Obama Reiterates Support For ACTA, As More People Point Out How Far ACTA Is From The Purpose Of Copyright
from the bad-thinking dept
A few months back, President Obama publicly stood behind ACTA despite tons of concerns about it from the public. It's disappointing that as more and more concerns and problems with ACTA have been highlighted, Obama has not reconsidered. He still seems to be taking the position that "more copyright must be good, and ACTA therefore is good." That's a naive position. The group Open ACTA points us to a statement made by Obama in Mexico, concerning better trade relations with Mexico, where he again insists that ACTA is a key part of better trade relations:Innovation and investment in technology and human capital are keys to sustained economic growth and competitiveness in both Mexico and the United States. The protection of intellectual property rights is essential to promote such innovation and investment. With this in mind, the Presidents charged their administrations to work together to formalize and expand the efforts of the existing bilateral Intellectual Property Rights Working Group. These efforts will include industry training (including of small and medium size enterprises); work between Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to streamline patent reviews; and collaboration, training and increased intelligence sharing among law enforcement agencies to enforce intellectual property rights more effectively. The Presidents also reaffirmed their commitment to the negotiation of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement and charged their administrations to conclude these negotiations soon.But, this blind assertion that stricter copyright enforcement without key exceptions and consumer protections that actually contribute more value to the economy than copyright restrictions, isn't just wrong, it goes against the very purpose of copyright law.
Hephaestus points us to a submission to the Australian government, by the Australian Digital Alliance, that does a great job highlighting the negative impact of ACTA (pdf) and how it goes against basic copyright law:
"The text of ACTA does not reflect one of the most important objectives of copyright -- to ensure access to information for the benefit of society. Protecting creators to encourage continued innovation is only one half of the copyright equation, ACTA fails to recognise the dual purpose of copyright."The whole submission is worth reading, as it highlights all sorts of serious issues with ACTA and the impact it would have:
ACTA might have a negative impact on individuals as Internet citizens and as consumers of digital technologies because some of its requirements go beyond Australian law. ACTA will facilitate excessive damages payouts by mandating the controversial 'lost sale analysis' for the assessment of damages and encouraging punitive style statutory damages that set arbitrary amounts for infringement. ACTA will also broaden the scope of commercial scale infringement to criminalise purely private acts that occur in the homes of some Australians....What's most frustrating about all of this is that it really does appear that many ACTA supporters are simply going by the boilerplate myth that "stronger copyright protection" is "good for society," without ever once bothering to understand the details and why such a statement isn't just wrong, but dangerous.
ACTA might have a negative impact on intermediaries that will damage Australia's digital economy by diminishing Internet innovation, the free flow of information and legitimate commerce. ACTA provides for the unqualified award of injunctions against intermediaries, which creates new rights with significant potential for abuse and cost implications for ISPs. ACTA defines where third party liability will be imposed, which is a highly controversial issue that requires the flexibility of being dealt with at a domestic level. ACTA will burden intermediaries with more onerous requirements for safe harbour protection that may encourage three strikes.
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Meet the new boss...
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Probably no hope for change...
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Re: Probably no hope for change...
except that other countries, specifically brazil, india, russia, and china, have no problems copying our IP, with or without their government's blessing. instead of signing treaties over intellectual property, we should be signing them over environmental protections and workers' rights, that way manufacturing in the west can compete with the third world on a level playing field.
But since we don't have a government that looks at the facts but rather the checkbooks of private interests, we have little hope for change.
the problem is one of shortsightedness. with or without ACTA, the market for IP as an export may only last a couple of decades at the very most, and maybe only a few years. when that happens, the US in particular will fall on very hard times since the rest of the world, china in particular, isn't really interested in anything that the US makes.
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I would not assume he knows anything. So far, he has proven time and again that he is pretty useless when it comes to original thought.
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Disappointment
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They try to make you choose between dumb and dumber. You are the one than is being stupid if you let them influence you to do their bidding. You know you can write in the name of someone other than the crappy choices they give you? That is if you are capable of writing, and of a little independent thought.
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Major Parties choice: Evil, Less Evil and you decide who is who...
2012 Wayne Allen Root is running, and he's a pretty good guy, and you would love his IP stance...(Libertarian :))
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The wrong word
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drop terms to 14 years or FUCK OFF
SO 14 year terms OR FUCK OFF
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AND wihtout ACTA USA tanks economically why?
the all your eggs in one basket now that literally all manufacturing is done elsewhere
YOU DID IT TO YOUR SELVES USA
copyright is granted by society and your abuse and attempts at subverting MY GOVT will fail. TREASONOUS politicians that pander to american interests over there own citizens should be taken out and just shot.
THAT would end this bullshit once and for all.
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also "CHANGE"
ya know now that avatar has made 3 billion is there not some idea that they could give it away freely now?
have you not taken enough form society?
MORE you want more now?
seriously why not allow 25% profit and leave it at that.
this also makes things controlled for abuse
see there are ideas that work
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Unintended Consequences and third party liability ...
Everyone is putting forth the bad points of ACTA. I see this as a glass half full scenario. In which there is and accelerated failure of the key players in ACTA.
Several key points of ACTA, loss of safe harbour for ISPs, three strikes, and third party liability have unintended consequences that are detrimental to the Media production and distribution industries.
The big one being the possibility of individual ISPs and web sites fully blocking all content from the Music, TV, and movie studios. The technology already exists, it is used to identify songs on the iPhone.
The second one which we have seen in Australia in bars, restaraunts, and gyms, is the distribution and use of indie-alternate-cc music and videos.
Both the above scenarios are simple to implement and can make a large profit for the providers of these services. Created as a combined service blocking and providing content it would reduce the liability of the ISPs and web sites, maintain safe harbours, and expose people to non label content. Reducing the relevence of the big media providers.
JMHO
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Don't like what ACTA says? Then quit infringing and move on to more productive matters that are consistent with the boundaries of law.
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Obama...
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Two answers to that.
You have no proof that copyright is right or that it does any good. Except to make money for a select few. Copyright is also about promoting the arts and sciences.
As to dangerous. It has been estimated by WHO that in excess of 75 million people world wide have died as a result of the high cost and low availability of patent pending prescription pharmaceuticals.
"yet, there you go with absolute statement of fact."
Wish you had provided a fact or two yourself...
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"As to dangerous. It has been estimated by WHO that in excess of 75 million people world wide have died as a result of the high cost and low availability of patent pending prescription pharmaceuticals. " - would more or less people be helped if the pharmaceuticals were not developed at all? would the people who are currently helped by generic medications in fact be helped if nobody has made the initial efforts to discover them? both of your points require that some magic genie came down and did all the work for nothing, or aliens teleported the knowledge here. so you are dealing with half facts, sort of like people enjoying foisgras without considering how it was made.
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Would more or less people have been helped if Jonas Salk had patented his Polio vaccine and companies had charged high prices for it?
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Asking for proof and then making unqualified statements yourself doesn't do much for YOUR argument either. The threat of extreme copyright is essentially the mental version of bondage. Why? because the only way to maintain a huge economy that lacks natural scarcity is via a police state. the only thing stopping these people is the limits of technology and those are always receding. go watch minority report. that could come to pass in the next 50 years.
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Just Payback..
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The problem
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Revolution
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