Thousands Take To the Streets To Protest ACTA 217
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."
But does it change anything? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:But does it change anything? (Score:5, Interesting)
Even if it doesn't change anything, symbolically its HUGE.
Remember how the media tried to downplay Occupy Wall Street as just a money issue? Well if something as technical as ACTA/SOPA can mobilize people, what does that say about sitting governments and future elections?
Re:But does it change anything? (Score:5, Interesting)
Low attendance... (Score:2)
Yet another problem is that while tens if thousands "like" the event on social sites and promise to protest, there is only a hundred to a few hundred who actually come and do.
Media has a field day saying that "would-be-protesters" do not walk their talk.
Main influence could be that young people try to defend their freedom (=internet) during the next elections - if they remember about it in 3.5 years time.
Re:Low attendance... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Low attendance... (Score:4, Interesting)
and maybe because of that media is not interested to report about it :(
I see remarkably little in mainstream media about any of this
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Re:But does it change anything? (Score:5, Interesting)
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The whole movement has simply presented itself with an insurmountable challenge. As it's put a few posts down, there's an element that's attracted to Occupy like a magnet - communists and anarchists mainly, but also scenester douches who "were totally there, man" - who at once make it impossible to take Occupy seriously because they give the corporate media a
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: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]
Re:But does it change anything? (Score:4, Insightful)
It's officially a third world country in terms of press freedom now
No, it's pretty much the definition of a first world country. The term "third world" has pretty much lost all meaning after the end of the Cold War. At best, it's a vague synonym for "undeveloped country'. At worst, it's nothing but a pejorative.
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First world: USA, NATO countries
Second world: USSR, Warsaw Pact
Third world: Undeveloped or underdeveloped puppet or neutral countries in South America, Africa, and Asia
It's transparently nothing but a way the USA used to rank itself and its allies first by definition, for political reasons rather than economic.
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It's transparently nothing but a way the USA used to rank itself and its allies first by definition, for political reasons rather than economic.
This is incorrect. As Wikipedia states:
French demographer, anthropologist and historian Alfred Sauvy, in an article published in the French magazine L'Observateur, August 14, 1952, coined the term Third World, referring to countries that were unaligned with either the Communist Soviet bloc or the Capitalist NATO bloc during the Cold War. His usage was a reference to the Third Estate, the commoners of France who, before and during the French Revolution, opposed priests and nobles, who composed the First Estate and Second Estate, respectively. Sauvy wrote, "Like the third estate, the Third World is nothing, and wants to be something." He conveyed the concept of political non-alignment with either the capitalist or communist bloc.
The idea that these countries were undeveloped or inferior is not related to the original usage.
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Bear in mind, that they weren't actually defined in that order.
"Third World" was the first to be coined, by a French historian. It came from a time when everything was being seen through the lens of the Cold War. He was drawing attention to the fact that there were actually a large number of countries that were being totally ignored by the simplistic dichotomy of Capitalism vs Communism. First and Second worlds were coined retrospectively. Incidentally, I wouldn't say that "undeveloped" is part of the defin
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Language changes, but words have meaning.
If you treat words as not having meaning, you lose the ability to communicate. You'll end up with a thousand synonyms for "shit", and be unable to communicate complex concepts. Language tends towards the pejorative. Think of how many words we have for something being undesirable - "shit", "sucks", "blows", "gay", "lame", "dumb", "retarded" - just a few off the top of my head. Their use as pejorative makes their literal meaning only accessibly by contextual analysis -
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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.
Not to ignore the problems that U.S. is having regarding rights and freedoms, but this really tells more about how meaningless the rating is than it does anything about U.S.
And "official", seriously? Who made RWB the one to officiate over such matters? Given their past record on impartiality (or rather lack thereof), they're hardly in position to assess such things in any case.
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If you believe that you'll believe anything.
RT is the most obviously biased pile of arse I've ever seen. It's a Russian propaganda exercise.
The BBC is still pretty impartial, and I have a lot of respect for Al-Jazeera, but RT? Please, it's bullshit.
