Submit Your Comments About ACTA 124
alex_guy_CA Notes that the US Trade Representative — who has been negotiating the secret Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement without input from the American people or Congress — is seeking public submissions on how to conduct US foreign copyright policy. This means that Americans can file comments with the USTR asking for ACTA to be made public. Public Knowledge explains the process: "Under the Special 301 process the USTR seeks input from US copyright, trademark, and patent owners about whether policies and practices in foreign countries deny them adequate IP protection. The process has generally been used by IP holders to complain not only about lax enforcement in other countries, but also about limitations and exceptions in their laws that are beneficial to libraries, to education, to innovation, and to the public interest generally. The ability to comment in the Special 301 process is not limited to IP owners only. Any member of the public is free to file comments. If you believe in the importance of balanced copyright policies, file comments with the USTR and make your voice heard. Comments can be filed electronically via http://www.regulations.gov/ docket number USTR-2010-0003. You have to include the term '2010 Special 301 Review' in the 'Type Comment and Upload File' field. ... Deadline for filing is February 16 by 5 pm."
Re:File a request? Request corruption enquiry (Score:3, Insightful)
Our LEFT wing political part is a good 2x more right-wing than most other right-wing parties in the world is what happened.
That and gerrymandering combined with a lack of term limits and now no limits on corporate campaign contributions.
Re:Hmmm... (Score:5, Insightful)
What's the real motive?
Pretending to care.
After careful consideration and review, they'll finally decide to do whatever the hell the oligarchy thinks is most profitable, as planned.
Re:Lol (Score:1, Insightful)
screw keeping it on their own continent, i say keep it in their own borders, i'm 100% positive that Mexico and Canada would prefer the US kept its nose out of our business. I'm from Canada, so i know i'm at least 50% accurate there :)
Re:Hmmm... (Score:2, Insightful)
First question: "What's in it?" Once you tell us that, we'll have more questions.
Re:Lol (Score:4, Insightful)
Why? (Score:3, Insightful)
Submit Your Comments About ACTA
Seriously: Why?
It's not like they really care what us little people think. The fact is, what gets put into law will be what the big copyright holders want. Think **AA.
Re:Why? (Score:2, Insightful)
My hope is that the lawyers and representatives involved simply don't realize the magnitude of the number of people who think ACTA and unbalanced copyright in general is a bad idea, and that if a few thousand people write anything at all, they'll take notice. Wishful thinking? Probably..
Ethan
Re:My comments on ACTA (Score:0, Insightful)
I have a better idea.
Pirate. Don't hide. Don't pretend we aren't doing it. Be PROUD of pirating. PUBLICIZE your piracy. Take a copy of Steamboat Willie down to your local courthouse and hand them out to the people there. Better yet, hand them out at the building that houses the Disney Corporation. When or IF you get arrested/sued, make a BIG stink. Explain EXACTLY why you are doing what you are doing, explain EXACTLY why it should be legal, and fight this travesty in the light of day.
Re:Is there a point? (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd say that's a bad example, because (if you ignore Gerrymandering), enough votes force the decision of who gets into office. With ACTA, we could have 200 million citizens protest, and the Congress and the President could still enact it.
But is there a point in supporting this process, if it's bought and paid for my special interests? (I'm not assuming it is; this is what my question was about.)
More draconian is better.. prison time++ (Score:4, Insightful)
Nothing will get any better until things get loony. I hope to see house confiscations, children removed from families, people put in jail.
We're already _almost_ there.
This will foster the development of better anonymous networks and the adoption of proper encryption techniques to defend against these crazy laws.
Just like consuming illegal drugs, nobody is going to stop copying things that don't exist.
Too many people game trade agreements. (Score:3, Insightful)
It's not national security you're talking about, it's a trade agreement.
As an American protectionist, I would think that the issue is really about how Asia approaches trade. They are all mercantile nations, not genuinely free trading ones, and, after waiting for 30 years for trade to somehow balance, I'm done with waiting and am ready to pull the plug on trade with at least Asia.
Australia, and Europe, I am not so worried about. Those nations come from the same cultural background, have been long allies, and at least play by similar rules. Like, I have no problem buying a Pontiac GTO, which was made in Australia, because Australians have similar wages, legal and cultural underpinnings, and hey, the first two Men at Work albums were pretty good stuff to listen to. Plus, 400hp RWD is always nice to have.
Re:Hmmm... (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm amazed that some people seem to think being able to import cheap crap from overseas is somehow meaningful when a huge (and growing) percentage of the working population is having a problem finding a job. As long as you have a job, then you can cope with rising prices. Without jobs, then the fact that imported goods are cheap merely means that you are spending your reserves a little slower than you would otherwise - and the money is STILL going out of the country, to a place with a lower standard of living, which means you probably won't be seeing again anytime soon (except maybe as a loan).
I'm skeptical about the specific forms of protectionism being proposed nowadays, but the idea that allowing all our money to flow unimpeded out of our country (without having any dependable mechanism to bring back equal or more value) will somehow be net beneficial for the country is just laughable.
Re:'input' - justification (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Hmmm... (Score:5, Insightful)
What's the real motive?
Pretending to care.
They are not even pretending to care. If you read the notice, it is a solicitation for complaints against foreign countries who are failing to provide adequate protection to US intellectual property owners.
Suggested text (Score:3, Insightful)
I ask you to make a part of the United States' position the following:
1. ACTA negotiations must be open and transparent and conducted in such a way as to permit the American public ongoing input into the negotiation process as it occurs, rather than conducted behind closed doors, with only the end result visible, after an agreement has been concluded.
2. The preservation of fair use must be a critical and integral part of the United States' position in the negotiations, and the fair use rights of its citizens must not be compromised in the final agreement.
3. Copyright terms must not be extended any further than U.S. law currently provides, and should, if anything, be reduced in order to provide the artistic compost necessary for the creative process to thrive. The U.S. must take the position that excessive copyright term lengths stifle innovation in the arts, rather than preserve it, and that its citizens and humanity as a whole are ill-served by the progressive march towards infinite copyright extension.
4. Penalties for copyright violation should and must fit the actual economic damage incurred by copyright holders, with Draconian punishment reserved exclusively for those who profit financially from infringement. The U.S. position should and must be that damages for infringement by individuals who do not seek to profit financially from their actions must neither be excessive nor unduly harsh.
5. Artists should be given the right to sue copyright infringers for monetary damages, regardless of when or whether those artists have formally registered their works, if and only if the infringing use was for the financial gain of the infringer.
Re:Hmmm... (Score:3, Insightful)
They aren't asking for our input on anything, just big media's and then they are only asking which countries they should go after with a rather large axe for being bad for business...
Feel free to write something just know that it will be filtered out before anyone important reads it. Honestly it should be clear to everyone that if they cared about what the public thought they would not be holding these meetings in secret.
But... If you wanna cause some trouble (for the Lulz) then I'd suggest picking a random country, lets say... china.. and then complaining about loosing millions because of IP theft. That at least should get past the filter and maybe even read before being deleted because it just wasn't valuable for their secret negotiations. Now if you want to help them out than might I suggest complaining about Canada or Spain. Pretty sure file swapping was ruled legal in Spain a while back.
This is for complaints about specific countries. (Score:4, Insightful)
This is about "special 301" reviews [ustr.gov], which are a scheme for applying diplomatic pressure on countries that do trade things that US companies don't like. Anything submitted that doesn't relate to a specific issue with a specific country is irrelevant.
If you want to bitch about ACTA, write your congressional representative.
Re:Hmmm... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Hmmm... (Score:2, Insightful)