even if you punch one ... in the face !!
- They don't use Tazers because it's been proven medically dangerous and useless (they're still able to arrest you normally)
- They do have spray but not pepper spray , it"s some sort of CS gaz ...
- Cops are not allowed to use firearms unless directly life threatened (and NO ... walking towards a cop who is saying "STOP" is not life threatening)

Most likely cops in Belgium will just place some barricade ... and wait for the crowd to fatigue an go home.
However ... if a protest becomes violent

- They can arrest you without any charge for up to 12 hours (not anymore), it's called "Administrative Arrest"
- They can use mounted police which you don't want to get in front of
- They do use a lot of water cannons which are quite powerful
- They do use tear gaz but very rarely because it pisses everyone off including the people living there and themselves

Here is an example of a typical Belgian Protest "retaliation" from the Cops https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2vEdgySRnxk#!
As you can see , it"s quite "soft" and well ... humid , compared to US police ...

No really :) Protesting in Belgium is OK. It's not yet a Police State at all compared to the USA

Re:Let's do Brussels next weekend...

[gmuslera]

Check the differences between today's Oakland vs yesterday's London.

Protesting useless, need money + corporate support

[ad454]

Why do corporations contribute so much money to politicians in western nations? Because they except and get a 10-fold return on investment, by having laws, tax policies, regulations, and government purchases catered to their wishes.

Protesting only value in the political equation, is its dollar value against the advertisement and other media costs needed to negate it. (Note that SOPA was only stopped, when Google, Wikipedia, and others put the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars of advertising against it, and not but grass-roots protests alone.)

The only reasonable way to stop ACTA now would be to get some major corporate support on board and/or generate a signifigant bribe fund for politicians that would be greater than the amount the media company are bribing with.

Re:how about

[Tastecicles]

partly to FTFT, partly to inform: ACTA is an enabling piece of EU legislation that allows Governments to shut down websites they deem to be overly freethinking in their politics (eg positive action group blogs and newsboards). This is nothing to do with copyright infringement but with ACTA, they won't need pesky courts of Law, or even investigation into claims of copyright infringement - just the mere suggestion of copyright infringement will be enough for permanent shutdown and shitlisting of the domain.

Screw due process, Slashdot is subversive and it links to copyrighted material. Hell, you don't even have to go to court or attend police interviews.

Bye Slashdot, 'twas nice knowing you.

Opressing conservatives wearing Guy Fawkes-feel it

[Anonymous Coward]

Those opposition politicians in Guy Fawkes masks are mostly from PiS (Prawo i Sprawiedliwo - law and justice) party.
Most opressing, conservative, supposedly catholic bunch of political scoundrels.
Can you feel the irony?

Not a bill; Congress was never asked.

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem is that ACTA is being touted as executive agreement which the president has already signed. IIRC a bunch of senators were even denied access to the ACTA negotiations as a matter of "national security." Obama has essentially given congress the finger.

Re:Not a bill; Congress was never asked.

[TheGratefulNet]

Obama has essentially given congress the finger.

$PRESIDENT, congress and the judicial branches all give the US people the finger.

obama does not matter. bush would have fucked us over, too. and clinton, and etc etc.

people stop thinking that an individual matters, anymore. the whole system is slanted to the rich and powerful and this president or that party does not matter. they are DISTRACTIONS to keep us fighting with each other.

Re:Not a bill; Congress was never asked.

[equex]

they are DISTRACTIONS to keep us fighting with each other.

This. A thousand times this. There are no left or right. There are no republicans or democrats. It's all distractions from the real problem, which are the sleezy puppet masters that we do not see.

Re:Not a bill; Congress was never asked.

[WarwickRyan]

Douglas Adams was right all along with his post of Galactic President: "a role that involves no power whatsoever, and merely requires the incumbent to attract attention so no one wonders who's really in charge"

Why not in America?

[MelodicMotives]

Does it concern anyone else that Americans seemingly couldn't be bothered to actively protest this very same legislation with any level of ferocity here in the states? What will it take to get us upset enough to leave our collective couch, do you think?

Re:Why not in America?

[future assassin]

Because when was the last time the US or Canada had occupying forces on their land or had had their cities flattened by invading forces. When was the last time they actually fought for their country like say Solidarity movement did in Poland, never. People have had life too good here for a long time so they can't be bothered...

Re:Why not in America?

[colinrichardday]

The Confederacy was occupied from 1865-1877. Atlanta and Columbia (SC) suffered some damage from Union forces.

Re:Why not in America?

[Carewolf]

1812, the Americans invaded Canada, and in return the Canadians invaded the US and burned down the White House, just as a reminder not to do THAT again.

