Mexican Senate Votes To Drop Out of ACTA

An anonymous reader writes "The Mexican Senate has voted unanimously to drop out of ACTA negotiations, saying that the process has been way too secretive, left out many stakeholders and appears to deny access to knowledge and information. Of course, it's not clear if this 'non-binding resolution' actually means much, as the negotiators are not under the Senate's control. At the very least, though, it appears the Mexican Senate is going to fight to keep the country from agreeing to ACTA."

So...

[Barrinmw]

Another "backwards" country cares more about the freedoms of its people than the United States.

Made In America

[Citizen of Earth]

I can't understand why any country other than America would even care about draconian copyright enforcement. Given that America is a huge media maker and most of the world are consumers of this media with a small amount they produce themselves, their citizens achieve a higher quality if life with existing copyright enforcement. ACTA really only benefits the US. All the other countries should figure this out.

IP economy vs. Freedom

[oldhack]

I just think IP economy is incompatible with freedom in general. I know you guys can follow thru.

Nice sideshow alright, but ACTA marches on

[ciaran_o_riordan]

> Smaller countries know when they are being taken to the cleaners.

Yeh, but the only institutions that complain are ones with no power.

The European Parliament, the European Privacy Commission, and the Mexican Senate aren't in charge of the ACTA negotiations for their countries. They can stomp off and their citizens can feel proud that the elected officials are looking after their interests, but ACTA goes ahead. Funny, huh?

I didn't understand how society let TRIPS go ahead in 1994. I guessed it was snuck in while citizens weren't looking at the global level, and it would thus never happen again. Now my generation is letting it happen, and we're watching it unfold, and it's unfolding...

http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement_overview [swpat.org]

Re:Nice sideshow alright, but ACTA marches on

[tongting]

The future's so bright I gotta wear shades, not. "Democratic" societies are sort of a joke. The masses are easily distracted with a combination of glittering objects and FUD while they are increasingly put under the boot of the powerful.

Mexico has much bigger things to deal with

[Joe The Dragon]

Mexico has much bigger things to deal with like a big drug war and the drug cartels paying off cops.

Re:IP economy vs. Freedom

[gmuslera]

There are different kinds of "IP rights". The ones that say essentially that you can't think or imagine something are definately against freedom. One thing is verbatim copies of your work, no creative process involved, and another thinking in the same or even reaching the same conclusions.

Re:Not at all

[MBGMorden]

I'm with you on this one. I'm not sure if the AC you're going back and forth with is a native English speaker or not (or if they are, if they use a different dialect), but "drop out" indicates a finality. "Postpone" or "suspend" are far less harsh words to use if the intention is to later resume negotiations.

Saying "we're droping out" doesn't mean "well be back later". It's more like "Fuck ya'll, peace out!".

Re:Mexico has much bigger things to deal with

[dbet]

I would argue every nation has bigger things to deal with, but that's just me.

Re:IP economy vs. Freedom

[Anonymous Coward]

"Now let's say your hot new video game gets distributed in a way that results in heavy losses for your employer."

What losses? The same old tired bullshit. "You downloaded it, so you would've bought it otherwise!" Completely spurious reasoning. I'd have a Big Mac for lunch if someone - perhaps a manager I know who isn't paying for it - gave me one, but I'm rather unlikely to go to McDonald's and buy one.

"Now let's take this one step further - your bonus/raise/benefits have all been drastically reduced due to heavy damages."

So, your bonus/raise/benefits have all been drastically reduced due to the fact that you or your company failed to produce a product that the market was willing to pay for. Physician, blame thyself.

"Then what are you going to do?"

Get a job doing something you don't suck at?

"What if you were a writer, and someone plagiarized your material? Or a musician, and someone else was making money off of your hard work?"

These would both fall under the idea of for-profit infringement, which I'm personally entirely against. But you make it hard for anyone to take you seriously, given that while YOU WOULDN'T DOWNLOAD A LOAF OF BREAD, it's merely the equivalent of your local library. Thank the gods that our founding fathers weren't beset with the Printing Press Association of America.

Re:Made In America

[Mr. Pibb]

I can understand how there may be some Mexican Senators who have their fingers in the Piracy pie. *Any* Mexican street market is guaranteed to have at least one "clon" stand, with the larger markets having 20-25% of their stalls selling warez of all kinds: CD/MP3/DVD/PS2/XBOX, as well as counterfeit clothing and handbags.

A widely believed rumor is that the stands are tied to organized crime. Another rumor is that the Senators are corrupt. It doesn't take a Latin conspiracy theorist to connect the dots.

Re:IP economy vs. Freedom

[Anonymous Coward]

property is limited in a state of nature, laws have created artificial rights that offer protection in the best interest of corporations, not the public.