ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, is a punishing, secretly negotiated copyright treaty that could send ordinary people to jail for copyright infringement. ACTA would establish a new international legal framework that countries can join on a voluntary basis and would create its own governing body outside existing international institution. ACTA has been negotiated in secret during the past few years.
Sounds somewhat worrying to me. ACTA has several features that raise significant potential concerns for consumers’ privacy and civil liberties for innovation and the free flow of information on the Internet legitimate commerce. What is ACTA? document gives details on the agreement. The EU will soon vote on ACTA.
La Quadrature ACTA web page says that ACTA would impose new criminal sanctions forcing Internet actors to monitor and censor online communications. It is seen as a major threat to freedom of expression online and creates legal uncertainty for Internet companies. For some details read La Quadrature’s analysis of ACTA’s digital chapter.
La Quadrature du Net – NO to ACTA video (one side of the view):
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has published “Speak out against ACTA“, stating that the ACTA threatens free software by creating a culture “in which the freedom that is required to produce free software is seen as dangerous and threatening rather than creative, innovative, and exciting.
ACTA has been negotiated in secret during the past few years. It seem that nobody can objectively tell us what ACTA is going to do. You should oppose it for this exact reason. What exactly it will do is so multi-faceted and so deeply buried in legal speak it requires a book or two to explain.
If you don’t like this you need to do something on that quick. The European Parliament will soon decide whether to give its consent to ACTA, or to reject it once and for all. Based on the information (maybe biased view) I have read I hope the result will be rejection.
Another worrying related thing is Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). The bill expands the ability of U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods. The bill would authorize the U.S. Department of Justice to seek court orders against websites in U.S. and outside U.S. jurisdiction accused of infringing on copyrights, or of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Proponents of the bill say it protects the intellectual property market. Opponents say it is censorship, that it will “break the internet”, cost jobs, and will threaten whistleblowing and other free speech.
I don’t like this SOPA plan at all, because the language of SOPA is so broad, the rules so unconnected to the reality of Internet technology and the penalties so disconnected from the alleged crimes. In this form according what I have read this bill could effectively kill lots of e-commerce or even normal Internet use in it’s current form. Trying to put a man-in-the-middle into an end-to-end protocol is a dumb idea. This bill affects us all with the threat to seize foreign domains. It is frankly typical of the arrogance of the US to think we should all be subject their authority.
749 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Polish state website taken down by hackers
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gbrRCx2bEkgdwHaJ6KJhrwTSaR8w
Hackers identifying themselves as the “Polish Underground” took down the Polish government website early on Monday, the most recent in a series of attacks protesting against anti-piracy legislation.
At the weekend, the computer hacker group Anonymous launched attacks on official websites belonging to the Polish president, prime minister and parliament, also in protest against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).
“Hacked by the Polish Underground: Stop ACTA,” appeared on the website of Poland’s centrist Prime Minister Donald Tusk early on Monday.
Tomi Engdahl says:
MPAA CEO calls for politicians to stay bought
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2140518/mpaa-ceo-calls-politicians-stay-bough
FILM INDUSTRY MOUTHPIECE Chris Dodd showed the entertainment companies’ flagrant disregard for democracy by claiming on camera that politicians who have received ‘donations’ from the entertainment industry should support the Protect IP Act (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
The audacity of Dodd’s comment – on the record – should only reinforce the widely held belief that US politics has become nothing more than a snakepit of sponsored errand-runner jobs for people with no scruples.
Tomi Engdahl says:
If the feds can shut down Megaupload, why do we need SOPA?
http://digg.com/newsbar/topnews/if_the_feds_can_shut_down_megaupload_why_do_we_need_sopa
Tomi Engdahl says:
MPAA threat sparks White House petition for bribery probe
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/23/mpaa_bribery_petition_white_house/
Politicians should remember who bought them, MPAA CEO warns
Chris Dodd, ex–US senator and current CEO of the Motion Picture Ass. of America, may face a White House investigation after he made an extraordinary outburst that appeared to threaten politicians who had the audacity to take the entertainment industry’s money and then abandon SOPA/PIPA online-piracy legislation.
“Don’t ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don’t pay any attention to me when my job is at stake.”
The comments caused a huge stir, and prompted a petition, hosted on the White House’s “We the People” opinion-seeking site, that calls for an investigation of the MPAA on bribery charges.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Behind-the-Scenes Campaign To Bring SOPA To Canada
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/01/23/1942237/the-behind-the-scenes-campaign-to-bring-sopa-to-canada
SOPA may be dead (for now) in the U.S., but lobby groups are likely to intensify their efforts to export SOPA-like rules to other countries. With the Canadian DMCA back on the legislative agenda at the end of the month, Canada will be a prime target for SOPA style rules.
