ACTA Internet Chapter Leaked — Bad For Everyone 410
roju writes "Cory Doctorow is reporting on a leaked copy of the 'internet enforcement' portion of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. He describes it as reading like a 'DMCA-plus' with provisions for third-party liability, digital locks, and 'a duty to technology firms to shut down infringement where they have "actual knowledge" that such is taking place.' For example, this could mean legal responsibility shifting to Apple for customers copying mp3s onto their iPods." Adds an anonymous reader, "Michael Geist points out that the leaks demonstrate that ACTA would create a Global DMCA and move toward a three-strikes-and-you're-out system. While the US has claimed that ACTA won't establish a mandatory three strikes system, it specifically uses three-strikes as its model."
Tyranny vs Liberty (Score:5, Interesting)
Which is true today?
Why isn't China a Partner? (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously. You want all the world to abide by an anti-piracy measure and don't include the biggest pirate on the planet?
Re:This is a MUCH bigger threat than terrorism. (Score:4, Interesting)
been accused counts as a strike = easy DOS (Score:5, Interesting)
been accused counts as a strike = easy DOS
Do like what you market competition is doing just a accused them and watch how they can't do any work any more then they get shut off.
some get's layed off then to get back they just accused them.
You make your own art / music and you trun down a deal and they just trun around and accused you
You give a bad review of a moive / game / any other thing and they just accused you and shut down your web site.
You say that x is doing a bad job and he shuts you down.
This like a red light cameras with no court that goes off on yellow and goes off right before you hit the stop line.
Ex post facto? (Score:1, Interesting)
Will this be applied ex post facto (e.g., you copied an MP3 to your iPod some time ago, and once this gets passed you can be prosecuted, even after the statute of limitations is up?)
I'm asking as an American, FYI.
Treason, and terrorism (Score:5, Interesting)
Can't think of anything that fits with the definition of treason better than a system that passes laws that the citizens aren't permitted to know. That immediately removes the incentive for being law abiding since you can't know if you're breaking the law. Anyone enacting or enforcing such laws should be covered by treason laws.
Can't think of anything more terrifying than threatening to take away a person's ability to communicate, possibly their livelihood without having to PROOVE a crime in court. Enacting such laws is the very definition of terrorism. Where's the anti-terrorism legislation now?
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Disproportionate punishment (Score:5, Interesting)
The hiding of the bill's creation is only half (Score:2, Interesting)
The hiding of the bill's creation is only half of the fearful part of the legislative process.
The DMCA [wikipedia.org] was passed with not one legislature sigining a name to it. It passed the House through voice vote and the Senate through unanimous consent. They knew what they were doing.
Re:Tyranny vs Liberty (Score:1, Interesting)
Don't forget that "equally wise American" said that while in the process of denying just such a government to more than 6 million people, killing more than a quarter-million of them in the process. I don't agree with slavery, but that still was an extremely hypocritical statement for Lincoln to have made, particularly in light of the fact that he, by his own admission, was far more interested in keeping the South from establishing their own government (i.e. of their people, by their people, etc.) than any high-minded concern for the slaves, as evidenced in part by his support of the Corwin Amendment and stated willingness to let slavery continue where it already existed.
While he had made public statements before indicating he believed that the slaves should be free men, his beliefs obviously weren't strong enough to keep him from letting them stay put for as long as there was a political benefit to be had, and his actions only changed after the war started and he didn't have to worry about the political fallout anymore. Typical politician, whose father-in-law was even a slave owner.
Re:This is a MUCH bigger threat than terrorism. (Score:3, Interesting)
There's a difference between this ACTA treaty and terrorism? They both aim to control and / or destroy economic activity, and keep control of it in the hands of the few.
Three what? (Score:2, Interesting)
The most aggravating thing about this three strikes rule is that it is so obviously based on an obsessive baseball fanaticism.... making it impossible to disguise the fact that it is actually the kind of half baked idea thought up in 30 seconds in a bar somewhere and scribbled on the back of a beer coaster so that it wouldnt be forgotten in tomorrows hangover. That is exactly the kind of flippant attitude to problems that nobody in the world deserves to have forced upon them.
Besides, if you yanks were going to try and pull a fast one on the rest of the world, you should have used a football analogy - its the international sport!
(thats the one with the round ball by the way)
Law vs law? (Score:4, Interesting)
It makes the worse totalitarian governments in the world in history look like the land of the free.
Not sure it's even good for them. (Score:5, Interesting)
Here is the letter I sent via regulations.gov:
BTW, here was my comment submitted to the USTR regarding the treaty.
RE: 2010 Special 301 Review
Docket Number USTR-2010-0003
Jennifer Choe Groves
Senior Director for Intellectual Property and
Innovation and Chair of the Special 301 Committee
Office of the United States Trade Representative
600 17th Street NW
Washington, DC 20508
Filed electronically via Regulations.gov
Dear Ms. Groves:
I am a software engineer and developer here in the US. I own copyrights to a number of software programs and published papers, some jointly with corporations or other natural persons. I have also authored two ebooks which are distributed online and one printed book which is available through major retailers. Software I produce is distributed world-wide.