Europe taking the lead in the fight!

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm glad there are people in the world voicing their opinion.

People in America seem to make infographics, complain on message boards, shout in slashdot comments... anything, as long as they don't have to get up from their computer desks.

Are you scared of pepper sprays? Europeans clash with the police and aren't afraid to get a little hurt to express their anger towards draconian legislation.

That is why when RFID chipping comes to America, people will take it.

How to change goverment

[Digital Vomit]

The only thing politicians value more than money is their own life. As terrible as it is to consider, this is really the only avenue to effect change that the electorate has.

Re:Good to see someone standing up against this ju

[betterunixthanunix]

why should patentable items only have a 20 year shelf life

You say it as if the moment a patent expires, any products covered by that patent become unprofitable to sell. There are a lot of counterexamples to this statement...

if there was a strong united Internet demand for fair copyright terms.

Copyrights are dead and everyone knows it. Trying to enforce copyrights, as originally envisioned, is as crazy as trying to tell people that they are not allowed to drink their tap water. It is not going to work. In the worst case -- the one where we continue to have copyrights -- we need to turn copyright infringement into an offense that you receive a ticket for, like parking your car in the wrong place. The better alternative is to develop a new system for compensating artists and ensuring public access to arts and useful sciences.

Here's the full text:

[zarlino]

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/leaks/Anti-Counterfeiting%20Trade%20Agreement.pdf
The most important part is Section 5: "Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in the Digital Environment" at page 15

Re:Good to see someone standing up against this ju

[RazorSharp]

You know, you bring up a good point. If the internet community can try to fight with legislation of their own - legislation that would limit copyrights and extend fair use and public domain - then these media giants might find that they've awakened a sleeping giant. Not only should we be contacting our congressmen and telling them what to oppose, but we should also be telling them what type of changes we want made in regards to copyright.

Even if the endeavor isn't successful, imagine how scared shitless the MPAA would be if we could get guys like Ron Paul and Ron Wyden to introduce a bill that would get rid of the Mickey Mouse Protection Act or other such nonsense. Furthermore, if we can convince guys like that to vocally campaign on these issues, it would do a lot towards raising awareness.

Re:Opressing conservatives wearing Guy Fawkes-feel

[Anonymous Coward]

Not any more ironic than the fucking corporate media giant and SOPA/PIPA supporter Time-Warner making bank on all those Guy Fawkes masks being sold to people who are protesting the dominance of corporate influence over their governments.

Re:They really should protest copyrights and paten

[kanweg]

It would be nice if people stopped conflating the two.
Copyright: World wide by default
Patents: Only valid where it is applied for (IF granted) . In view of the cost, most patents are only applied for in 1 country/jurisdiction.

Copyright: No cost to the copyright holder
Patents: Applicant must draft costly patent application

Copyright: Never ends in your lifetime or that of your children
Patents: End when the proprietor stops paying the renewal fee and in any case within 20 years.

Copyright: Even for DRM where the work will never enter the public domain
Patents: The applications are publicly available (for the treasure trove on just about any topic, see for exampole http://espacenet.com/ for everyone world wide (including developing countries).

Copyright: Has to be original (low bar)
Patents: Must not only be New, but also Inventive (very high bar; sure, some bad stuff slips through but there are review process/opposition procedures to weed them out if someone is bothered by one). The invention must be described in a way in which an ordinary person skilled in the art can work it (or the patent is null and void).

So, while the patent law is crude, it is working. You don't think that applicants would provide the long explanatory texts that patent applications are if they had no chance of getting protection for their invention, do you?
Copyright law, I agree with you: No balance between society and copyright holder. And the balance is shifting in the wrong direction too. If you conflate the two, you make it harder to get something done about copyright law.

Bert

Re:They really should protest copyrights and paten

[roman_mir]

Those differences are irrelevant in the face of one striking similarity: both are granted by government, both are protected with the force of government, both are a subsidy to specific business models and both must go.

Re:Protesting useless, need money + corporate supp

[RazorSharp]

This is the argument for apathy, and it's wrong. Protesting isn't just about results, protesting is about standing up for what's right. Regardless, I do believe there are positive results - right now we, along with many others around the world, are discussing an issue that may not have occurred to us, or we may not have known about, had it not been for a group of Polish protestors.

Money isn't everything. That's just a defeatist attitude. It's the type of attitude that, by accepting injustice as inevitable, is complicit in it.

