MPAA Asks If ACTA Can Be Used To Block Wikileaks 322
An anonymous reader writes "With the entertainment industry already getting laws to block certain sites, it appears they're interested in expanding that even further. The latest is that at a meeting with ACTA negotiators in Mexico, an MPAA representative apparently asked if ACTA rules could be used to force ISPs to block 'dangerous sites' like Wikileaks. It makes you wonder why the MPAA wants to censor Wikileaks (and why it wants to use ACTA to do so). But, the guess is that if it can use Wikileaks as a proxy for including rules to block websites, how long will it be until other 'dangerous' sites, such as Torrent search engines, are included." Note: TechDirt typically has insightful commentary, but make of the original (Spanish) twiiter message what you will.
Did they (Score:2, Interesting)
Did they ask if it could be blocked because they wanted to, or because they think it could mean backslash for using ACTA as a censor tool instead of enforcing copyrights?
Re:Did they (Score:2, Interesting)
enforcing copyright is censorship, there's no "instead". Copyright: Party C wants to stop party A passing information to party B. Censorship : Party G wants to stop party A passing information to party B.
They're the same thing, justified differently. It's all just 1s and 0s folks, you can't enforce copyright and have a free society. It's impossible.
Story worthy? (Score:2, Interesting)
Link to a blog which links to another blog which links to a twitter post: [twitter.com]
Pide MPAA en junta de #ACTA que en mexico sea posible cortar acceso/pais a sitios "tan dañinos" como wikileaks. Neto: WTF!
Amazing what's become of journalism in the era of blogging.
Anyway, it sounds like a good tactic on the part of the MPAA as they're trying to sell ACTA to various governments.
"Hey, if you pass ACTA, you may be able to use it to block Wikileaks too!"
MPAA wants to write its laws in secrecy (Score:5, Interesting)
This isn't so much a move against Wikileaks as a sharing site like TPB, but instead a move against anyone who might expose the collusion between **AA and their government lackeys.
That Wikileaks might reveal things like ACTA ahead of time, allowing users to mobilize support against them, makes Wikileaks very "dangerous" to the **AA's goal of complete control.
Re:Web censorship at its best (Score:1, Interesting)
It might be any number of reasons really. Even something like they dont want Wikileaks to host the HDCP data
or they're worried a flaw in AACS/BD+ might get leaked. Someone somewhere must have proof that the MPAA/RIAA
members have been acting like cartels, price-fixing and bribing politicians.
I'm honestly surprised that none of the delegates/lobbyists has claimed copyright over the leaked ACTA drafts
to use DMCA to remove it as they're not 'public record' yet.
OK, lets get a rating system for websites. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Ever notice... (Score:2, Interesting)
The constitution says
All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
While international agreements puts legislative powers in unelected bureaucrats.
While I understand the point of things like the UN (to prevent something like WWII from happening again) it, along with all the other international organizations have defrauded the American people of their constitutionally guaranteed rights.
What irks me the most... (Score:5, Interesting)
How about... (Score:5, Interesting)
wikileaks because they're the site to hate. (Score:3, Interesting)
The only reason they are asking about WikiLeaks is because it's the current website that's "okay to hate/censor". Once they get approval for WikiLeaks, they'll move to other sites that actually target THEIR industry.
Or maybe Wikileaks has their hands on certain (Score:3, Interesting)
ledgers and might just dump those as well.
Re:Erroneously Aggregating Enemies (Score:5, Interesting)
I have always had this idea as a car mechanic to create how to videos for popular model vehicles, instead of just vague books, with high-def video cameras and step by step instructions for each task... such as changing out an A/C Compressor, Replacing a bad power steering pump, fixing broken this that and the other thing.... and selling them for a REASONABLE price all across the nation. This would require a decent amount time and money in equipment, time to film, edit produce etc...
Then I realized that some dickhead would probably just take the videos, put them up on Piratebay and I would be left poor and broke after spending a crapload of time and money on this project so I said fuck it.
Hollywood might overcharge and not provide a distribution model that the people agree with, but there are a lot of other legit businesses with honest hard working people that are not getting their honest pay for the work they did. The spread of "information" could be something YOU spent years working on, then you'd be pretty bitter too.
Re:Because the US Gov't is interested in WikiLeaks (Score:5, Interesting)
Or, maybe they're thinking ahead to the day when an insider leaks some "creative accounting" ledgers. :)
Hand in hand (Score:5, Interesting)
Call me a foil hat wearing lunatic but I say at this point we've seen more than enough [wikipedia.org] evidence [chuckbaldwinlive.com] of close [sourcewatch.org] cooperation [seekingalpha.com] between the American government and America's large industries to call it a budding facism [wikipedia.org].
Consider: Pluralism [thehill.com] has been steadily weakening [abcnews.com] as congress and the presidents sign law [rawstory.com] after law giving and allowing the president to take unprecedented power. The courts [andyworthington.co.uk] already lack any real ability to stop this [ccrjustice.org] trend. [wikipedia.org]
New laws have made everyone a criminal. Those against whom the government chooses to enforce these laws are being imprisoned and harassed. It's no longer possible to be a law abiding citizen in America -- only on the ruling powers' good side or not. Police all over the US have an "us against them" mindset that has led to countless abuses to the extent that a police uniform is no longer a comforting site even for those who obey the law. It's now illegal in several states to even record these abuses and Americans everywhere are shutting up and keeping their heads down.
