European Parliament President Criticizes ACTA

from the so-now-what... dept

We wrote about the mass protests against ACTA over the weekend, but the open question is whether or not they did any good. At the very least, it appears to be waking up more politicians to the problems with ACTA. European Parliament president Martin Schulz has finally made a statement on the matter saying, "I don't find it good in its current form." This is important, because the key thing that matters in terms of getting ACTA ratified in the EU is how the EU Parliament votes.

Of course, Schulz's choice of words is unfortunate, because it implies (incorrectly) that ACTA is still in the negotiation process and there may be another "form." That's not the case. This is the final version of the document, which has been around for about a year already. Perhaps he should have spoken up earlier... Still, hopefully these protests and comments from folks like Schulz will make other MEPs recognizes that voting for ACTA would be a mistake. It's all up to them at this point.

Filed Under: acta, eu, eu parliament, martin schulz

Mass Protests Against ACTA All Across Europe

from the damn,-that's-a-lot-of-people dept

Despite freezing temperatures in parts of Europe, it appears that tons and tons of people turned up in person at the various anti-ACTA protests held all across Europe. The amount of people definitely exceeded most expectations. Some of the protests were especially impressive, such as those held in Munich, which you can see in the video below: Not all of the protests were that impressive, but certainly an awful lot of people came out to protest.

What really amazes me about all of this is that ACTA was going on for nearly four years before pretty much anyone in the public started paying serious attention to it. And what caused it? The entertainment industry's massive overreach on SOPA. The response to that woke people up to other efforts by the industry to pass dangerous rules, laws and trade agreements in their favor -- and now the backlash seems to be in full swing.

Filed Under: acta, europe, protests

It's Time To Let Politicians Know That Using Secretive Trade Agreements To Meddle With The Internet Is Unacceptable

from the speak-up,-speak-out dept

Last week, we noted how the anti-SOPA protest had woken up people around the globe to one of the legacy content industry's favorite tricks: sneaking dreadful IP expansionist policies through international trade agreements. In particular, it woke people up to ACTA, an agreement that was basically a done deal, and already signed by many of the participants. But now there's a fight on in Europe over whether or not it will really get ratified -- and it all comes down to whether or not the EU Parliament moves forward. And even while some are wondering if it's dead and superpowers like Germany are appearing to at least have some level of second thoughts over the plan... it's still moving forward.

As we had mentioned, a ton of plans for in-person protests had sprung up across Europe, and most of those are happening tomorrow. Reports are coming in about how these protests are really having an impact, and many people are hoping to ramp up the pressure with the protests tomorrow.

If you want to see where the local protest are being held, the folks over at Access have a great summary page, and Fight for the Future -- who was instrumental in organizing the anti-SOPA blackouts -- has set up KillActa.org to make it easier to speak out against ACTA as well. Who knows if ACTA can really be stopped, but it's really amazing to see so many people speaking out against these agreements. International trade agreements are considered boring and rarely do people pay attention to them (outside of big "free trade" agreements that set off certain groups). But to see so many people learning about how these deals sneak in dangerous provisions, it suggests that perhaps we can finally convince politicians that mucking with the internet solely for special interests -- and doing it through totally secretive processes -- is simply not acceptable any more.

Filed Under: acta, europe, free speech, politics, protests, sopa, speak out, tpp

'The Economist' And 'Financial Times' Already Writing Off ACTA As Dead

from the let's-put-it-out-of-its-misery dept

In the last few days, we've seen an extraordinary wave of announcements by governments in Europe, particularly its eastern part, that they would not be ratifying ACTA immediately. That sequence of events, culminating in today's news that Germany, too, would be holding off, has suddenly made lots of people sit up and take notice.

But even against that tumultuous background, few of us would have expected that two of the most serious business publications in Europe, The Economist and Financial Times, would both go much further than simply noting the problems the treaty now faces, and declare that ACTA is pretty much dead.