Re:how about

[Anonymous Coward]

To correct this misleading statement: ACTA is a trade agreement pushed by the US government rather heavy handedly. So it is quite clear that the usual suspects MPAA/RIAA pushed this forward. Being a trade agreement or at least presented as such it used secret negotiations and participants having to sign non disclosure agreements. This "trade agreement" status is a rather shady arrangement which served to avoid public scrutiny and democratic control. ACTA is not EU legislation. Though the EU has signed, it still requires ratification by all EU member states. The troll above clearly thinks that he can influence the process by misinformation.
My guess is that the building opposition and increasing public awareness following the SOPA debacle will leave this process dead in the water. Good riddance.

Re:Low attendance...

[qbast]

Actually in this case attendance was not a problem - tens of thousands physically showed up. It was also done with remarkably little violence, so at least media could not spin it as violent hooligans rioting.

Re:Opressing conservatives wearing Guy Fawkes-feel

[zAPPzAPP]

Are you sure?

According to my news sources, the faction that showed the masks are called "Ruch Palikota".
They are being described as "left wing, liberal" and seem to have a tendency for publicity stunts like this.

Re:Opressing conservatives wearing Guy Fawkes-feel

[qbast]

Who cares. Both of opposing parties tried to suck up to protesters without much luck. Kaczynski (leader of PiS) lost all credibility when he admitted that he did not really know what ACTA was about when his party negotiated it, neither he does now, but he is of course sure that government is wrong. Palikot (leader of RP - second opposing party) was shouted down and physically forced back to his car when he tried to join protesters.

Obama has already signed it - illegally

[scottbomb]

He signed it months ago, as a matter of fact. Before all the publicity surrounding SOPA and PIPA.

He's been doing a lot of that lately, ignoring the Constitution.

Source: http://www.infowars.com/obama-signs-global-internet-treaty-worse-than-sopa/

Re:Low attendance...

[Skal Tura]

and maybe because of that media is not interested to report about it :(
I see remarkably little in mainstream media about any of this

Re:how about

[Forty Two Tenfold]

ACTA is a trade agreement pushed by the US government rather heavy handedly

For those who think this is or would like to paint it as an exaggeration.

America!

[kurt555gs]

America is truly the land of sheep! President Obama used an "executive order" to invoke ACTA here, where constitutionally the Senate is needed to ratify treaties. I'd say that is a clear violation of his oath to uphold the Constitution. Nobody here seems the least bit concerned about losing their right to free speech. Sure, SOPA/PIPA are postponed, but they will be back. Meanwhile in Poland, thousands take to the streets to protest their voices being silenced by the ACTA treaty. Maybe they remember the old days under Communist rule and don't like the same thing coming back with a different face. Wake up America!

Alien Documentary

[Anonymous Coward]

The Aliens are creating a documentary

"Look at these primitive animals out in the streets worshiping their gods. That white mask that they wear is a symbol of what they believe to be the rain god, they are protesting the lack of rain in the region so that they can better provide for their farms".

Re:how about

[Runaway1956]

GP's post is not misinformational at all.

Go ahead, allow ACTA to be signed, ratified, and put into effect. THEN, go online, open up a website, and start building up a case AGAINST ACTA and it's proponents. Watch to see how fast your site is taken down.

ACTA is nothing, if it is not a tool to censor the masses, and to form public opinion - while at the same time enabling "Rights holders" to fleece those same masses of their hard earned money.

Re:how about

[morgauxo]

I think the misinformation was the idea that it is a piece of European legislation. I'm embarassed to say it came from here where I live, the US.

Similar feelings

[LostMyBeaver]

My biggest problem with ACTA is less about the agreement itself as opposed to how it was passed. The governments of the world hid the content of ACTA the best the could for as long as they could in order to try and sneak it through under the eyes of the people which they represent. The kicker of it is, by doing it as an international trade agreement, it effectively puts laws in place in all the countries which signed it while bypassing the normal law making processes. In effect, by making ACTA a trade agreement instead of laws in each country, people are now required to obey what seems like laws in every way to them even though they were entirely without representation when the law was passed. On top of that, the people who negotiated/passed the laws were in most countries appointed officials, not elected. And therefore, they don't have to worry about things like losing their positions over misrepresenting the people.

The secrecy and intentional efforts to get it passed without public knowledge was a disgusting display of abuse of power. So, while people may disagree with ACTA itself, what they should really disagree with is that national leaders are treating the people who put them in power as school children in a classroom for naughty kids as opposed to their bosses. They demand you stay seated. They demand you don't speak without raising your hands. And if you break either of those rules, then you're a troublemaker.

Re:Similar feelings

[mistiry]

They demand you stay seated. They demand you don't speak without raising your hands. And if you break either of those rules, then you're a troublemaker.

terrorist.

FTFY.