Slashdot Mirror
European Parliament Committees Reject ACTA As IP Backlash Grows
An anonymous reader writes "Earlier today [Thursday, May 31st], three European Parliament committees studying the
Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement — the Legal Affairs Committee
(JURI), the Committee for Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and the
Committee for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) — all voted
against implementing ACTA. Michael Geist reports
on how the strength of the anti-ACTA movement within the European
Parliament
is part of a broader backlash against secretive intellectual property
agreements that are either incorporated into broad trade agreements or
raise critical questions about prioritizing IP enforcement over
fundamental rights including votes and reports opposing these deals in
the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Mexico."
What?! A legislative body actually voted AGAINST corporate interests? I guess the end of the world IS coming this year...
I said it before, and I'll say it again. The EU's problems are the result of a political structure and cannot succeed due to lack of sufficient federalization.
America figured this out 225 years ago. How long will it take for Europe?
From some time now some guys decided that intellectual property is the new wealth. You do not accumulate anymore material goods such as gold, wood, grains: You now accumulate patents and extorts anyone who try to do something material using - even partially - some of these patents.
And patents is something perfect from the standpoint of the investor: The cost to generate one can almost get to zero but the profits can reach low Earth orbit (using the calculations of the RIAA)
(P.S: Damn you, Google translator. Brazilian->English translation sucks)
Religion: The greatest weapon of mass destruction of all time
Looking at the USA, one can only hope it will take forever.
prioritizing IP enforcement over fundamental rights
This is the part that gets me. I'm all for punishing thieves. I'm not for slaughtering someone in the courts, cutting off their internet, and vilifying them in the media because they downloaded a couple songs and the episode of Game of Thrones that they missed.
To me, Big Media isn't sending the message of "we're being hurt by copyright infringement", the're saying "hey, we have enough money to buy off significant portions of governments, it'd be a shame to put it to use in a productive manner (like by streamlining and expanding digital distribution to give people what they want...)"
Bits of code, random ramblings: jakimfett.com
The euro may or may not collapse but the EU will survive in some form or the other, there's been far too many positive gains by being a 500 million people market rather than 27 countries with their own odd rules. Even very worst case I suspect the southern countries get kicked out/leave and the northern/eastern countries stay. There are after all despite the PIIGGS over 20 countries who haven't fucked their economy. Besides, it's not like they could turn this around if they just paid attention to it. Right now if they increase taxes and impose cutbacks their economy tanks more and they get less taxes and more people on unemployment. If they decrease taxes to kick start the economy their public deficit goes to hell and the markets shut them down. Right now they're at the bottom of a deep, deep pit and only has to sit still and hope the world economy recovers so they're able to climb out. Meanwhile they might as well reject bullshit like ACTA.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
The entire house of cards is on the verge of collapse, but at least our bureaucrats found the time to vote this shit down.
Actually, it's the elected representatives (in the European Parliament) who are voting it down, and who have repeatedly expressed their opposition to the secretiveness of the negotiation process and to what has resulted from those negotiations. The unelected bureaucrats (European Commission and its ilk) were largely in favor, and actively participated in those secret negotiations.
Many things would have worked out differently (drastically different in a few cases) if the EU were run more democratically. And reducing the democratic deficit is probably an essential step (not the only one, of course) towards exiting the present fiasco.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
Actually, I would completely disagree with that. The system breeds corruption, and only the most corrupt make it to the highest power. It is inherent in any human system of government. Wait, are you one of those that believe we can have better system if we just try harder?
The tea party wants more federalism and less centralised bureaucracy. In Europe, the problem is the opposite, states remain sovreign and citizens have very little say ove what goes on at the European level. The EU is an agreement amongst states, not a democratic institution, and it would take a major restructuring of the political landscape of its 27 members to make it into one. The EU has its origins in a four country agreement for the free trade of steel and coal, through the EEC into what it is today. It is remarkable that so much has been agreed on, but perhaps they were too quick to try to absorb so much of the economic autonomy of its members into a single supranational institution.
Today is the sixth anniversary of the Swedish police's raid on The Pirate Bay, as evidenced by the "This Day on Slashdot" on the front page. That was not the reasons for the founding of the Swedish Pirate Party, which had happened 5 months earlier, but it was the first time they got any media attention and their membership grew by hundreds of percents on a single day. Three years later, in spring 2009, the case was being negotiated in the district court and the attention from that is probably what let the party enter the European parliament.
Now, another three years have passed and two Pirate Party MEPs have spent years inside the parliament. Today one of them had her draft opinion, which was extremely critical of ACTA and recommended the parliament to reject the treaty, accepted as the opinion of the ITRE committe. The other Pirate Party MEP was one of the votes against a pro-ACTA draft opinion in a very close vote in the JURI committee. The draft opinion was rejected, with the result that ITRE also recommends the parliament to reject ACTA.
Is this what they call "the long tail"?