ACTA Referred To Europe's Top Court For Analysis 61
superglaze writes "The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is to get an extra level of scrutiny in the EU after the European Commission said it would refer ACTA to the European Court of Justice, to check that it really does comply with fundamental freedoms in the union. This obviously follows mass protests over ACTA, and it seems justice commissioner Viviane Reding was the one who pushed for ECJ scrutiny. It's not currently clear if this will delay the European Parliament ratification process, but it is hard to imagine the parliament voting on ACTA (scheduled for June at the moment) before the ECJ has had its say — and no-one can say right now how long that will take to happen."
Dear *IAAs (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Kill it (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Could this be it for ACTA? (Score:2, Insightful)
Basically, it's mostly the European Commission getting rid of a hot potato. The debate is guaranteed to be VERY tense, so if ACTA can be disqualified on a purely legal basis, it will avoid some ugliness.
Re:Could this be it for ACTA? (Score:3, Insightful)
As a european, my personal take on this is that the EU commission is simply looking for a way to stall without looking bad in the process. In the last week, it became clear that ACTA would not simply pass through the parliaments (both national in some member states and the EU parliament), and by referring the whole thing to the court they are gaining time to work behind the curtains to see if they can get it passed, or maybe simply to stall until the public outrage is over an no one is interested in it anymore. And if in the end the court says that this treaty is not compatible with existing legislation, they can still quietly bury the whole thing.
Re:Could this be it for ACTA? (Score:2, Insightful)
Any EU slashdotters have any insight on this ?
The prime insight on this that you need to know is that the European Commission is a bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes. That's the basic cultural knowledge you need to have to correctly assess the relationships between government bodies and the people within the EU.
Just Smoke & Mirrors (Score:4, Insightful)
This is just a move to get ACTA out of the public eye. The time should be used for further actions...
ACTA is bad for so many reasons... (Score:5, Insightful)
...not least because of the implications of it.
Forget actual copyright infringement claims for a moment, please, this isn't what it's about (ACTA or this rant).
It's about Government intervention in content. Suffocation of the relation of ideas from brain A to brain B-Z and beyond, because someone doesn't like the idea that their vision of a society they have total control over is still somehow so far off, that they have to strangle freedom of expression any way they think they can get away with.
Well, fuck you, I'll say what I like, because MY freedom to express myself in forums available to me trumps your claim of entitlement to my hard-earned whether or not I choose to buy the shite you peddle and try to pass off as art, and it certainly trumps your deluded perceptions of entitlement to freedom from being offended or your plans for total control of every minor aspect of my life being undermined. I will resist you because I am a Human Being with a Soul, with a sense of self responsibility and self governance; I do not need or want your unnecessary intrusion into my life, and ACTA represents something I DO NOT WANT NOR WILL I CONSENT TO.
Sincerely,
A CONTENT CREATOR.
Re:Kill it (Score:4, Insightful)
Then they'll rename it the Protecting Efforts to Distribute Offerings to Stabilised Current eUroprean Markets Act.
Re:Kill it (Score:3, Insightful)
You're being sarcastic, but you're actually right on the mark.
This one gets beat, another one will surface.
The politicians and the people who buy them never tire - it's their job and the foundation of their wealth and power to keep pushing.
For the rest of us, for the population at large, we've got daily jobs, we've got kids and all of that. So, yeah, it can be difficult to keep pushing back.
And it's made worse by the fact that we've allowed ourselves to all too often automatically reject activists as some sort of fringe; those who would lead the fight on our behalf are all too often not supported. We listen to the media tear them down; we fight against our own self interests.
Re:Kill it (Score:4, Insightful)
This is a very unfair fight for us. The big coorps only need to get lucky once, while we have to keep our guard up all the time.
To me it seems that it is only a matter of time until such a law passes, unless we change the way how copyright is handled.