They were able to slip this through while everyone was raging over SOPA/PIPA, I guess the smoke and mirrors technique worked after all.
There's been a couple of countries who signed already, go read up on it (im too lazy but i like being a doomsayer lol)
Poland has just signed it, but there has been a major discussion going on about ACTA here. People are demonstrating and shutting down government web pages.
Thousands of protesters have taken to Poland's streets over the signing of an international treaty activists say amounts to internet censorship.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement in Tokyo on Thursday.
The treaty, known as Acta, aims to establish international standards to enforce intellectual property rights.
But critics say it could curb freedom of expression, and government websites have been hacked in protest.
Later on Thursday, hundreds of people took to the streets of the eastern city of Lublin to express their anger over the treaty.
Several marches had taken place in cities across the nation on Wednesday, says the BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw.
Crowds of mostly young people held banners with slogans such as "no to censorship" and "a free internet".
After convening a special government meeting to discuss the issue, Mr Tusk said the government would not be blackmailed by the treaty's opponents.
There would be ample time for public discussion about the treaty before it was ratified by the Polish parliament, he said.
Poland was one of several European Union countries, including Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Romania and Greece, to sign the treaty on Thursday but it appeared to be the only place where it caused protest.
The agreement was signed by the US, Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea last year.
Acta shares similarities with America's Stop Online Piracy Act, which US lawmakers set aside last week after Wikipedia and Google blacked out or partially obscured their websites for a day in protest.
Obama Signs Global Internet Treaty Worse Than SOPA
White House bypasses Senate to ink agreement that could allow Chinese companies to demand ISPs remove web content in US with no legal oversight.
Months before the debate about Internet censorship raged as SOPA and PIPA dominated the concerns of web users, President Obama signed an international treaty that would allow companies in China or any other country in the world to demand ISPs remove web content in the US with no legal oversight whatsoever.
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement was signed by Obama on October 1 2011, yet is currently the subject of a White House petition demanding Senators be forced to ratify the treaty. The White House has circumvented the necessity to have the treaty confirmed by lawmakers by presenting it an as “executive agreement,” although legal scholars have highlighted the dubious nature of this characterization.
The hacktivist group Anonymous attacked and took offline the Federal Trade Commission’s website yesterday in protest against the treaty, which was also the subject of demonstrations across major cities in Poland, a country set to sign the agreement today.
Under the provisions of ACTA, copyright holders will be granted sweeping direct powers to demand ISPs remove material from the Internet on a whim. Whereas ISPs normally are only forced to remove content after a court order, all legal oversight will be abolished, a precedent that will apply globally, rendering the treaty worse in its potential scope for abuse than SOPA or PIPA.
A country known for its enforcement of harsh Internet censorship policies like China could demand under the treaty that an ISP in the United States remove content or terminate a website on its server altogether. As we have seen from the enforcement of similar copyright policies in the US, websites are sometimes targeted for no justifiable reason.
The groups pushing the treaty also want to empower copyright holders with the ability to demand that users who violate intellectual property rights (with no legal process) have their Internet connections terminated, a punishment that could only ever be properly enforced by the creation of an individual Internet ID card for every web user, a system that is already in the works.
“The same industry rightsholder groups that support the creation of ACTA have also called for mandatory network-level filtering by Internet Service Providers and for Internet Service Providers to terminate citizens’ Internet connection on repeat allegation of copyright infringement (the “Three Strikes” /Graduated Response) so there is reason to believe that ACTA will seek to increase intermediary liability and require these things of Internet Service Providers,” reports the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
The treaty will also mandate that ISPs disclose personal user information to the copyright holder, while providing authorities across the globe with broader powers to search laptops and Internet-capable devices at border checkpoints.
In presenting ACTA as an “international agreement” rather than a treaty, the Obama administration managed to circumvent the legislative process and avoid having to get Senate approval, a method questioned by Senator Wyden.
“That said, even if Obama has declared ACTA an executive agreement (while those in Europe insist that it’s a binding treaty), there is a very real Constitutional question here: can it actually be an executive agreement?” asks TechDirt. “The law is clear that the only things that can be covered by executive agreements are things that involve items that are solely under the President’s mandate. That is, you can’t sign an executive agreement that impacts the things Congress has control over. But here’s the thing: intellectual property, in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, is an issue given to Congress, not the President. Thus, there’s a pretty strong argument that the president legally cannot sign any intellectual property agreements as an executive agreement and, instead, must submit them to the Senate.”.
26 European Union member states along with the EU itself are set to sign the treaty at a ceremony today in Tokyo. Other countries wishing to sign the agreement have until May 2013 to do so.
Critics are urging those concerned about Obama’s decision to sign the document with no legislative oversight to demand the Senate be forced to ratify the treaty.
I wish one of your guys had children if I could kick them in the fucking head or stomp on their testicles so you can feel my pain because thats the pain I have waking up everyday -- Mike Tyson
yep btjunkie is not down but they changed the site landing page. ofc sites will start to protect themselves first and adopt a wait and see attitude, so all these hotlinking of other sites will fall under a grey area and people will start to think twice about spreading information
this is really what i was afraid of, nobody gives a shit about the free music and movies, the harmful effect this will have is boundless. twitter is already "adjusting" and soon facebook then youtube etc.
Last edit: 26/01/2012 23:42
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BILAT_POWER!!! Philippines. Jan 27 2012 01:51. Posts 1525
if all this goes through, no more free movies online?
On January 26 2012 05:44 whamm! wrote:
They were able to slip this through while everyone was raging over SOPA/PIPA, I guess the smoke and mirrors technique worked after all.
There's been a couple of countries who signed already, go read up on it (im too lazy but i like being a doomsayer lol)
Slip through? Smoke and mirrors?
This has been known for 4 years (in May). Blame the useless 'activists' on the internet for having the attention span of a goldfish.
edit:
On January 26 2012 22:40 whamm! wrote:
this is really what i was afraid of, nobody gives a shit about the free music and movies, the harmful effect this will have is boundless. twitter is already "adjusting" and soon facebook then youtube etc.
The problem is that's the only thing people seem to care about.
On February 19 2009 22:21 Confedrate wrote: i dont get it
every goddamn site ive been to(just 3 though) except for forums has some "announced text in the landing page"
- it has begun i think. GG fun
i hope there's some way to protest or is it too late?
Last edit: 28/01/2012 01:18
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Steal City United States. Jan 28 2012 12:45. Posts 2537
Hehe, if you guys watch Max Keiser you'll see your friend genjix who is a recurring guest on Max's show. He comes on about halfway here
Intersango.com intersango.com
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palak United States. Jan 28 2012 12:48. Posts 4601
On January 26 2012 22:40 uiCk wrote:
btjunkie is up for me
btjunkie down for me... ffs
working fine for me all week
dont tap the glass...im about ready to take a fucking hammer to the aquarium
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casinocasino Canada. Jan 28 2012 16:45. Posts 3347
On January 28 2012 11:45 Steal City wrote:
Hehe, if you guys watch Max Keiser you'll see your friend genjix who is a recurring guest on Max's show. He comes on about halfway here
great episode
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hubmaster United States. Jan 28 2012 19:50. Posts 586
The smoke and mirrors from SOPA/PIPA have mainly covered up this gem of legislation that's floating around in the House.
yeah. macro seems to have more chance than micro. if they make 100 attempts they might let one in eventually so its always good to be vigilant since you cant rely on the news anymore.
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