Another reader points out that similar mischief is afoot in Ireland
Tomi Engdahl says:
#BlackoutSOPA: How 87,000 People Taught Us About The Future of Online Activism
http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/23/blackoutsopa-how-87000-people-taught-us-about-the-future-of-online-activism/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hacktivists hammer Polish govt for backing ACTA
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2012/01/24/anon_attacks_poland_over_acta/
Hacktivists at Anonymous have turned their ire at least partially away from SOPA in the US and towards governments pushing its bigger brother, ACTA.
The majority of Polish government websites were taken offline over the weekend as the result of a DDoS attack in protest against ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. ACTA long predates SOPA and covers a set of arguably even more controversial anti-copyright agreements.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pirate Party Releases Book of Pirate Politics
http://politics.slashdot.org/story/12/01/24/1954204/pirate-party-releases-book-of-pirate-politics
If the SOPA/PIPA blackouts were a wakeup call to many people, then the U.S. Pirate Party has released a book that might help explain some of the issues. The book covers issues such as Corporate Personhood, the 4th Amendment, the history of copyright, and how DRM laws are made
No Safe Harbor
http://www.nosafeharbor.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
SOPA + PIPA: “Stopped” Now. What’s Next?
http://blog.softlayer.com/2012/sopa-pipa-stopped-now-whats-next/
The Internet community’s rallying cry has been heard by the United States Congress and Senate. Last week, we reported that SOPA was temporarily being put on the shelf, but now Congressman Lamar Smith has pulled the bill altogether, stating that “until there is wider agreement on a solution,” the bill will not be reintroduced.
On the Protect IP Act (PIPA) front, Senator Harry Reid also announced late last week that he’s postponed the schedule vote on the legislation that was originally slated for today.
Culture
What is Acta and why should you be worried about it?
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-01/24/acta-101
Sopa and Pipa might be on hold for the time-being, but there is a greater threat looming. It’s called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and it’s an international agreement that aims to establish multinational standards on intellectual property rights enforcement.
ACTA is an international agreement that aims to create international standards on intellectual property rights enforcement. The title of the treaty suggests the agreement deals with counterfeit goods, such as medicines and luxury goods. However, the treaty actually has a much broader scope and will deal with tools targeting internet distribution and information technology.
It has been negotiated, mostly in secret, between various countries and the EU over the last four years. Many states have already signed up for Acta, well before the widespread web furore over Sopa. So far, Canada, Japan, Korea, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and the US have all signed up to Acta. The European Union, Mexico and Switzerland have supported the treaty and shown a commitment to signing it in the future.
Unusually for a trade agreement, there are criminal sanctions. The particular criminal sanction is up to the signatories, but it will mean prison and large fines for companies that that are accused of copyright piracy on a “commercial scale”
This could mean any website found to be hosting pirated content that has a large audience or even those companies deemed to be “aiding and abetting” copyright infringement, which could extend to ISPs, but not necessarily to the average individual at home using Bittorrent to download a song.
What are the main criticisms of Acta?
I. It is undemocratic
II. It blurs the lines between piracy and counterfeiting
III. It criminalises copyright infringement when there are civil sanctions already
IV. It creates a barrier to changing national law
Acta is another acronym that emerges from the murky alphabet soup of copyright law.
Acta is opposed by internet companies, digital rights groups such as La Quadrature du Net, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Anonymous, The Pirate Party, Reporters without Borders, Oxfam, and 13 Sakharov Laureates. It is also opposed by the Members of the European Parliament.
Acta hangs on a vote from the European Parliament, which could take place as soon as 26 January. The treaty will still need to be ratified by the European Parliament and member states individually. If Acta is not ratified there it will get rejected in its entirety.
Tomi Engdahl says:
“We’re just like YouTube,” Megaupload lawyer tells Ars
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/01/were-just-like-youtube-megaupload-lawyer-tells-ars.ars
Tomi Engdahl says:
Canadian SOPA Could Target YouTube
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/01/25/1835249/canadian-sopa-could-target-youtube
The music industry is seeking over a dozen changes to Canadian anti-piracy bill C-11, including website blocking, Internet termination for alleged repeat infringers, and an expansion of the “enabler” provision that is supposedly designed to target pirate sites.
It’s concerning that some of these expansions will create a risky situation for legitimate websites, as SOPA did in the US.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Anonymous Goes After World Governments in Wake of Anti-SOPA Protests
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/01/anonymous-internationalist/
Over the last week, Anonymous has launched unprecedented string of attacks on government and business sites around the world,
Continuous DDoSing and hacking attacks by Anonymous seems to be largely a response to proposals to strengthen intellectual property law at the expense of an open internet and to what Anonymous perceives to be overreaching of the power by various governments.
On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission tweeted “The FTC takes this malicious act seriously”
the fear of Anonymous is now real in the corporate world.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Who Really Stopped SOPA, and Why?
http://techfreedom.org/blog/2012/01/25/who-really-stopped-sopa-and-why
Tomi Engdahl says:
ACTA Signed By 22 EU Countries
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/01/26/1746202/acta-signed-by-22-eu-countries
“22 EU members signed the controversial ACTA treaty today in Tokyo. However, the signatures of the EU member states and the EU itself will count for nothing unless the European Parliament gives its approval to ACTA in June.”