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The phrase is 'blind-sided.'
Re:But does it change anything? (Score:5, Insightful)
see thats the problem right there, they dont know, but will happily vote for it cause bubba next to them supports it and maybe they got a little money to pad their wallets as well
its pathetic that people have to call them to inform them how to do their effin jobs
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:Not a bill; Congress was never asked. (Score:5, Insightful)
Obama has essentially given congress the finger.
$PRESIDENT, congress and the judicial branches all give the US people the finger.
obama does not matter. bush would have fucked us over, too. and clinton, and etc etc.
people stop thinking that an individual matters, anymore. the whole system is slanted to the rich and powerful and this president or that party does not matter. they are DISTRACTIONS to keep us fighting with each other.
Re:Not a bill; Congress was never asked. (Score:5, Interesting)
This. A thousand times this. There are no left or right. There are no republicans or democrats. It's all distractions from the real problem, which are the sleezy puppet masters that we do not see.
Re:Not a bill; Congress was never asked. (Score:4, Insightful)
Douglas Adams was right all along with his post of Galactic President: "a role that involves no power whatsoever, and merely requires the incumbent to attract attention so no one wonders who's really in charge"
Re:But does it change anything? (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, these protests do something. They show people that they are not alone in their anger towards the politicians who are selling them out. When the Swedish Pirate Party formed, it showed people in other countries that proper representation of the internet affine generations is possible, and Pirate Parties formed in other countries. People no longer believe that they are tiny minority whose interests are being trampled. They see other people who think alike. When the German Pirate Party made it into the senate of Berlin, it created a turmoil among the incumbent parties. A flurry of "me too" promises resulted and the parties which had ridiculed the Pirate Party before the election tried to suck up to the "new" voters. It hurts to lose a couple percent points of the votes to a new party. The protests in Poland may well remove people from office, as they're not just about ACTA, but about Poland's signature in violation of the decision of the expert commission of Poland's parliament. The anger is also about the USA's meddling, and ACTA will cause the USA to lose some standing in the world, this time not amongst the countries which it already perceives as enemies, but among "friends".
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The US, as a country, doesn't have friends it has interests just like every other country on the planet. People complain about US meddling and then turn right around and complain about the US not getting involved in some cluster fuck of one type or another in some shit hole on the other side of the world. The US is stuck in the "damned if you do, damned if you don't conundrum" and I would prefer the "don't" option. Hopefully the US will start disengaging militarily from any conflict threaten does not direct
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:But does it change anything? (Score:5, Interesting)
Protests are not enough to withdraw a law, but they show that the issue is not minor either. There are tons of text being voted. More often than not, representative just vote along their party's line. When they see protests, there is a chance they will investigate a bit further. And when they investigate even a slight bit further, if they just google 'ACTA' they'll find a tone of things to be critical of.
Re:But does it change anything? (Score:5, Interesting)
These protests are short-lived and I wonder if they end up doing any good. I am against ACTA and I have called my congressman as has my son to ask him to not support it.
WE THE PEOPLE of POLAND didn't have time for that. ACTA was signed behind our backs. Some of us (myself included) sent letters to our ambassador in Tokyo asking not to sign. They all flicked us. There is a considerable number of us (myself included) who not only want ACTA rejected but also want the regime changed. Go figure.
Re:But does it change anything? (Score:5, Interesting)
While you're at it, you might want to direct your congressman's attention to ACTA's sharper fanged big brother, the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement. TPPA makes ACTA look like fuzzy kittens in comparison - and that's only from the few bits we've seen leaked (the US government demands other negotiating countries protect it on National Security grounds). This particular one is particularly vicious in that it gives Big Pharma the right to sue government purchasing schemes that fail to "accurately reflect the value of the patents" in negotiations for bulk medicine supplies. It will single-handedly quadruple the cost of schemes like Medicaid in the US or PHARMAC in New Zealand (not sure of Australia's equivalent).
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None of it matters at all.
