Unpacking the Secrets of ACTA

An anonymous reader writes "As negotiations in the 7th round of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement talks continue this week in Mexico, Michael Geist has been posting a comprehensive guide to the secret copyright treaty. He started with a review of the substance of the treaty, then posted links to all the leaked documentation, and has now unpacked the secrecy associated with the talks, including why governments have made it secret, the public concern, and why this isn't business as usual."

Hello?

[Anonymous Coward]

Can somebody please post anything so that I can get an opinion without reading the summary?

Re:Hello?

[jgtg32a]

More or less I usually don't worry too much about semantics. I've found that explaining things in basic terms is the easiest way to get through life. When it comes down to it the difference between (C) infringement and stealing is if $RETAIL is getting screwed in the deal as well. For the most part I haven't heard $RETAIL complain that much, then again I see a whole lot less record stores than I used to...
In the end it's the pirate vs (C) holders. Stealing basically means that someone isn't getting paid and the (C) holders aren't getting paid, therefore piracy is basically stealing.
 
I wish I could think of another example because its a bit inflammatory but its lunch time so:
Manslaughter, 1, 2 deg Murder: end result someone's dead
Stealing, (C) infringement: end result someone didn't get paid.
 
Unless we're talking about punishment its a waste of time to argue semantics.

Re:Hello?

[Foobar of Borg]

Michael Geist is like the skinny short Brunette in all the Slasher flicks from the 90's. He's always shouting "YOU NEED TO WATCH OUT FOR THIS" but everyone else is like the dumb Jock who isn't afraid of a guy with a knife and ends up getting diced into french fries.

Interesting analogy, but couldn't you at least come up with one involving cars? Perhaps I should try.

Michael Geist is like the guy who knows Pintos will shoot fire at you if you so much as bump the front bumper, but everyone else just decides to drive the damn things and get their fat scorched all over the car after being burned alive.