UK signs ACTA as activists urge resistance
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/networking/2012/01/26/uk-signs-acta-as-activists-urge-resistance-40094914/
The countries signed the treaty, which aims to harmonise copyright enforcement across much of the world, in Tokyo on Thursday. However, the signatures of the EU member states and the EU itself will count for nothing unless the European Parliament gives its approval to ACTA in June, and digital activists have urged citizens to lobby their MEPs against voting yes.
Poland, which was one of the signatories, saw thousands demonstrate in the streets on Wednesday, protesting against the signing.
The final version of ACTA is very different to earlier drafts, which would have forced countries to disconnect internet users if they were found to be repeatedly sharing copyrighted content. The EU rejected this proposal, and other ideas, such as criminalising the use of a mobile phone camera in a cinema, also fell by the wayside.
The European Commission maintains that ACTA will not require any legal changes in the Union.
“It simply does not change EU law,” trade commission spokesman John Clancy told ZDNet UK.
Finland signed the infamous ACTA – “Worse than SOPA”?
http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/suomi+allekirjoitti+pahamaineisen+actasopimuksen++quotsopaakin+pahempiquot/a764727?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-27012012&
The European Union and 22 of its Member States, including Finland, have signed aroused widespread criticism from anti-counterfeiting trade agreement Acta’s (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) in Tokyo on Thursday. The agreement is to harmonize international intellectual property enforcement and protection.
Before coming into force of the Acta has yet to present the Euro Parliament.
Finland has not yet committed to the implementation of the agreement, it must first take the matter before Parliament. The Government is expected to give the bill to Parliament at the earliest in the autumn.
Today’s Internet freedom of speech in the morning driving Effi Vice Ville Oksanen, appealed to Minister of Culture , Paavo Arhinmäki , who has previously expressed concern about the rhetoric on issues related to copyright. It also makes changes to Finland’s own copyright laws virtually impossible.
Effi Leena Romppainen stressed that the agreement is going to be used by Western countries against developing countries.
If You Thought SOPA Was Bad, Just Wait Until You Meet ACTA
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/01/23/if-you-thought-sopa-was-bad-just-wait-until-you-meet-acta/
The blackout had lawmakers running from the controversial anti-piracy legislation, SOPA and PIPA, which critics said threatened freedom of speech online.
Unfortunately for free-speech advocates, these pieces of legislation are not the only laws which threaten an open internet.
Few people have heard of ACTA, or the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, but the provisions in the agreement appear quite similar to – and more expansive than – anything we saw in SOPA. Worse, the agreement spans virtually all of the countries in the developed world, including all of the EU, the United States, Switzerland and Japan.
The article includes “What is ACTA video”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8Xg_C2YmG0&feature=player_embedded
and “Say NO to ACTA ”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=citzRjwk-sQ&feature=player_embedded
Another related video: Anonymous – Operation ANTI-ACTA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM0-OJmyvBY&feature=related
“We encourage you to spread the word of ANTI-ACTA far and wide.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Its not too late. ACTA may have been signed in other countries behind our backs,, but the treaty must be then ratified by the EU Parliament – only then it becomes law. This vote will take place around June. Still time to press our representatives to say NO to it.
Also, if the EU Parliament rejects it there is a good chance the whole treaty will lose power globally and be dismantled. There’s still hope. Everyone spread the word!
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S3vttwMUoQ&feature=related
Tomi Engdahl says:
EU ACTA Chief Resigns
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/01/27/026249/eu-acta-chief-resigns
“The EU ACTA chief has resigned, saying, ‘This agreement might have major consequences on citizens’ lives, and still, everything is being done to prevent the European Parliament from having its say in this matter. That is why today, as I release this report for which I was in charge, I want to send a strong signal and alert the public opinion about this unacceptable situation. I will not take part in this masquerade.’ 22 EU members signed the controversial ACTA treaty Thursday in Tokyo.”
He’s not the ‘EU ACTA Chief’. He was the European Parliament’s rapporteur on ACTA. His job was to investigate the issue and produce a report on it.
It’s not the first time the government of the EU has made decisions that hurt the people, using tricks to get them past the populace. And it won’t be the last. We can expect a lot of bad stuff coming up, with the economic crisis.
European Parliament Official In Charge Of ACTA Quits, And Denounces The ‘Masquerade’ Behind ACTA
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120126/11014317553/european-parliament-official-charge-acta-quits-denounces-masquerade-behind-acta.shtml
A rapporteur is a person “appointed by a deliberative body to investigate an issue.” However, it appears his investigation of ACTA didn’t make him very pleased:
I want to denounce in the strongest possible manner the entire process that led to the signature of this agreement: no inclusion of civil society organisations, a lack of transparency from the start of the negotiations, repeated postponing of the signature of the text without an explanation being ever given, exclusion of the EU Parliament’s demands that were expressed on several occasions in our assembly.
