As the seventh round of secret negotiations on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) concluded last month in Guadalajara, Mexico, the radio silence on the negotiations was near-total. Like the Kremlinologists of the Soviet Union, we're left trying to interpret the clues that leaked out from beneath the closed door.
Here's what we know: The idea that major copyright treaties should be negotiated in secret is losing traction around the world. Legislators from all the ACTA negotiating countries are demanding that this process be opened up to the press, activist groups, and the public.
In response, trade reps are making the bizarre claim that none of the treaty language will result in major changes to their countries' laws, only the other countries will have to change. (Since all these countries have irreconcilably different copyright systems, someone is lying. My money is on all of them.)
Finally, we have some idea of how ACTA's masters view public participation: During the bland "public meeting" held before the negotiations got underway, an activist was thrown out for tweeting an account of the assurances being mouthed by those on the podium. As she was led away, she was booed by the lobbyists who are able to participate in the treaty from which mere citizens are excluded.
This issue is an embarrassment for all concerned, a naked bit of crony-capitalism that has so much more at stake than mere copyright. It needs to stop. Read on for how it came to this, and what you can do to stop it.
Your investigation was fascinating and should I also mention the word-Frightening;wherein one considers the implications involved such a massive change in the way Copyright rules and regulations are conducted in America.
But do you think these rules will be enforced in China or India or Brazil or the Middle East? No these jurisdictions all have there on seperate ways of dealing with these issues(most just choose to ignore Copyright Violations;unless the enforcer is a really Big Gun with Tons of Cash to spend on enforcement).For instance,I know that in India ,Movie Piracy is Big-Big Business and Bollywood the World's Biggest Film Industry(by numbers),lose a lot every year to pirated DVDs and CDs which come out within a week(sometimes on the same day) of the movie's release.But there is one Movie House;who Film Pirates are scared to Pirate-That is YashRaj Films.Why? They have the best Legal and enforcement Team in India.All they need to do is get a whiff that someone is pirating and selling their Movies(either on the street or Online) and they arrest the guy and have him thrown in jail without bail for a week.They have branches overseas in America and the Middle East too.Plus,they have hired a couple of fulltime employees whose job is Surf various Websites(like Youtube,etc) to catch any pirated content from YashRaj films.And they then go after the Website as well.It sounds Heavy Handed ,I agree;But people have gotten so used to the free stuff that they dont wanna pay at all.Then how are u gonna get quality content?
The bottomline is this is a Big-Big Business and Business has a right to protect their revenue streams.All Businesses do it-Oil ,Autos,Steel ,Hell even the US Govt does it(Tell the people at IRS you dont believe in the authority of Uncle Sam and they will Jail u,if u know what I mean...)
It is indeed a fascinating article, but the adjective I think fits even better isfrightening.
Will ISPs police their customers as a result of ACTA and similar initiatives? I'd say they will do it in a heartbeat. I think ISPs love to monitor things, and that they spend a lot of time looking for ways to profit from stuff like this. It will be, "Wow! Do you realize we can now spy on our customers LEGALLY? What a break!"
And Michael, you wonder "how far any agency -- clandestine or otherwise -- can go these days with the consistent monitoring of issues just like this.: Very far indeed, I fear.
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