I am deeply concerned about the rush towards greater liability for neutral service providers where copyright infringement is alleged. Holders of copyrights (including myself) should not be able to make end-runs around our traditional system of legal protections by threatening third parties into shutting off services which may be vital for conducting lawful business. This is especially dangerous where very fact-centric elements of copyright and trademark infringement accusations may need to be adjudicated by courts. These cases can occur where questions of fair use or derivation occur.
Thus I am concerned that the rush towards greater protection and greater third party liability will become a sword of Damocles hanging not only over the head of the average citizen but most especially over the head of the copyright holder. After all, if a set of mere accusations is enough to insist that material be taken down or internet access denied, then those who produce copyright-worthy materials will be the most exposed.
Instead, balance is needed, and consumer protections must be a major part of the equation. These consumer protections don't just protect consumers against rights-holders. They protect rights holders against unfair competition, and they protect innovators against entrenched market interests.
Instead of dictating how foreign countries should make laws ensuring elements well outside the traditional boundaries of copyright law (circumvention device control, etc), we should instead be interested in looking at ways to make claims more easily adjudicated when they come up. The emphasis on third-party liability is a major step backwards.
Please reconsider.
Sincerely,
Chris Travers
Re:Doesn't matter (Score:4, Interesting)
I think part of the problem is that it usually comes up when prosecuting alleged bad guys.
For example, it's really hard to have sympathy for Jeff Skilling or Lori Drew but some of the charges in both their cases illustrate this problem perfectly. I have no problem with the securities fraud charges against Jeff Skilling, but the wire fraud charges? The idea that Jeff Skilling engaged in a fraud to deny Enron the "intangible right" to his "honest services?"
Yet I have known people who were railroaded in these sorts of things for political purposes. They don't make the news. It was a nice republic while it lasted.....
Re:This is a MUCH bigger threat than terrorism. (Score:4, Interesting)
If this looks like it will actually come to pass, stock up on ChiPods. As many as you can buy, buy them. When new hardware _requires_ DRM and locked-down transfer channels, those things will be golden.
Re:Tyranny vs Liberty (Score:3, Interesting)
Depends where you are. In Somalia, it would seem that the government (and everyone else) does indeed fear the people.
I think they did that before their government collapsed. Somalia was a hell hole then, and remains so now, although I have heard it reported that, despite this, they have a fairly decent telecom industry for that neck of the woods. Their tribal Xeer law system is also fascinating.
Re:So, what can we (US Citizens) do to stop this? (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, you can do many things.
You can get the word out. (But beware to not act or sound like a crazy or raging person. They have to want to listen to you!) ;)
If you are relatively skilled in PR / politics / marketing / psychology / social engineering / etc, you can create a critical mass of people agreeing with you. They will then take care of things... the hard way.
Or you can go guerillia (= the best war strategy for minorities) and create a virus that lands on ACTA creator/supporter computers/sites, has a highly illegal payload (child porn, movies, secret documents, illegal books, etc), and then automatically tells the cops to go raid the house.
You can create, support, install and spread darknets to everyone.
You can move to a still free country. (Or create your own. [You wouldn’t be the first one!])
Etc, etc, etc.
This insanity wont stop... (Score:5, Interesting)
until so called 'intellectual property' is exposed for the oxymoron that it is [cat-v.org].
Re:Tyranny vs Liberty (Score:4, Interesting)
To see this at work, just watch the French. It is the one country in the world where the government is genuinely worried about the population. The French have a habit of instigating work actions that would result here in the National Guard being called in. The French government, not being quite as quick to shoot at its own population (unless they live in the poor suburbs....) is constantly forced to cave to populist demands.
How is it working out for them? I don't know about you, but Time Magazine recently rated France the best place to live. On the other hand, be ready to plan your vacations around predictable strikes that cripple the nation's transportation system.
I wouldn't go so far to say that such a government would be weak and ineffectual, but it certainly comes with its own set of challenges.
Who leaked? (Score:5, Interesting)
From the article:
Someone has uploaded a PDF to a Google Group that is claimed to be the proposal for Internet copyright enforcement that the USA has put forward for ACTA, the secret copyright treaty whose seventh round of negotiations just concluded in Guadalajara, Mexico.
I wonder who that someone is who leaked it. It could be part of a strategy to scare the crap out of people so that when they come out with something no more than an international DMCA people will breath a sigh of relief instead of getting all up in arms. What they've leaked is so bad as to almost seem not credible.
From the computerworld.co.nz article: [computerworld.co.nz]
The chapter on the internet from the draft treaty was shown to the IDG News Service by a source close to people directly involved in the talks, who asked to remain anonymous. Although it was drawn up last October, it is the most recent negotiating text available, according to the source.