If the politicians have already decided, if they think they would stand to lose face in front of the politicians from other countries, they'll sign it regardless. Look at the Iraq war for an example. Over a million marched against that in the UK capital, did anyone listen?
Hell no.
A few thousand marching, writing to politicians, whatever, it's a blip they'll find really easy to ignore.
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You, Sir, have done a better job than I of raising your son. I have three of those creatures. I swear, one is braindead. The second is plain stupid, and has the prison record to show for it. Only the third seems to be aware that there is a world out there. And, he isn't even interested enough in politics to get involved in ACTA, though I have done my best to explain it to him.
Be proud of your son for having had the time and initiative to call your congress critter.
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These protests are short-lived and I wonder if they end up doing any good.
These protests might do a little good and kill some of these bills. The problem is that the bills keep coming. How long will people protest? They will eventually tire of protests and blackouts for each and every bill. The only answer is to stop it all at its source.
This sort of legislation is being funded and pushed by the big media companies who are afraid of losing their oligarchy. If we want to do something that will last, we need to limit their funding and rethink how we get our information and entertai
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ACTA Represents the End... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:ACTA Represents the End... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Yes, ACTA them the hell out!
Wonder how taking down a politician happens in practice tho ...?
Re:ACTA Represents the End... (Score:4, Informative)
With a 9mm vote.
Re:ACTA Represents the End... (Score:5, Insightful)
correction: the end of our *illusion* of being able to be represented and have a say in how we are 'governed'.
I submit that mankind has been this way since we evolved from ooze. its always been about competition and conquest and domination. look at nature; we are not so different from animals, in this respect.
our society, all over the world, is in constant conflict with wanting to be at peace with each other, while also wanting to dominate each other. such a delicate balance and its often not achievable.
what has happened is that the filteration of this concept is being bypassed. people can directly read and understand what the powers 'up there' have in mind and how they view us surfs^Hserfs.
overbearing rulers have always, always been the norm. what's changed is that we all, collectively, are *realizing* that.
yes, it will cause class warfare. and that, too, has always been a continual struggle in the history of man.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:ACTA Represents the End... (Score:5, Insightful)
That used to work back when guns were all about the same size.
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You know, I've thought about this.
Say a regime has a very large standing army. Call it 1% of the population, so a country like the U.S. would have about 3 million armed soldiers.
The population is armed and unhappy.
Your argument is that, since the general population isn't allowed heavier weapons (artillery, automatic rifles, etc.), the army will "win" in an armed conflict.
Do you really think that all 3 million of those soldiers are prepared to fire upon their countrymen?
Do you really think their big guns and
Re:ACTA Represents the End... (Score:5, Interesting)
If the numbers are truly on your side, the guns aren't necessary at all. If they aren't the guns can't help you.
The problem isn't whether or not you have a gun. The problem is in convincing enough of the population to join you that the members of the armed forces see it as anything more than a few terrorists to put down.
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Soldiers are trained to follow orders, now they havn't completely perfected this, but in a nutshell, look at egypt and libya, a lot of soldiers did defect, but not all. Any US soldiers defecting would probably be court marshalled and executed if something like that were to happen, so unless a very large number of them decide to defect all at once, many of them would have to more or less put themselves up for effectively death.
The best examples are the ex communist countries, romania was particularly bad wit
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Do you really think that all 3 million of those soldiers are prepared to fire upon their countrymen?
Well, if the civil war, with the death of some 625,000 was any indication, I would have to say it's quite possible.
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... and before virtually every mainstream reporter started automatically condemning any violence (certainly any shooting). Basically, you fire a gun at an important person, and you get arrested and never allowed to partake in free society again.
Re:ACTA Represents the End... (Score:4, Interesting)
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> I submit that mankind has been this way since we evolved from ooze. its always been about competition and conquest and domination. look at nature; we are not so different from animals, in this respect.
You raise some good points but I must respectfully disagree with some of them.
1. Are you aware of what civilization was like 20,000 and 12,000 years ago?
2. While it is true that "you must kill something so that you can live" the world is becoming less about "us vs. them", and more "us AND them."