Under the headline "ACTA up", The Economist says: "Protests across Europe may kill an anti-piracy treaty", and points out: "Internet activists used to be dismissed as a bunch of hairy mouse-clickers with little clout. Not any more."

The Financial Times' headline is "Latest pact on internet piracy set to be derailed", and the post makes an explicit connection with SOPA and PIPA:

A controversial international trade agreement, which campaigners fear would restrict internet freedom looks likely to be delayed or scrapped, the latest in a string of measures planned to combat online piracy to falter in the face of co-ordinated protests.

It also offers some interesting thoughts on why the ACTA revolt has been so strong in eastern Europe:

The issue has stirred up deep passions there, where access to the internet is seen as one of the rewards of belonging to a democratic society. Illegal downloading is also popular, in part because those societies are poorer than those in western Europe, and in part because many content providers have made it difficult for central Europeans to buy music and films legally online.

Finally, it has a fascinating comment from David Martin, the new European Parliament rapporteur on ACTA, who took over after Kader Arif resigned in protest at the way ACTA had been negotiated. Martin says he wants to "canvas views broadly", and to get an opinion from the European Court of Justice on whether ACTA is compatible with the European Union's current laws. As result of this approach, he says:

"Realistically, if we go down this route we are looking at a vote in the spring of 2013," he warns.

The FT quotes an unnamed diplomat who suggests that this delay may "give enough time for the post-SOPA venom to clear," so that governments can quietly ratify ACTA in their national parliaments and in Brussels next year. It sounds like a clever ploy -- let protesters tire themselves out, then push through ACTA -- but on the basis of the strength of feeling that's manifested itself in Europe recently, I wouldn't bet on it working.

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Filed Under: acta, europe, predictions, press

Lithuanian Minister Of Justice Says ACTA Is Unnecessary, Doesn't Actually Help Creators And It's Time To Reevaluate IP

from the nicely-said dept

Here's yet another example of a European official speaking out against ACTA. However, unlike in many other countries, where it appears to be politicians merely pushing back on public backlash, and urging caution and public review, the Lithuanian Justice Minister, Remigijus Simasius, has completely condemned ACTA and said that it should lead to a wholesale re-evaluation of IP rights system itself.

The essence of my comment was that certain provisions of ACTA are new to our legal system (more severe punishment, more control of internet providing services) and I do not see why those provisions are necessary.

I have also stated that our life is more and more dependent on R&D, new inventions, creativity. Existing IP protection system, however, is more about protecting the IP protection industry than a protection of inventors and authors. Current debate worldwide is a clear sign that we have to re-evaluate the existing IP rights system.

While it'll be interesting to see how far all of this goes, it's quite notable just how much backlash the SOPA overreach is suddenly creating -- where all sorts of skepticism about existing copyright law is suddenly coming out in more mainstream places.

Filed Under: acta, ip, justice minister, lithuania, protectionism, remigijus simasius

Big News: Germany Says It Won't Sign ACTA [Update: ... Yet]

from the wowsers dept

Okay, things just got serious over ACTA. In our post on Latvia bailing on signing ACTA, we noted that in joining with Poland and the Czech Republic, these were still much smaller European states, and unlikely to have too much of an impact. But... now comes the really surprising news that Germany has decided that it won't sign. Germany, of course, is the largest EU economy. Details are sparse, but even though the country had earlier agreed that it would sign it, the Foreign Office has apparently revoked that decision and will not sign the agreement... We'll update more later as more details come in. However, this is big news and could really stop ACTA. Update: Another source on this suggests that Germany is saying that it is putting its plan to sign on hold, but may sign later. It had intended to sign soon, but is now going to wait until the EU Parliament decides how it wants to go. So they haven't dropped ACTA entirely, but this definitely shows that the protests are worrying politicians.

Filed Under: acta, activism, copyright, germany

Latvia Joins Countries Putting The Brakes On ACTA Approval

from the join-the-party dept

Following the news that Poland and the Czech Republic have put the brakes on ACTA ratification, we can now add Latvia to the bunch:

The Economy Minister Daniels Pavluts has decided to block the ratification of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which has caused wide protests in the society.