As rapporteur of this text, I have faced never-before-seen manoeuvres from the right wing of this Parliament to impose a rushed calendar before public opinion could be alerted, thus depriving the Parliament of its right to expression and of the tools at its disposal to convey citizens’ legitimate demands.”
Everyone knows the ACTA agreement is problematic, whether it is its impact on civil liberties, the way it makes Internet access providers liable, its consequences on generic drugs manufacturing, or how little protection it gives to our geographical indications.
This agreement might have major consequences on citizens’ lives, and still, everything is being done to prevent the European Parliament from having its say in this matter. That is why today, as I release this report for which I was in charge, I want to send a strong signal and alert the public opinion about this unacceptable situation. I will not take part in this masquerade.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The crazier the intellectual property laws get the less respect people will have for intellectual property laws.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What is Acta and why should you be worried about it?
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-01/24/acta-101
Tomi Engdahl says:
The ACTA Fight Returns: What Is at Stake and What You Can Do
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6269/125/
Several months after the majority of ACTA participants signed the agreement, most European Union countries formally signed the agreement yesterday (notable exclusions include Germany, the Netherlands, Estonia, Cyprus and Slovakia).
This has generated a flurry of furious protest: thousands have taken to the streets in protest in Poland, nearly 250,000 people have signed a petition against the agreement, and a Member of the European Parliament has resigned his position as rapporteur to scrutinize the agreement, concluding that the entire review process is a “charade.”
Some are characterizing ACTA as worse than SOPA, but the reality is somewhat more complicated.
While the Internet provisions may not be as bad as SOPA, the remainder of the agreement raises many significant concerns.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Copyright Industry Calls For Broad Search Engine Censorship
https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-industry-calls-for-broad-search-engine-censorship-120127/
At a behind-closed-doors meeting facilitated by the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport, copyright holders have handed out a list of demands to Google, Bing and Yahoo.
To curb the growing piracy problem, Hollywood and the major music labels want the search engines to de-list popular filesharing sites such as The Pirate Bay, and give higher ranking to authorized sites.
Tomi Engdahl says:
SOPA Blackout Day By The Numbers [Infographic]
“The day the Internet stood still”
http://digg.com/newsbar/topnews/sopa_blackout_day_by_the_numbers_infographic
Frugal Dad has put out an infographic breaking down SOPA blackout day (January 18) by the numbers.
“The Wikipedia blackout was seen by 160 million people – over twice those who tuned in to the first televised presidential debate,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
As Anonymous protests, Internet drowns in inaccurate anti-ACTA arguments
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/01/internet-awash-in-inaccurate-anti-acta-arguments.ars
After the Internet’s decisive victory over the Stop Online Piracy Act earlier this month, online activists have been looking for their next target, and a growing number of them have chosen the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which was signed by the EU last week. Indeed, the renewed focus on ACTA even led a group of Polish politicians to hold paper Guy Fawkes masks—the symbol of Anonymous—over their faces in protest at the way ACTA has been pushed through. In the US, over 35,000 people have signed a petition urging the White House to “end ACTA,” despite the fact that it has already been signed by the US.
But it’s important for the debate to be informed by accurate information. Unfortunately, many of the claims about ACTA that are circulating among the treaty’s opponents are highly misleading or outright inaccurate.
That final version has been publicly available for months, but many ACTA opponents continue to focus on these deleted provisions in their arguments against the treaty.
Four dubious claims about ACTA
Claim: “ACTA gives [ISPs] the power—or more accurately forces them—to monitor all your packets, all the time.”
Reality: Nothing in the treaty appears to require ISPs to monitor their customers’ traffic. Forcing ISPs to actively monitoring their customers’ traffic might be one way to comply with this requirement. Implementing a “three strikes” regime might be another. But there are also innocuous ways a country could comply
Claim: ACTA “obliges its signatories to take on many of the worst features of SOPA and PIPA.” It’s “the European version of the US SOPA and PIPA rolled into one and cranked up to 11.”
Reality: “from a substantive perspective, ACTA’s Internet provisions are plainly not as bad as those contemplated by SOP
Claim: “ISPs will be required to constantly check that no copyrighted material, or links to copyrighted material, are found on their servers… Even parts of sentences could be protected and made prescripted by copyright.”
Reality: These claims come from a video that was produced by Anonymous; the video itself is full of erroneous claims. For the record, nothing in ACTA appears to require sites to constantly monitor user-generated material for infringing material.
So too many ACTA opponents are, perhaps unknowingly, attacking ACTA for provisions that aren’t in the treaty. We’re not going to shed too many tears if this misinformation helps to kill a bad treaty, but we’d rather win the debate honestly—and prepare people for the upcoming ACTA sequel.