3. You are
Similar feelings (Score:3)
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They demand you stay seated. They demand you don't speak without raising your hands. And if you break either of those rules, then you're a troublemaker.
terrorist.
FTFY.
Good to see someone standing up against this junk (Score:5, Interesting)
While artists and such do deserve a right to be able to make a fair shake on what they produce, why should patentable items only have a 20 year shelf life while a song have 100+ years of protection?
This is insane.
That should give the entertainment/content industry pause, if there was a strong united Internet demand for fair copyright terms.
That should give some pause to those trying to hijack the production and distribution of ideas.
Re:Good to see someone standing up against this ju (Score:5, Insightful)
why should patentable items only have a 20 year shelf life
You say it as if the moment a patent expires, any products covered by that patent become unprofitable to sell. There are a lot of counterexamples to this statement...
if there was a strong united Internet demand for fair copyright terms.
Copyrights are dead and everyone knows it. Trying to enforce copyrights, as originally envisioned, is as crazy as trying to tell people that they are not allowed to drink their tap water. It is not going to work. In the worst case -- the one where we continue to have copyrights -- we need to turn copyright infringement into an offense that you receive a ticket for, like parking your car in the wrong place. The better alternative is to develop a new system for compensating artists and ensuring public access to arts and useful sciences.
Re:Good to see someone standing up against this ju (Score:5, Interesting)
You know, you bring up a good point. If the internet community can try to fight with legislation of their own - legislation that would limit copyrights and extend fair use and public domain - then these media giants might find that they've awakened a sleeping giant. Not only should we be contacting our congressmen and telling them what to oppose, but we should also be telling them what type of changes we want made in regards to copyright.
Even if the endeavor isn't successful, imagine how scared shitless the MPAA would be if we could get guys like Ron Paul and Ron Wyden to introduce a bill that would get rid of the Mickey Mouse Protection Act or other such nonsense. Furthermore, if we can convince guys like that to vocally campaign on these issues, it would do a lot towards raising awareness.
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I thought the same thing. Offense is the best defense.
But we have wide disagreements. Most people want to reform the system, not radically change it. Most reform ideas involve shortening copyright and patent durations, and scaling back what can be patented and copyrighted. I don't believe that will really solve the problem. We would still attempt to treat abundance as if it was scarce. Reform would be like reducing prison terms from 75 years to 14 years for crimes that shouldn't be crimes at all.
W
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While artists and such do deserve a right to be able to make a fair shake on what they produce
- what does that have to do with government enforcing copyright?
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why should patentable items only have a 20 year shelf life while a song have 100+ years of protection?
It's easy. For every patent with an owner who wants that patent extended, there are half-a-dozen other companies who don't want that patent extended.
For every copyrighted book or song, there is a party strongly interested in extending the copyright of that item, but not too many who would profit by having it shortened. Copyright is easy to work around by making your own thing. Thus there are groups who really want their copyright extended, but there is no group who wants the copyright shortened (yeah, ma
Let's do Brussels next weekend... (Score:5, Interesting)
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do they pepper spray protesters over there?
here's hoping sgt pepperspray [silverunderground.com] is a US phenomenon, only.
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Teargassing/pepperspraying a group of 2000-4000 protesting geeks MIGHT backfire somehow later on.
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"Might" ;D
Re:Let's do Brussels next weekend... (Score:5, Interesting)
No they don't ... they clearly don't ... Also some nice facts about Belgium:
- It's not illegal to run from the police at all ... in the face !! ... ... walking towards a cop who is saying "STOP" is not life threatening)
- it's not illegal to try to escape from jail (as long as you don't do anything illegal by doing so)
- You won't get charged with "assaulting a police officer" if you "touch one"
- You won't get charged for "resisting arrest" (unless you shoot some cop) by just "moving your hands on your face"
- You won't get a 10 years jail sentence even if you punch one
- They don't use Tazers because it's been proven medically dangerous and useless (they're still able to arrest you normally)
- They do have spray but not pepper spray , it"s some sort of CS gaz
- Cops are not allowed to use firearms unless directly life threatened (and NO
Most likely cops in Belgium will just place some barricade ... and wait for the crowd to fatigue an go home. ... if a protest becomes violent
However
- They can arrest you without any charge for up to 12 hours (not anymore), it's called "Administrative Arrest"
- They can use mounted police which you don't want to get in front of
- They do use a lot of water cannons which are quite powerful
- They do use tear gaz but very rarely because it pisses everyone off including the people living there and themselves
Here is an example of a typical Belgian Protest "retaliation" from the Cops https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2vEdgySRnxk#! ... humid , compared to US police ...
