Slashdot Mirror
Yet Another European Government Drops ACTA
An anonymous reader writes "The government of Bulgaria, which had already signed ACTA, yesterday reversed itself, and announced that it would not seek ratification of the treaty. This comes after similar moves by Poland, Germany and the Netherlands, and a weekend of massive protests against ACTA across the European continent."
Yes. We are.
The Harper Government is putting heavy pressure on the CBC not to televise it. The other news interests are being pushed down by their corporate overlords.
People in Ontario: This is what you have voted into our Canadian government. Even Ignatieff was better than this.
I am Bulgarian living in Bulgaria right now. I am as happy as any of you about the ditching of ACTA by our government. But! They change their minds twice a day. The position of the other European governments against ACTA, I think, is based (to a certain extent at least) on principles and integrity. Our government is silly, uninformed, clueless and it may easily jump back on the ACTA bandwagon if put under pressure. They were clearly ready to force the ratification of ACTA on the Parliament. What changed their minds was the protest wave -- the government are populist and easily bend before protests. However, they bend easily before anything. So, let's wait and see...
Will take me a little while to find it again but Harper had funding cuts for the CBC put into his budget back when they were reporting on some scientists that harper was gagging.
CBC folded, they removed the story from their web site, the only place you can find it now is on independent sites.
http://asweweresaying.blogspot.com/2010/10/scientists-defy-harper-gag-rules.html
The above is the story.
The CBC has been saying "How high" every time harper says "jump" ever since.
Except that administration is claiming that they don't need senate confirmation to ratify the treaty. So the US will be counted among the 6 needed at least initially. Furthermore to be over-tuned in the courts, someone will have to show standing. Since ACTA does not require the implementation of any new laws in the US, that will be hard to do. The only thing I can think of is if a Senator sued because the treaty limited their ability to change the law. But even then I could see the courts denying standing, unless a law contradicting ACTA is actually passed.