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Meet ACTA: It's Like SOPA And PIPA On Steroids

Ryan Shaw |
January 26, 2012 | 11:09 p.m. PST

Staff Columnist

First SOPA, now ACTA. (Screenshot)
First SOPA, now ACTA. (Screenshot)
Meet the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). It's the latest attempt to censor the Internet, and it's coming to a country near you. 

What ACTA is.  ACTA is a lot like SOPA and PIPA, two anti-piracy bills that millions of Americans protested against in recent days.  The difference is that ACTA isn't just an American law, but an international trade agreement to "stop the proliferation of copyrighted material." It has been signed by United States, the European Union, Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Korea.  In order to stop the spread of pirated material, the agreement would create international standards for intellectual property rights laws and it would enforce these standards using a governing body outside of normal governing bodies such as the World Trade Organization and the United Nations. 

What ACTA has the power to do.  Under ACTA, an Internet service provider can be held liable for any content that either displays or links to pirated material. How can this affect you? Let's imagine a hypothetical situation where someone posts a link to an illegally downloaded song on Facebook. Then, let's assume an Internet service provider, such as Time Warner Cable, is notfied by the new ACTA established committee that it had to deny it's users access to Facebook because of that link. Now, because of one link, millions of people can potentially be denied access to the most popular social network in the world. 

Dangers of ACTA. According to the Free Software Foundation, ACTA would make it harder to share free software legitamately. The Firefox Internet Browser is an example of such free software.  ACTA would make programs like Firefox harder to obtain because it threatens to shut down grassroots file sharing technology like BitTorrent, which allows people to share large amounts of legitamte free software. ACTA also creates a culture of suspicion and censorship on the last great bastion of global freedom, the World Wide Web.  ACTA would plant the seed of action for a fundamentally different Internet where freedom of expression may be prosecuted under the guise of copyright infringement.      

How ACTA can be stopped. There is still time to act if you are as worried about your liberties as I am. ACTA, like all international trade agreements, need to be presented to the European Parliament for a vote. A number of committees are providing their opinions on the text of the agreement before it reaches a vote. If you are against ACTA you can leave the International Trade Commitee a message here

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Anonymous (not verified) on April 27, 2012 8:35 PM

of course every nation must respect copyright in spite of this there have been third world countries that just can’t respect copyright at all’

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Anonymous (not verified) on January 26, 2012 11:51 PM

I waive any and all copyright on the following, if there is any, and that is a Movie, Book, or a Comic on the theme of Kim Schmitz or Kim Dotcom of MegaUpLoad who is adored by many as being a hero or martyr who saved the internet.

There should also be Kim Schmitz or Kim Dotcom paraphernalia like toys, comics, songs, etc, and he can be the leader of the Free Internet Global Movement.

It could be that he may become a figure like jailed General Secretary of the National League for Democracy Aung San Suu Kyi, and Dignitaries can pressure America to release him and that they want foreign Doctors to provide care for him.

American and Eastern European Human Rights Activists can stage vigils and protests at the jail, if he is kept in detention, and possibly Julian Assange and others like Anonymous can do what they can to curb Government Corruption and Lies that can only flourish because of unwarranted Censorship.

I wonder if Hollywood would like to make hero Movies, and because of Ronald Reagan, we know that the supposed Communists in Hollywood were just good Actors, or even B Grade Actors like Ronald Reagan.

Just copy and paste the Western Aung San Suu Kyi script, and change the Countries and dates and the name to Kim Schmitz or Kim Dotcom, or my favourites are Captain Kim or Big Kim, because he has a Big Heart.

He will need your help to pay his legal bills, and so that he can help you safeguard the internet, and so you should buy the Book, the Movie, the Paraphernalia, Denote to the Campaign, and help Kim to safeguard the Interment and help keep the American Government more Honest, and slightly less Dictatorial.

SOPA stands for Stop Online Piracy Act, but would the American Congress want it to stand for Stop Offline Piracy Act, because the real Pirates in America have Overseas Tax Havens that even American Politicians and their Donors use.

PIPA stands for Protect Intellectual Property Act, but it is just a Disguise and Euphemism for the real intent, which is to Perpetuate Injustices Properly in America.

EEA stands for Enemy Expatriation Act, but its real purpose is to Encourage Evil in America.

NDAA stands for National Defence Authorization Act, but it is just a Euphemism for No Democracy Allowed in America.

ACTA stands for Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Act, but it is just a Euphemism for Anti-Consumer Terrorism Applied.

TSA stands for Transportation Security Administration, but it is really Treason and Shame for America.

We all know that there will be Freeloaders in America, but a system can be devised where People who want to show their appreciation to Movie Makers and Music Makers can voluntarily donate anonymously and safely.

Perhaps an account like a mobile phone recharge of no more than 50 Dollars Recharge can be purchased at a newsagent or supermarket, and People can donate to the holders of copyright material, of anywhere between 1 Dollar, and 50 Dollars, with 1 Dollar as the minimum Donation.

The number of the nameless anonymous account can be kept secret, and Experts know how to keep these things anonymous, where no one knows the details, except that money is being transferred.

I am sure that there are enough appreciative People to pay for the owners of copyright material.

We should realize that ordinary People are safer because there is less burglary to steal movies and music, because some People are too poor to afford it, and some want it for free even if they can afford it.

Governments should realize that with less crime, there will need to be less demand on the Public Purse, and we have heard of the term Bread and Circuses.

I think that anyone who cannot make it on Voluntary donations for their copyright material should seek alternative employment.

We know that HR 1981 is a proposed Bill to Protecting Children on the Internet regarding child pornography, and it sounds good in theory, and it is a crime that should be pursued.

However, it requires that Internet Providers to keep records on their clients for 18 months on every web site they visited, and there is the presumption of guilt rather and innocent with this approach.

I have seen many tricks on the Internet, and if the Government does not like someone, then they can set them up with fake records of what web sites they supposedly visited.

The same can be true of a wife who wants a divorce; and there could be Lawyers and Politicians who know who can change the Internet Records, to make someone innocent look like they looked at child pornography web sites, and we are not even discussing Hackers who would discover how to change the records either out of Revenge, Malice, or for Financial Gain.

The wife and the Lawyers will get more Money than otherwise, and the Lawyer could get more sex than otherwise.
We know that any Slander that is beloved by the Court will affect the rights of the child as far as visiting rights by the father, and the supposed purpose of HR 1981 proposed Bill is to Protect Children.

We all know that different People would have different motives and reasons, and the Corrupt Politicians would use it against an Honest Politician.

It could be that the Banksters and Plutocrats of America are the real Lobbyists of all of this, and they would use it to control their Politicians to benefit themselves at the cost of the American Citizens.

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