Thousands Take To the Streets To Protest ACTA 217
Posted
by
timothy
from the where-to-find-fawkes-masks-in-bulk? dept.
from the where-to-find-fawkes-masks-in-bulk? dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The protests
against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement continue
to spread in cities across Europe. The protests began in Poland, where thousands
have taken to the streets and opposition politicians have worn Guy
Fawkes masks in protest against the country signing the agreement last
week. The scenes
from Poland and France
are remarkable, demonstrating the widespread anger over
the decision to join ACTA. A full rundown of protest plans
can be found
here."
Opressing conservatives wearing Guy Fawkes-feel it (Score:2, Informative)
Those opposition politicians in Guy Fawkes masks are mostly from PiS (Prawo i Sprawiedliwo - law and justice) party.
Most opressing, conservative, supposedly catholic bunch of political scoundrels.
Can you feel the irony?
Not a bill; Congress was never asked. (Score:5, Informative)
The problem is that ACTA is being touted as executive agreement which the president has already signed. IIRC a bunch of senators were even denied access to the ACTA negotiations as a matter of "national security." Obama has essentially given congress the finger.
Re:But does it change anything? (Score:5, Informative)
Really, no. It was about a month until the media (reluctantly) mentioned it at all. The mainstream media had to be shamed into covering it. Many are not aware that the Occupy movement is ongoing in many cities.
Re:They really should protest copyrights and paten (Score:4, Informative)
It would be nice if people stopped conflating the two.
Copyright: World wide by default
Patents: Only valid where it is applied for (IF granted) . In view of the cost, most patents are only applied for in 1 country/jurisdiction.
Copyright: No cost to the copyright holder
Patents: Applicant must draft costly patent application
Copyright: Never ends in your lifetime or that of your children
Patents: End when the proprietor stops paying the renewal fee and in any case within 20 years.
Copyright: Even for DRM where the work will never enter the public domain
Patents: The applications are publicly available (for the treasure trove on just about any topic, see for exampole http://espacenet.com/ [espacenet.com] for everyone world wide (including developing countries).
Copyright: Has to be original (low bar)
Patents: Must not only be New, but also Inventive (very high bar; sure, some bad stuff slips through but there are review process/opposition procedures to weed them out if someone is bothered by one). The invention must be described in a way in which an ordinary person skilled in the art can work it (or the patent is null and void).
So, while the patent law is crude, it is working. You don't think that applicants would provide the long explanatory texts that patent applications are if they had no chance of getting protection for their invention, do you?
Copyright law, I agree with you: No balance between society and copyright holder. And the balance is shifting in the wrong direction too. If you conflate the two, you make it harder to get something done about copyright law.
Bert
Re:how about (Score:5, Informative)
To correct this misleading statement: ACTA is a trade agreement pushed by the US government rather heavy handedly. So it is quite clear that the usual suspects MPAA/RIAA pushed this forward. Being a trade agreement or at least presented as such it used secret negotiations and participants having to sign non disclosure agreements. This "trade agreement" status is a rather shady arrangement which served to avoid public scrutiny and democratic control. ACTA is not EU legislation. Though the EU has signed, it still requires ratification by all EU member states. The troll above clearly thinks that he can influence the process by misinformation.
My guess is that the building opposition and increasing public awareness following the SOPA debacle will leave this process dead in the water. Good riddance.
Re:But does it change anything? (Score:5, Informative)
Many are also not aware that media clampdown during occupy wall street reporting dropped USA from 20th to 47th spot in yearly Reporters without Borders study. It's officially a third world country in terms of press freedom now, stuck somewhere between Ghana and Haiti.
It's quite sad how USA still sees itself as a paragon of freedom, and often complains about other countries clamping down on their press.
http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2011-2012,1043.html [rsf.org]
Obama has already signed it - illegally (Score:5, Informative)
He signed it months ago, as a matter of fact. Before all the publicity surrounding SOPA and PIPA.
He's been doing a lot of that lately, ignoring the Constitution.
Source: http://www.infowars.com/obama-signs-global-internet-treaty-worse-than-sopa/ [infowars.com]
Re:how about (Score:5, Informative)
ACTA is a trade agreement pushed by the US government rather heavy handedly
For those who think this is or would like to paint it as an exaggeration [google.com].
Re:ACTA Represents the End... (Score:4, Informative)
With a 9mm vote.