USTR Continues To Lie: Claims ACTA Release Proved Internet Rumors About ACTA Were False
from the lies,-damned-lies,-and-sticking-up-for-lobbyists dept
This is pretty funny. After working really hard to keep ACTA negotiations a secret (even ridiculously claiming it was a national security issue), the USTR finally was pressured into release the draft text which showed, in fact, that the online leaks were exactly correct. Yet, the USTR is sticking to its earlier talking point that all the concern about ACTA in the online community was due to "misrepresentation" and "misinformation."USTR boss Ron Kirk, at a World Intellectual Property Day event earlier this week, claimed that the official release of ACTA text had shown that there was "a lot of the misinformation about ACTA." Except, no, that's not true. While there had been some misinformation about it last summer (mainly due to Kirk's own actions in keeping the document secret), the leaks that started coming out late last year appear to have been 100% accurate. In fact, the significant changes to the officially released copy appear to have been driven by concerns brought forth due to these leaks. He went on to say that it's too early to "judge" things:
"We're still in the middle of the process," Kirk said, adding that "let's not prejudge anything." He also said his office has "gone to great lengths to hear" from all the stakeholders involved in the ACTA debate and will continue to do so.But that's wrong on a variety of fronts. While the USTR had shown some snippets of the documents, under NDA and only for very brief periods of time, to consumer advocacy groups, that was significantly less access than many industry lobbyists had to the document and the negotiations. As for "pre-judging" the document, the issue isn't "pre-judging" the document, it's about actually listening to the stakeholders. To date, Kirk and the USTR has shown no interest in doing so. That's why they seem to only be publicizing letters from industry lobbyists who support ACTA, but not the concerns of pretty much everyone else about ACTA.
The issue isn't "pre-judging," it's making sure that by the time anyone's allowed to "judge" the document, it isn't too late.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
and the lies continue.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Yes, because only your judgments matter and no one else should be allowed to judge it until you give the OK. Hence you decided to keep the documents secret until it's too late or until it leaked against your will.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Verdict: A biased, over-reaching, one-sided debacle that will adversely affect citizens rights, right to free thought, and will unduly influence domestic laws in a number of countries without due legislative process.
Kirk's logic could be applied to murderers: We shouldn't throw them in jail, because that is pre-judging them on a "draft version" of their lives. We need to let them finish their lives unfettered, then judge them once final.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
And I mean a coordinated attack from all the last bastions of free speech and privacy, who should come together and fight against this sodden shite before they manage to push it through like they did with the Digital Economy Act here in the UK.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
In the long run the digital economy bill will cause several things, more privacy due to encryption becoming SOP, secure anon software to replace torrents and P2P, the accelerated collapse of the media companies, the eventual reform of IP law to something more queen anne-ish and consumer friendly, a corporate backlash against the media distribution industry.
In the short run it will mean raids, imprisonment, fines, secondary liability, guilt by accusation.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Even if the product is shit, the grandiose expectation to make mountains of money shouldn't be be lowered, right?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
keep doing what youre doing
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: keep doing what youre doing
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: keep doing what youre doing
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: keep doing what youre doing
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: keep doing what youre doing
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: keep doing what youre doing
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: keep doing what youre doing
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: keep doing what youre doing
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: keep doing what youre doing
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: keep doing what youre doing
So, although voting is critically important, it alone is far from sufficient. We need to balance the powerful lobbies, and apply equally serious pressure in the direction we prefer.
People who are angry at their lack of representation in government are absolutely right in their anger. That anger is also part of how the system works, as it's usually through anger that citizens unite enough to present a powerful counterpressure.
Complacency is the death of our form of government. It warms my heart to hear people realizing their powerlessness and in so doing, discover their power.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The Emperor's New Clothes
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
@9
you want to show me a list of the mpaa , riaa, bsa and people that GAVE me the right o vote on such legislation and ill SHOW you how hes bypassing congress with it being an executive order cause OBAMA is to fraidy cat to have the PEOPLE have a say , even there so called elected officials WHOM would be horrified to have to vote for this piece a garbage legislation.
FACT is go look what happened in Canada when they tried BILL-C61 which seems to be an awful lot like ACTA
IT FAILED and now because fo that 67% want lower term rates
and over 80% want protection for non commercial copying.
NOW YOU WILL GET LESS WHICH YOU LAZY BASTARDS DESERVE.
AND to boot that canuck gov't with its corruption scandalous and abuse and torture in Afghanistan is now dropping in polls worse then a lead rock. THe gainer , the ndp party
YEA in another month at this rate your going to see them pass the liberals aka fibrals and the CONserveratives.
they are gonna try and get something rammed at us and the next govt will repeal and destroy it
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Also
IF htis is half way then your saying 2012?
GOOD election time in USA and by then we'll also have a new govt in Canada and one that won't be conservative.
SLOWLY but surely were going to eradicate NON democratic govts around the world and YOU OBAMA are becoming ground zero
with your mpaa, riaa , bsa buddies
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Also
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Also
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090313/1456154113.shtml
So what ever happened to that national security argument anyways?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]