Son of ACTA: meet the next secret copyright treaty
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/03/son-of-acta-meet-the-next-secret-copyright-treaty.ars
The US government, still trying to secure final passage for the drafted-in-secret Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), has already turned its attention to a new multilateral trade agreement that will bring the wonders of the DMCA to countries like Australia, Brunei, Chile, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
The new Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), like the ACTA before it, had its intellectual property chapter drafted by the US. Once again, the chapter was drafted in secret and has been classified for at least four years after negotiations end. The agreement exports (nearly verbatim) the DMCA’s rules on digital locks, ISP liability, and subscriber disconnections, with a few extra goodies on the side.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ask Slashdot: How To Inform a Non-Techie About Proposed Copyright Laws
http://ask.slashdot.org/story/12/01/31/1249225/ask-slashdot-how-to-inform-a-non-techie-about-proposed-copyright-laws
tomi says:
The ‘Free Internet Act’ – A Bold Plan To Save The Internet (self.politics)
http://www.reddit.com/r/ACTA/comments/p0zn2/the_free_internet_act_a_bold_plan_to_save_the/
The ‘Free Internet Act’ – A Bold Plan To Save The Internet (self.ACTA)
http://www.reddit.com/r/ACTA/comments/p0zn2/the_free_internet_act_a_bold_plan_to_save_the/
Tomi Engdahl says:
White House: No comment on call to investigate MPAA for SOPA bribery
http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=4A18CECC-02CD-0207-EDC08AE12FB33C07
The U.S. White House has declined to respond to a petition calling for authorities to investigate the head of the Motion Picture Association of America for bribery related to comments he made following successful online protests against two controversial copyright enforcement bills.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Beyond ACTA: next secret copyright agreement negotiated this week—in Hollywood
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/02/beyond-acta-next-secret-copyright-agreement-negotiated-this-weekin-hollywood.ars
One of the worst parts of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) was its ridiculous secrecy, under which it was easy for negotiators and industry reps to see draft text, but impossible for the public to do so except through leaks. Thankfully, those leaks showed just how bad ACTA was going to be for the Internet, and public pressure helped remove the worst provisions.
But the basic approach to doing deals didn’t die, and it’s back again this week as negotiators meet in Hollywood to discuss a new, totally secret intellectual property chapter for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a regional trade agreement.
Law & Disorder
Son of ACTA: meet the next secret copyright treaty
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/03/son-of-acta-meet-the-next-secret-copyright-treaty.ars
The new Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), like the ACTA before it, had its intellectual property chapter drafted by the US.
Every TPP country must create “legal incentives for [Internet] service providers to cooperate with copyright owners in deterring the unauthorized storage and transmission of copyrighted materials.” ISPs must cut off access to “repeat infringers” of copyright. And bypassing DRM is only permissible for good-faith security and privacy research, or if you run a library.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Assclownification Of The MPAA
http://pandodaily.com/2012/01/18/assclowns/
SOPA and PIPA are bad. On this, basically the entire web agrees. But not everyone does. Take The Wall Street Journal, for example. And they look like total jackasses as a result. Luckily for them, it’s impossible to look as bad as the Motion Picture Association of America.
The truth is that the Internet, like all the other technologies before it, is a transformative tool that could scale the film industry to new heights (in terms of both popularity and profit). But such an end requires some work and some rethinking.
Namely, because the barriers to entry for distributing and accessing content have been significantly lowered, the prices should be lowered as well. But Hollywood doesn’t like that. Even though they were largely arbitrary to begin with, they have no desire to lower prices. If anything, they’d like to raise them.
DVDs were priced to own from the start, but as their prices fell, guess what happened? More and more were sold. In fact, it became the bread and butter of the industry.
Instead, Hollywood has lost its collective mind. And its way. They want legislation that will puncture the fabric of the web. It’s insane.
Let’s say that both SOPA and PIPA are passed — does piracy stop? Of course not. It will find a way. No matter what happens, it will always find a way.
The best way to combat piracy is to remove barriers, not to put up new ones.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scam: SOPA advocates’ claims about piracy costs
The media and software industry honchos claim that piracy has killed 750,000 American jobs and costs tens of billions of dollars. Don’t believe it
http://www.infoworld.com/d/the-industry-standard/scam-sopa-advocates-claims-about-piracy-costs-185025
Mark Twain said it very well: “There are liars, damned liars, and statisticians.” But that was in the 19th century.
he might say, “There are liars, damned liars, and the antipiracy police.”
Nearly every tech writer I read regularly opposed SOPA and PIPA for good reason.
Fair enough, but how many of us took the time to think critically about the numbers behind the antipiracy campaign? Almost none.
Think about the numbers that were routinely tossed around during the debate:
A $250 billion per year loss would be almost $800 for every man, woman, and child in America. And 750,000 jobs — that’s twice the number of those employed in the entire motion picture industry in 2010.
Millions, billions, maybe trillions. Who knows? Who cares? Industry representatives and their captive analysts crank these things out, feed them to their pals in Congress and a credulous media, and kaboom! We have a crisis; we’d better pass some tough new laws.