As you can see , it"s quite "soft" and well
No really :) Protesting in Belgium is OK. It's not yet a Police State at all compared to the USA
Re:Let's do Brussels next weekend... (Score:4, Insightful)
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Belgium sounds like a nice and safe country! :) I've visited there once for a few days over 10yrs ago, liked it :)
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do they pepper spray protesters over there?
That and water cannons, results here [thelocal.de].
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Protesting useless, need money + corporate support (Score:4, Insightful)
Why do corporations contribute so much money to politicians in western nations? Because they except and get a 10-fold return on investment, by having laws, tax policies, regulations, and government purchases catered to their wishes.
Protesting only value in the political equation, is its dollar value against the advertisement and other media costs needed to negate it. (Note that SOPA was only stopped, when Google, Wikipedia, and others put the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars of advertising against it, and not but grass-roots protests alone.)
The only reasonable way to stop ACTA now would be to get some major corporate support on board and/or generate a signifigant bribe fund for politicians that would be greater than the amount the media company are bribing with.
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So the way to fix the corrupt politicians is to corrupt them even more? Wasnt most of the western nations democracies, where the politicians are elected? There is where you should get rid of them. And if you have enough people behind that, you can even try to promote anticipated elections to get rid of them sooner.
At least that should work if enough people is aware and in a real democracy. US isn't by now, so there is no hope in that front.
Re:Protesting useless, need money + corporate supp (Score:5, Insightful)
This is the argument for apathy, and it's wrong. Protesting isn't just about results, protesting is about standing up for what's right. Regardless, I do believe there are positive results - right now we, along with many others around the world, are discussing an issue that may not have occurred to us, or we may not have known about, had it not been for a group of Polish protestors.
Money isn't everything. That's just a defeatist attitude. It's the type of attitude that, by accepting injustice as inevitable, is complicit in it.
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?
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Not any more ironic than the fucking corporate media giant and SOPA/PIPA supporter Time-Warner making bank on all those Guy Fawkes masks being sold to people who are protesting the dominance of corporate influence over their governments.
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They did not use the actual masks being sold. They used cut paper printouts.
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If they have a copyright on the mask, then you know copyright has gone insane. The image has been around for centuries.
Re:Opressing conservatives wearing Guy Fawkes-feel (Score:4, Interesting)
Are you sure?
According to my news sources, the faction that showed the masks are called "Ruch Palikota".
They are being described as "left wing, liberal" and seem to have a tendency for publicity stunts like this.
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You're right, parent is wrong. Janusz Palikot's crew are the ones in the masks. PIS also opposes ACTA, but I think that's mainly because the ruling party supports it.
Why not in America? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Why not in America? (Score:5, Insightful)
Because when was the last time the US or Canada had occupying forces on their land or had had their cities flattened by invading forces. When was the last time they actually fought for their country like say Solidarity movement did in Poland, never. People have had life too good here for a long time so they can't be bothered...
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The Confederacy was occupied from 1865-1877. Atlanta and Columbia (SC) suffered some damage from Union forces.
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1812, the Americans invaded Canada, and in return the Canadians invaded the US and burned down the White House, just as a reminder not to do THAT again.
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Europe taking the lead in the fight! (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm glad there are people in the world voicing their opinion.
People in America seem to make infographics, complain on message boards, shout in slashdot comments... anything, as long as they don't have to get up from their computer desks.
