[aklug] we're doomed

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Hey guys, I wanted to point out something that only recently came onto
my radar (if you were already aware of it, that's great): It's an
international agreement called ACTA, which was developed in secret and
signed by many countries, including the U.S., last October.

It is basically all the horrors of SOPA, PIPA, and more, but on the
international level. While it is called the "Anti-Counterfeiting Trade
Agreement", it really doesn't have anything to do with counterfeiting
in the typical sense of the word, but rather "trademark
counterfeiting" and "copyright or related rights infringement". Here
is a YouTube video about it:

http://youtu.be/N8Xg_C2YmG0

I'm still working through the text of the agreement, but what I've
already read is pretty scary. A PDF version is available from this link:

http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/assets/pdfs/acta-crc_apr15-2011_eng.pdf

I have no idea, from a legal standpoint, what kind of authority
international agreements have, or what legal recourses Americans would
have to oppose them. It was signed by President Obama /without/
Congressional approval. (Obama had refused earlier requests for him to
release the agreement draft and allow public comment, citing
"security" concerns.)

Additional reading:

http://real-agenda.com/2012/01/26/obama-ratifies-the-acta-global-internet-censorship-agreement/
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/foreign-policy/10685-obama-tries-to-bypass-congress-with-deadly-global-internet-treaty-acta
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/10/us-signs-international-anti-piracy-accord.ars

The Wikipedia article also has a lot of information, though somewhat
dated:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement

- --
frigidcode.com
indicium.us
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Received on Tue Apr 3 20:36:27 2012