The good news, of course, is that nearly all of those numbers are wrong — as the Cato Institute’s Sanchez argued in a blog post recently. It’s worth reading, but I’ll quote a bit to make the point: “The 750,000 jobs number had originated in a 1986 speech (yes, 1986) by the secretary of Commerce estimating that counterfeiting could cost the United States ‘anywhere from 130,000 to 750,000 jobs.’ Nobody in the Commerce Department was able to identify where those figures had come from.” In 2010 the federal General Accounting Office took a look at those numbers and said they “cannot be substantiated or traced back to an underlying data source or methodology.”
Those bogus numbers are used to justify terrible legislation like SOPA and intrusive verification procedures by Microsoft, Adobe Systems, and other software companies.
How Copyright Industries Con Congress
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/how-copyright-industries-con-congress/
Tomi Engdahl says:
EFF cautions Hollywood on ‘piracy’ laws
The movie studio moguls are wrong
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2143731/eff-cautions-hollywood-piracy-laws
INTERNET FREEDOM FIGHTER the Electronic Frontier Foundation has sent an open letter to Hollywood warning that non-creatives are damaging the industry and calling on the movie studios to kick out the old guard.
“Dear Hollywood,” says the letter that is signed by “The Internet”, “You don’t need us to tell you that your position on anti-’piracy’ laws has been unpopular recently. Last month’s historic protests, with millions of Americans registering their opposition, have made that point pretty clear.”
Dear Hollywood: An Open Letter to the Hardworking Men and Women in the Entertainment Industries
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/02/dear-hollywood-open-letter-hardworking-men-and-women-entertainment-industries
You don’t need us to tell you that your position on anti-”piracy” laws has been unpopular recently. Last month’s historic protests, with millions of Americans registering their opposition, have made that point pretty clear. Instead, we’re writing today to tell you that the Internet can be great for creators and their community, but your own leadership refuses to recognize and take advantage of its promise. It seems they’d rather spend your membership dues on lawyers, lobbyists and astroturf than innovation. We suspect many of you are realizing this, especially when you see how successful new business models can be.
Moreover, as the publisher Tim O’Reilly has explained for a decade now, “obscurity is a far greater threat to authors and creative artists than piracy.” The Internet is the best tool for publicity and distribution the world has ever known – if you know how to use it.
The tech community loves creativity, and it wants to support artists, but it’s got a real problem with the people who run Hollywood. As long as it’s worried about Hollywood leadership doing damage to civil liberties and online freedom, the kind of profitable partnerships we know are possible will be difficult to make.
Tomi Engdahl says:
World War Web: SOPA, ACTA, TTP
http://digg.com/newsbar/topnews/world_war_web_sopa_acta_ttp
Those who fought against the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, by contacting lawmakers, supporting web black outs and informing others did a great job, but cannot relax just yet. Although the president himself ended up siding with us in opposing this act, the lobbying is not over and so, neither is the fight. In fact, it is far from over. Here’s a look at what’s ahead
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why Piracy Is Indispensable For The Survival Of Our Culture
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120126/09565417551/why-piracy-is-indispensable-survival-our-culture.shtml
This is a deep and fundamental problem with not just computing culture, but all artistic expression that is locked down with DRM. The only way that its glories will be preserved for future generations is if considerate “pirates” make illegal back-up copies, stripped of copy protection.
It’s not simply that the supposed harms of piracy to culture are exaggerated, as more and more evidence suggests: it’s that in the long term, piracy is actually indispensable for its preservation.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ACTA on the edge in Europe? Poland suspends ratification, Greece gets hacked
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/02/acta-on-the-edge-in-europe-poland-suspends-ratification-greece-gets-hacked.ars
Anger at last month’s decision by the European Union and 22 of its member states to sign the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has led to widespread protests, hacked Web sites, and legislators backing away from the treaty.
The anti-ACTA protests that saw Polish politicians don Guy Fawkes masks in parliament have borne fruit. After experiencing a considerable backlash in Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk has suspended ratification of the controversial agreement, acknowledging that the consultation surrounding it was inadequate and that he approached it from a “20th century perspective.”
The ACTA agreement has been signed already by an EU representative and ambassadors from 22 of the EU’s 27 member states. However, due to its potential influence on criminal law, it also needs ratification by the governments of each of those member states. If even a single member state does not ratify, the agreement will not enter into force anywhere in the EU.
Such a rejection is now a distinct possibility.
Anti-ACTA protests, meanwhile, have spread.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Top 10 ‘piracy’ web site takedowns
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2143651/piracy-web-site-takedowns
THE FILESHARING WEB SITES Megaupload and The Pirate Bay have hit the headlines again this week as the battle over online copyright enforcement continues to rage.
a look at the 10 web site takedowns that have had the biggest impact on the online downloading controversy
Tomi says:
Central Europe Countries Continue to Oppose ACTA
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/02/06/1611221/central-europe-countries-continue-to-oppose-acta
The Czech government suspended the ratification process of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, ACTA
There were a number of public demonstrations against ACTA in several Czech towns
COMMENT:
That’s political speak for “re-evaluating the impact on future popularity/votes” and “assessing lobbyist monetary income levels”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hollywood’s gentler post-SOPA strategy: A charm offensive
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57372174-281/hollywoods-gentler-post-sopa-strategy-a-charm-offensive/
Hollywood is responding to the defeat of a pair of controversial copyright bills last month with a new strategy: a charm offensive.