Are you scared of pepper sprays? Europeans clash with the police and aren't afraid to get a little hurt to express their anger towards draconian legislation.
That is why when RFID chipping comes to America, people will take it.
They really should protest copyrights and patents (Score:2, Interesting)
As always people are not being logical and are not looking at the root of the problem, which is the fact that copyrights and patents are enforced by government in detriment to the individual rights of the people in the first place.
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:They really should protest copyrights and paten (Score:5, Insightful)
Those differences are irrelevant in the face of one striking similarity: both are granted by government, both are protected with the force of government, both are a subsidy to specific business models and both must go.
intellectual property misnomer (Score:2)
I agree that it would be useful if people stopped conflating patents and copyright:
This following article helps and is very clearly written if you take the time to read it slowly:
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.html [gnu.org]
And yes, it's written by Richard M. Stallman. Go read it anyway. Seriously.
How to change goverment (Score:4, Interesting)
Here's the full text: (Score:2)
http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/leaks/Anti-Counterfeiting%20Trade%20Agreement.pdf [googleapis.com]
The most important part is Section 5: "Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in the Digital Environment" at page 15
America! (Score:3)
America is truly the land of sheep! President Obama used an "executive order" to invoke ACTA here, where constitutionally the Senate is needed to ratify treaties. I'd say that is a clear violation of his oath to uphold the Constitution. Nobody here seems the least bit concerned about losing their right to free speech. Sure, SOPA/PIPA are postponed, but they will be back. Meanwhile in Poland, thousands take to the streets to protest their voices being silenced by the ACTA treaty. Maybe they remember the old days under Communist rule and don't like the same thing coming back with a different face. Wake up America!
From the backrooms to the streets.... (Score:2)
...the old days of TRIPs, UCC and WCT are definitely over: quietly dealing in back rooms, and the news ended up on the 3rd page of the business section in the newspaper. Today, people are starting to notice. People are realizing how this directly affects them. People are becoming involved.
A lot of commenters predicted this would happen; Tarkin (RIAA/MPAA) kept on tightening his grip, and now systems are about to start to slipping through his fingers. And it's about time, too.
waste of time (Score:2)
Do the thousands protesting ACTA in Europe really think their government or the RIAA/MPAA cares that they're protesting? Do they think that their protests will give politicians and their corporate owners one moment of pause? I don't care if there were millions protesting, SOPA, ACTA, ProtectIP are all coming, one way or another.
It's time that the people learn who's boss
Alien Documentary (Score:2, Funny)
The Aliens are creating a documentary
"Look at these primitive animals out in the streets worshiping their gods. That white mask that they wear is a symbol of what they believe to be the rain god, they are protesting the lack of rain in the region so that they can better provide for their farms".
Re:how about (Score:4, Insightful)
partly to FTFT, partly to inform: ACTA is an enabling piece of EU legislation that allows Governments to shut down websites they deem to be overly freethinking in their politics (eg positive action group blogs and newsboards). This is nothing to do with copyright infringement but with ACTA, they won't need pesky courts of Law, or even investigation into claims of copyright infringement - just the mere suggestion of copyright infringement will be enough for permanent shutdown and shitlisting of the domain.
Screw due process, Slashdot is subversive and it links to copyrighted material. Hell, you don't even have to go to court or attend police interviews.
Bye Slashdot, 'twas nice knowing you.
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: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:how about (Score:5, Insightful)
GP's post is not misinformational at all.
Go ahead, allow ACTA to be signed, ratified, and put into effect. THEN, go online, open up a website, and start building up a case AGAINST ACTA and it's proponents. Watch to see how fast your site is taken down.
ACTA is nothing, if it is not a tool to censor the masses, and to form public opinion - while at the same time enabling "Rights holders" to fleece those same masses of their hard earned money.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Ahhhh - my mistake. Poor reading skills, I guess. Somehow, I missed the EU legislation thing, and focused on what ACTA is meant to do.
Re: (Score:2)
Just kidding, I re-read your OP after I saw the backlash. I guess some have a problem with reading comprehension or the act of parsing English.