Latest Version of ACTA Leaks 87
An anonymous reader writes "Drew Wilson of ZeroPaid points to a freshly leaked version of ACTA available on La Quadrature Du Net. While the text will need further analysis, the most recent look at the text suggests that there is no Three Strikes law, but anti-circumvention laws have a new twist to them with regard to exceptions in that 'they do not significantly impair the adequacy of legal protection [...] or the effectiveness of legal remedies for violations of those measures.' Overall, the text still hints at a global DMCA with notice-and-takedown."
Re:Constitutional challenge? (Score:3, Insightful)
I would expect an Executive Agreement has the force of an Executive Order to his underlings in the Justice Department to put forth certain arguments in court until a judge agrees and they become binding precedent thanks to that oh-so-brilliant principle of Common Law. In the countries where they have Prime Ministers they can just go straight to the "this is now the law" phase.
Re:Constitutional challenge? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd like to know how the rest of the world can stop this.
From my perspective, this is basically an export of a law the US already has -- the DMCA.
I feel that far too many things that are already legal for many of us (fair use for example) is being stripped to cater to the interests of the MPAA and RIAA -- who are largely formed of multinationals who have a vested interest in getting every country to settle on the most draconian of laws.
As to the legalities, who knows. We're talking about a treaty being done in secret with no room for public input. For reasons I've never understood, all of the information about the content and process of this needs to be kept secret -- likely because people would realize how badly they're getting railroaded all in the name of protecting US movies from being copied.
thanks ACTA (Score:5, Insightful)
for breeding the most industrial strength bomb proof P2P possible
oh, you had some other goal in mind? you really thought draconian legislation would somehow stop filesharing? you're that fucking stupid?
here's some intellectual charity for you assholes: making a fancy law is meaningless without enforceability. i will gladly make a bet on who wins this contest-
1. your legion of lawyer diplomats
versus
2. tens of millions of media hungry, technically skilled, and most importantly, POOR teenagers
ding, ding, ding!
round 1, place your bets
Re:I hope (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think you realize just how low the "bottom" is.
Further, the Internet may be the kind of thing for which once it becomes a completely corporatized, monotized entity, there may not be any going back.
Once cable television was going to represent the "democratization of media" with all sorts of public access and interactivity and localization. But once the cable business became monopolized it became nothing but "Pay TV", where you pay for basically the same product you used to get for free. Now that's the new normal, where people just expect to pay for television, even when it's got advertising.
If ACTA becomes international law, there's a very good chance that the Internet many of us love will be gone forever and it will become more "Pay TV". But even worse, Fair Use and public libraries will probably become a thing of the past. Even open source itself will be threatened by ACTA. Think about that all you people who love Linux.
Re:"Leaks" (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm beginning this document isn't meant to be as secretive as Geist makes it sound. I'm beginning this document isn't meant to be as secretive as Geist makes it sound.
The fact that they've failed to keep it secret doesn't change their goals of keeping it secret, nor does it change the fact that there should be no pretense of secrecy. There's no valid reason for the attempt at secrecy. The meetings should be available streaming online.
No, seriously, they should if they were smart. The fact that this is being drafted in secret is what will make more people pay attention to this even if there weren't leaks this big. I think far fewer people would be paying attention if the meetings were open.
Re:Constitutional challenge? (Score:1, Insightful)
I wouldn't call it an export of the DMCA. It's more accurately a combination of all worst parts of various copyright laws around the world.
Thus, you don't just have the bad parts of the DCMA. You have other things like 3 strike laws, border searches, etc etc.
Notice and takedown (Score:5, Insightful)
Overall, the text still hints at a global DMCA with notice-and-takedown
The safe harbour and takedown notice system in the DMCA is one of the few sensible aspects. There has to be some practical mechanism for copyright holders to enforce their legal rights, but it shouldn't be powerful enough for vested interests to abuse the system and suppress legitimate distribution. The takedown notice and counter-notice system is as fair a balance as anything I've seen suggested.
Re:thanks ACTA (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't forget the tens of thousands of media hungry, 1337 skilled and most importantly, CYNICAL, 30-somethings who have been through all of this before.