If these dangerous trends are not stopped the US will be a fascist police state very soon.
Re:Erroneously Aggregating Enemies (Score:4, Interesting)
The origins of the rating system were a desperate (yet successful) attempt to prevent the federal government from instituting its own rating system. The Hays Code dealt with the spread of local laws, and would eventually be replaced by Jack Valenti's letter-based rating system that provided film-makers with much more freedom in how to craft and tell the story.
Kind of amusing, I think, that an organization was once so desperate to keep government out of its business and now runs crying to the government to help it preserve the same.
Programmers and Experts Needed (Score:3, Interesting)
We can fight on the political side to keep the net free and we can fight on the social side as well. But the chances are that we will need to make regulation either impossible or so expensive that downloading and communications simply can not be blocked. We need programs that can seek the materials that interest us and encrypt them and then send them through anonymous servers. If this is done right it should be next to impossible for a third party to determine what went over the net and who sent and received whatever the item was. If it is expensive enough and difficult enough to penetrate then information will flow freely.
Re:I can think of two reasons... (Score:5, Interesting)
Libertarians believe that by completely dismantling government we will live in this wonderful utopia without regulation and we can all be happy capitalists and thrive in harmony, and be free to shoot anyone who threatened that harmony.
While I agree that government needs to be reigned in, I don't see removing a lot of the good things that governments accomplish as the right thing.
Weakening the 1st Amendment, and strengthening the ability of government (and corporations) to censor does move us towards tyranny, that much is true. I definitely agree with you. However, I disagree that:
Yes, government does abuse their power, but saying we should stop trying to accomplish the goals of education and an overall. "Libertarians" would dismantle a lot of these things on the basis that it's onerous to individual freedoms and that they should be able to opt out of helping to pay for society. Boo hoo. Without these things, we'd all be friggin' eating one another in 6 months.
What needs to happen is stronger controls on how government does its job -- and I sure as hell don't claim to have an answer to this. However, human nature and history has shown time and time again that people try to consolidate power, and aren't above retroactively deciding they want to change how things work and want to undo change. Heck, that's exactly what the Taliban did.
Libertarianism has some interesting ideas, but it wouldn't solve any of these problems any better than modern economics does at really understanding how the economy works -- it's based on perfect models in ideal circumstances, and assumes that everyone else will all magically play by the same rules. It's grossly incomplete, and assumes way too much; and neither wrap things up quite so neatly as people believe.
And, in closing ... we're all screwed, now get off my damned lawn. *grumble* *grumble* Damned kids. :-P
--END RANT
Re:Web censorship at its best (Score:4, Interesting)
Which is the biggest load of bullshit yet. The idea of copyright is to give artists a protected environment in which to profit, and then ultimately, it RETURNS to the public domain .
If it is produced by the government, then it was always the public domain to begin with. Slimy situations like transit authorities trying to claim they "own" the schedules is beyond ridicule and proceeds to outright abuse and tyranny.
All of the laws that are being negotiated, international treaties, etc. BELONG TO THE PEOPLE. Copyrighted my ass.
I would sooner by into national security, but even in those cases the information should eventually be declassified. ACTA under national security? Nothing could have been more ludicrous and I am sincerely impressed that even politicians could have said that with a straight face.
Re:I can think of two reasons... (Score:2, Interesting)
You don't know what Libertarianism is. Libertarianism isn't economic in nature, though it touches upon it. It is about political structure and rights (liberties)and justice when liberties are violated.
To the idea that Libertarians are for "capitalism", what you mean by that, and what I mean by that are two different things. Corporatism is not capitalism. In fact, I'd suggest to you that Corporatism is much closer to being collectivism (communism) than it is free economics, which is exactly why it marches towards tyranny with government.
Remember too that Corporations exist at the pleasure of the government, and that there is an unholy alliance between corporations and government that subverts the rights of the people (individuals) in favor of the collective.
I'm very much aware of the evils of corporatism and agree with much of what the political left has to complain about how much influence they have, but I'm also aware of other collectives (unions) that have almost as much influence they have. Collectivization and balkinization of political and economic classes is dividing the people in ways it shouldn't.
That is why I'm libertarian, not because of "economic" reasons.
You should be happy you have a lawn. In some places, they are illegal :-P
Re:Web censorship at its best (Score:3, Interesting)
Hate to tell you but the US gov really doesn't want to shut down wikileaks like this.
Wikileaks doesn't really matter. Most people have never seen or heard of them.
This is the MPAA trying to expand ACTA.
It will fail but the MPAA figures if you don't ask you will not get.
Re:ACTA was rejected by EU (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually, no. ACTA was effectively rejected by the European Parliament, whose *elected* members represent the people of the EU. However, it has not so far been dropped by the European Commission, whose *un-elected* (appointed) officials generally do whatever they want regardless of what Parliament says.
There is still hope that the EU will finally reject ACTA, but the fight is not over yet.
Re:Erroneously Aggregating Enemies (Score:4, Interesting)
Or alternatively, make one or two video's, distribute those, and state you'll make more if you get enough pre-orders. You can then even have users vote on which ones they want first.