ACTA's EU Future In Doubt As Poland Suspends Ratification 139
superglaze writes "Poland has suspended its ratification process for ACTA, throwing the copyright crackdown into doubt for the whole European Union. ACTA is being handled as a 'mixed agreement' in the EU due to its criminalization clauses, so if a single EU member state (such as Poland) fails to ratify it, it is null and void across the entire union. If that were to happen, at least six of the remaining international signatories would have to ratify ACTA for it to apply anywhere in the world. Outside the EU, only eight countries — including the U.S. — have signed."
Re:Heck yeah! (Score:5, Informative)
Although congress would probably pass it anyway, now that the Republicans realize that helping out Hollywood is acting against their best interest, there is at least a shot it would get shot down...
So much for 'change', just glad I voted third party. I'd rather throw away my vote than support a clown from the Republicrats.
The U.S. hasn't ratified, either. (Score:5, Informative)
The Executive branch has no Constitutional authority to enforce it as any kind of treaty without ratification by Congress. I know some are "debating" this, but the debate is nothing but BS. The Constitution spells it out pretty clearly.
Estonia hasn't signed yet too... (Score:5, Informative)
...and reason was also that agreement is too complex to be signed away so easily, so they have to discuss it first too. I highly doubt that they will hear nothing what happen in Poland and other countries with public opinion. This is country where government actually listens to people, using Internet extensively to collect comments about proposed laws.This is also a land where they elect their government using Internet and Skype was also started there.
Re:Thank you (Score:5, Informative)
Most of us is pretty sure that it is only a suspension, not complete stop. Polish government has a long history of lying and manipulating us, so they are waiting for the protests to chill out and will push ACTA at other time.
We are now in the process of collecting signatures for a referendum, so we can kill ACTA once and for all. If that will not be enough, it may even be neccessary to remove the government.
Re:backlash? (Score:4, Informative)
I'm having a hard time understanding why Guy Fawkes was a loser. Was it solely because he failed or because he broke under torture?
I'm not sure if most people associate it with that movie, in which case they are associating it with the plight of the character which is wholly different than that of the real Guy Fawkes.
He was a hero to some people. That would have depended on your religion and philosophy at the time. He was quite defiant and resolute but did ultimately break under torture. That is kind of hard to hold against him as every man breaks.
I don't find the symbolism strange because of Guy Fawkes being a loser or a hero, just that Guy Fawkes was never fighting for any noble cause, or the suffering of the people per se, but for Catholicism. That's it. I don't find that very impressive and quite unsuitable to what he is being used as a symbol for today.
Re:backlash? (Score:4, Informative)
It's not used because of Guy Fawkes, it's used because a movie called "V for Vendetta".