Paramount Pictures sent letters last week to universities saying the company was “humbled” by last month’s online protests that involved millions of Internet users–and that it now wants to “exchange ideas about content theft” and the best way to thwart it.
The MPAA, too, has toned down its attacks on SOPA’s opponents.
Since the late 1990s, with rare exceptions, Hollywood-backed proposals to expand copyright law–the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Induce Act, the Pro-IP Act–have slipped through Congress with bipartisan support. (The U.S. Senate approved the DMCA unanimously.)
Anti-SOPA forces have ISP snooping bill in their crosshairs
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57371426-281/anti-sopa-forces-have-isp-snooping-bill-in-their-crosshairs/
Now Smith, a conservative Texas Republican, is being targeted a second time: for championing legislation that would require Internet service providers to keep track of their customers, in case police want to review those logs in the future. His bill is called H.R. 1981.
Tomi Engdahl says:
SOPA and PIPA prompt Reddit, Mozilla, and 73 others to ask Congress to halt work on intellectual property laws
http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/6/2775694/open-letter-70-groups-reddit-mozilla-eff-congress-sopa-pipa
A coalition of 75 groups including Reddit, Mozilla, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Knowledge, Open Congress, and Human Rights Watch, have sent an open letter to Congress asking it to put the brakes on intellectual property lawmaking in the wake of the massive backlash against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect-IP Act (PIPA). While the letter may not have any tangible impact on the behavior of Congress, it highlights growing concern from opponents of SOPA and PIPA that the current moratorium is merely a delay tactic, and that legislators still have an interest in implementing similar measures.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Czechs, Slovaks stall on ACTA
Romania doesn’t know why it didn’t
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/07/more_europeans_opposing_acta/
The fragile European consensus over the ACTA treaty is fraying at the fringes: the Czech Republic and Slovakia have decided to suspend the ratification process, while Romania’s support for the treaty could stall on a change of government.
Newsagency Ceske Noviny reports that the Czech government has decided further analysis of the ACTA treaty is needed. Meanwhile, AFP is reporting that Slovakia is also having second thoughts.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Czech Republic drops support for ACTA
Follows Romania and Poland
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2144477/czech-republic-drops-support-acta
THE CONTROVERSIAL Anti-Copyright Trade Agreement (ACTA) continues to lose support in Europe, with the Czech Republic becoming latest country to back away from the treaty.
“The cabinet cannot accept a situation in which the bedrock of liberty and free access to information is endangered,”
Slovakia is also backing away from the agreement, and has suspended its ratification process, according to the Associated Press.
The European Commission signed ACTA in January along with the US, Australia, Canada and Japan, but it must be approved by the European Parliament before it can go into effect, and that’s starting to look less likely.
Tomi Engdahl says:
RIAA chief wails about SOPA opposition
Music cartel CEO moans at length
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2145003/riaa-chief-wails-sopa-opposition
THE CHAIRMAN of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has penned an opinion in the New York Times in which he moans about the opposition to the SOPA and PIPA legislation.
What Wikipedia Won’t Tell You
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/opinion/what-wikipedia-wont-tell-you.html?_r=4
Tomi Engdahl says:
Music Labels’ Joint Venture, VEVO, Shows Pirated NFL Game At Sundance
http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/09/music-labels-joint-venture-vevo-shows-pirated-espn-game-at-sundance/
Over the last decade the major music labels — and their trade organization, the Recording Industry Association of America — have established a repeated pattern of attacking consumers in the name of squelching illegal file-sharing. Piracy, they claim, has been the industry’s undoing, accounting for an over 50% drop in sales since 1999 (the industry likes to discount the impact of legal per-song music downloads via services like iTunes, and the myriad other changes facilitated by the rise of high-speed Internet connections).
Their efforts to combat piracy are often draconian: threatening tens of thousands of people with lawsuits claiming obscenely high damages; attempting to coordinate their threats with consumers’ ISPs; and, most recently, supporting legislation like SOPA and PIPA that would undermine the fabric of the Internet.
VEVO is a sort of ‘Hulu for music videos’ that’s owned by Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and the Abu Dhabi Media Group.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Megaupload shutdown did nothing to slow piracy, study finds
http://www.bgr.com/2012/02/09/megaupload-shutdown-did-nothing-to-slow-piracy-study-finds/
The recent federal takedown of notorious file-sharing service Megaupload was initially seen as a huge victory for owners of copyrighted music and movies, but new research shows this may not be the case.
