Central Europe Countries Continue to Oppose ACTA 111
tykev writes "The Czech government suspended the ratification process of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, ACTA, said Prime Minister Petr Necas today. The government wants to further analyze the issue. There were a number of public demonstrations against ACTA in several Czech towns, and some Czech Euro MP's oppose ACTA as being 'completely wide of the mark'. Earlier, Poland announced its intention to suspend the ratification process as well. In the meantime, the website of the ruling Czech Civic Democratic Party was attacked and defaced by Anonymous who also publicly released personal data of the party's members."
Hey editors, thank you... (Score:5, Informative)
EU Parliament is pretty cool (Score:5, Informative)
I don't know... While it's common (especially in USA) to claim that all politicians are scum, let's look at the European Parliament's stance on ACTA, as supported by something like 98% of the members in 2010. European Parliament resolution of 10 March 2010 on the transparency and state of play of the ACTA negotiations [europa.eu]. The relevant parts:
Re:what's futile is this : (Score:4, Informative)
the difference of the central european countries is that, there is still a lot of generations currently at the age of running government, corporations etc, who has grown up during the communist era with at least some ideals. you wont find those in anglo-american countries. hence, the opposition from central europe.
Actually, the main difference is that we bribe our politicians, not some lobbyists.
Well, actually, considering how deep our conservatives are in the bribery swamp, I guess that's not correct. Let's say it's optional, not mandatory like in the US. Here, you get your campaigning expenses reimbursed from tax money if you happen to get more than x% (with x being somewhere between 0.5 and 3 in most countries that have this system) of the votes. That's doable for most halfway serious political parties.
The point is that we're not as used to seeing politicians get cozy with business tycoons as the US people are. For us, it's still reeking of some shady deals, of lobbying (don't say that word aloud here, it's often used synonymously with corruption), of, well, corruption. We have a party that's more or less known to be the political arm of the industry, and even THEY don't dare to be seen shaking hands (or worse) with business leaders.
And, frankly, I prefer it that way. Politicians will be bought. One way or another. Campaigning costs money, and someone has to foot the bill, a bill that no ordinary person (hell, even a well off person) cannot foot. He will be bought.
So it's better that OUR pockets buy him.
Re:Futile (Score:5, Informative)
Remember the telephone? Electricity?
Government mandates and sponsorship are what got the province of Saskatchewan serviced with those facilities, and in the '70s, my grandparents finally got electricity and a phone while I was a kid. It's well within MOST people's lifetimes to remember that infrastructure has to be supported, not boondoggled with cries of "why should I pay" by selfish yokels in the cities.
Can you Vote in Europe? Take action NOW! (Score:5, Informative)
UK:
http://www.writetothem.com/ [writetothem.com]
Rest of Europe:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/public/geoSearch.do;jsessionid=EAF5D554A71EBE16A5E8A71092CD2DB9.node2 [europa.eu] [europa.eu]
A brief analysis of the issue, but obviously presenting a one-sided view... so weigh the info as you see fit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ihere3PEPg&feature=g-all-u&context=G20f3a72FAAAAAAAABAA [youtube.com]