On Wednesday, February 8, the Minister announced that he made the decision taking into account the mood of various groups of the society, as well as worries of several experts about the possibility of ACTA implementation in Latvia.

He thinks that it is already too late for a proactive and timely explanation of what ACTA really means. So now there is no rush with its ratification in the Parliament. “First we need a constructive and reasoned dialogue and a discussion with all the interested parties,” he says.

Of course, Poland, the Czech Republic and Latvia are "smaller" players in the EU, and there are disputes over whether or not having some countries decide not to ratify kills the whole process. Basically, there are different interpretations of how things work under the Lisbon Treaty, with some saying that even if some countries don't ratify, the EU could still ratify and issue a directive forcing the various member states to "harmonize." So it's good to see these countries putting the brakes on what was going to be a pure "check the boxes" approval process -- but ACTA is still very likely to move forward overall.

Filed Under: acta, copyright, czech republic, latvia, poland

Czech Government Suspends ACTA Ratification

from the check-off-another-one dept

Following Poland's lead, the Czech Prime Minister, Petr Necas has announced that the government there will suspend the ACTA ratification process until the country has had more time to analyze the agreement. This follows a "wave of protests" across Europe, in which this agreement, that everyone assumed was going through with no questions asked, has suddenly generated significant public interest:

"By no means would the government admit a situation where civic freedoms and free access to information would be threatened," Necas said.

That is why the government will analyse the issue and have it assessed by experts. "We really must look into the impact it would have in real life," Necas said.

Unfortunately, it sounds like some of the protesters are still claiming things about ACTA that were removed ages ago, as Necas is also telling people that it won't require checking laptops at borders or monitoring internet usage. While some of those things were floated in very early drafts of ACTA, all of those have been gone for years at this point. Once again, we have to urge people to keep the ACTA debate fact-based, because misinformation like this makes it easier for countries like the Czech Republic to come back later and say that they're still ratifying the document, because the complaints turned out not to be true. There are plenty of real problems with ACTA, and hopefully people can focus on those. Otherwise these milestone moments in the Czech Republic and Poland will be for nothing....

Filed Under: acta, copyright, czech republic, protests

Romanian Prime Minister Admits He Has No Idea Why Romania Signed ACTA

from the us-pressure? dept

Here's a bizarre one. With Poland putting ACTA ratification on hold, and Slovenia apparently regretting its signature, now we've got Romania's Prime Minister, Emil Boc, admitting that he doesn't understand why the country signed ACTA. It appears that opposing politicians are criticizing the government and promising that they will suspend enforcement under ACTA until there are actual public hearings held on the matter. It really is quite amazing that the folks in the entertainment industry, who thought they could ram this through are now discovering how much they've awakened internet users across the globe ever since they shot for the moon with SOPA. ACTA has been on the table for years, and only a few of us "copyright geeks" were paying attention to it. But SOPA really made it clear to huge populations of people just how the entertainment industry seeks to restrict the internet through copyright law... and they're simply not going to take that any more. Update: And... um... just like that, he's no longer Prime Minister, offering up his resignation today.

Filed Under: acta, copyright, romania

Bulgarian MPs Wear Anonymous/Guy Fawkes Masks To Protest ACTA

from the good-for-them dept

We recently pointed out that a bunch of Polish politicians wore Guy Fawkes/Anonymous masks in Parliament to protest ACTA: It appears that some politicians in Bulgaria thought that was a good idea, and have done the same thing: It's really quite fascinating how much of a meme this has become within politics. While some still like to pretend that Anonymous is just a bunch of vandalizing kids, it certainly seems that some of what Anonymous stands for is having a real impact. I still think that the DDoS attacks are dumb and do more harm than good, but it's quite fascinating to see the wider ideas of what Anonymous is fighting for percolate all the way up into politics around the globe.

Filed Under: acta, anonymous, bulgaria, eu, guy fawkes, protests