So is this a real leak, or something they want disseminated? /paranoia
Concerning (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Doesn't matter (Score:5, Interesting)
Which is ultimately the perfected method for slowly eroding liberties - to at first use it on "criminals" (catching more people who break existing laws), then creating new laws to support it, then revising it to suit the new laws... continue ad nauseum until you end up with a legal system in shambles that has been filled to over-capacity and can punish anyone just for living their daily life, if it so chooses. This is by far the most sneaky way of governments dealing with political dissidents - either find them committing a crime, frame them for a crime, or turn what they do into a crime to make it easier to lock them away. Then they have a pretext, an excuse to get rid of them without it being too obvious.
Re:Crypto (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't think you got the idea....
My proposal's main objective is not technical, it is mostly to give the ISPs the excuse for not intercepting traffic.
I'm counting on the ISPs not wanting to do the interception in the first place, and using TLS as an excuse for not intercepting. While some people might see eavesdropping as not that bad, tampering with a connection is a different ball game. Besides, they are likely to be discovered unless they coordinate perfectly (how would you explain that the certificate for your site changes when you switch ISPs?).
Obviously anyone can do a MITM against not only self signed certificates, but also to properly signed ones. If the government decides to interfere, they might as well get a MITM box with a properly signed certificate that will work both for self signed and regular certificates. Then again, if the situation gets like that, you have a police state.
Re:Doesn't matter (Score:3, Interesting)
But do they? Have they actually managed to prosecute anyone for their 3-a-day felonies? Have they managed to actually freeze anyone's assets over these felonies? You can't just freeze assets over any crime.
I have known two relatives who were prosecuted on trumped up charges for political reasons. Both were convicted. Neither one even had assets frozen. However, having assets frozen is not uncommon.
In the first case, it was a lawyer in the McCarthy era who spent a lot of time and energy defending individuals accused of violating the Smith Act. They tried him on perjury for his efforts and he was acquitted, so they came back and tried him on income tax evasion on some technicality (and secured a conviction there). Shortly after he was released from jail he was readmitted to the bar association which suggests that there was reason to think it was politically motivated.
In the second case, it was a doctor who was prosecuted for "medicaid fraud" over an error in billing codes. This was during the Reagan administration and was part of an effort to show the public they were fighting fraud regarding medicare and medicaid. Many, many doctors were unjustly prosecuted and in the case I know of, there wasn't even an allegation that the wrong amount of money had been billed. The government talked to the doctor's partners and pressured them into demanding a guilty plea. Silverglate documents a number of other similar cases in his book.
So yes, it happens. If a prosecutor decides that prosecuting you is in the prosecutor's interest, it can happen and all too often does.
Re:So, what can we (US Citizens) do to stop this? (Score:3, Interesting)
Writing is good and if you have the inclination, do it. Calling the offices (home and DC) of your senator (since this is a treaty) is very quick and almost as effectual as snail mail. I personally call for important matters and email for back-burner stuff. I never got along well with the postal system.
Just as important as contacting your reps is convincing others to do the same. This is why I prefer to suggest phone calls: they can be done on a whim and they're quicker than post and email because you get to air your views to a live person on the other end of the line who can gauge how you feel by your tone (please remain civil and avoid run-on sentences like this one). If you convince other people to call and to talk to their friends, soon enough the staffers on the other end are going to feel like everybody hates this thing, and they'd better tell the boss or they might be blamed when he loses his next election because of it.
Public pressure is our greatest tool.
Already here somewhat. (Score:2, Interesting)
Perfect example of DRM gone wrong and hurting consumers: A guy I know actually bought the media center edition of WinXP, (yes, I know) and recorded some video on an older-model hand held and then tried to play the resulting AVI file. I was called on to help them debug why it wasn't playing. I don't recall the exact error message now, but it was something related to an unknown author (Media Player was default). So on a wild hunch I downloaded and installed vlc [videolan.org] real quick to test my theory and it played perfectly. Way to go Micro$oft, yet another normal user who will never buy your products again.
The problem is if ACTA goes through, there will be no choice. Something must be done to take these players drafting this piece of crap down or out before governments have a chance to sign away our rights to choose.
Re:Crypto (Score:3, Interesting)
Using strong crypto between mail clients is like...
Using armored cars to transfer bags of money from one park bench to another.
Re:This is a MUCH bigger threat than terrorism. (Score:3, Interesting)
This is a much bigger threat to freedom and democracy than terrorism ever could be.
Worse than that, it could actually cause some terrorism. Wanna snipe around some MPAA or RIAA parking lots?
New Coke (Score:2, Interesting)
AFAICT, they did it again with Mr. Pibb to Pibb Xtra.
Re:This is a MUCH bigger threat than terrorism. (Score:3, Interesting)
FWIW, classic coke in the USA no longer uses cane sugar, it uses HFCS (however the "jewish passover" coke does have cane sugar). I'm too lazy to figure out when exactly they switched to HFCS, but they certainly did, so in a way classic coke is not back. Some people claim there's a difference in taste.
There is, and a difference in texture too. I'll drink Pepsi Throwback (made with Cane Sugar) or Jones Soda Cola before Coke Classic with HFCS.