What was initially thought to be a victory for movie studios and record labels is turning out to be an empty win, however, as Megaupload’s closure has had almost no impact on file-sharing.
According to DeepField, Web traffic related to file-sharing recovered almost immediately as users simply utilized other services such as Rapidshare and Mediafire.
”Instead of terabytes of North America Megaupload traffic going to U.S. servers, most file sharing traffic now comes from Europe over far more expensive transatlantic links,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Germany might give ACTA the boot
Likely won’t sign the treaty
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2145508/germany-acta-boot
EUROPEAN HEAVYWEIGHT Germany might not ratify the draconian Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).
The live map of ACTA protests has a decent number of pins stuck in Germany, so it is possible that the German government might make an announcement that it will reject ACTA before too long.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Pirate Bay’s Peter Sunde: It’s Evolution, Stupid
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/02/peter-sunde/
nstead of looking at evolution as something inevitable, the industry has made it their business to refuse and/or sue change, by any necessary means.
The problem here is that we’re allowing this dying industry to dictate the terms of our democracy. We allow them to dictate new laws (ACTA, SOPA, PIPA, IPRED, IPRED2, TPP, TRIPS, to name a few recent ones) that forbid evolution. If you don’t give up before you’re sued, they corrupt the legal system.
“Today I urge everyone to make sure that the entertainment industry does not profit from them anymore. Stop seeing their movies. Stop listening to their music. Make sure that you find alternative ways to culture.
“Spread and participate in culture. Remix, reuse, use, abuse. Make sure no one controls your mind. Create new systems and technology that circumvent the corruption. Start a religion. Start your own nation, or buy one. Buy a bus. Crush it to pieces.”
The internet is being controlled by a corrupt industry. We need to stop it.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Internet Society wants ACTA reconsidered
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2151890/internet-society-acta-reconsidered
NON-PROFIT GROUP the Internet Society has written to the European Parliament about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).
In its letter addressed to “Honourable Members of the European Parliament” the group says that ministers must use the time between now and official ratification at the end of June to carefully consider the treaty and what it means for the internet.
“Our over-arching concern is with the procedure. We consider there was insufficient transparency and participative engagement with all stakeholders throughout the negotiation process,” says the Internet Society.
“The Internet Society believes that further and more inclusive discussions are needed on these complex issues before binding agreements are made,” it adds.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ACTA Anti-Piracy Treaty Criticized by EU Parliament President
http://digg.com/newsbar/topnews/acta_anti_piracy_treaty_criticized_by_eu_parliament_president
Following the massive protests against ACTA yesterday, EU Parliament President Martin Schulz criticized the treaty on national television.
“I don’t find it good in its current form,” he told ARD.
The president added that the balance between copyright protection and the rights of Internet users is “not adequately anchored in this agreement.”
“Overall, ACTA tilts the balance of IPR protection manifestly unfairly towards one group of beneficiaries of the right to property, IP right holders, and unfairly against others,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Acta criticised after thousands protest in Europe
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/feb/13/acta-protests-europe
Anti-counterfeiting treaty lacks balance, says European Parliament president, but publishers call for calm and reasoned assessment while thousands brave cold to march
Tomi Engdahl says:
UK authorities take down a U.S. domain: Could it happen to you?
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/london/uk-authorities-take-down-a-us-domain-could-it-happen-to-you/3039
Summary: If you thought the Patriot Act ‘debacle’ was one-sided, with U.S. authorities striking at the heart of Europe, UK authorities can hit back just as hard.
A UK law enforcement agency has shut down a popular music blog in the style of a U.S. Department of Homeland Security domain name seizure.
Confirmed by SOCA: “Yep, we did that,” according to a spokesperson.
Rackspace hosted the content in question, and its domain was registered with GoDaddy; both are U.S. companies.
Because of their UK presence, it means the parent companies are tied between complying with U.S. law, and their wholly-owned subsidiaries in the UK and Europe are tied by European laws and localised legislation.
On a practical level, if UK law enforcement request the takedown of a domain outside of its jurisdiction, the UK subsidiary can be forced to pass on the request to its U.S. parent company. From there, the U.S. parent must comply with UK law as it could face lawsuits and other legal nasties in the region
Once again, the issue falls down to jurisdiction. Forgive me for banging on about it again, but this is exactly why the Patriot Act has such a damaging effect on European businesses, consumers, and even governments.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Canada wants warrantless Internet spying, says critics support child porn
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/02/canadian-government-proposes-warrantless-internet-spying-bill.ars
Canada’s conservative government has re-introduced an Internet surveillance bill that would allow the government to obtain information about Internet subscribers—without a warrant.
The bill would also “require ISPs and cellular phone companies to install equipment for real-time surveillance and create new police powers designed to obtain access to the surveillance data.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
UK cops cuff suspect after RnBXclusive takedown
Anti-crime-gang squad seizes music site, starts asking questions
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/15/rnnxclusive_soca/
The crime-gang-busting plod Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) said:
Much of the music offered for download by the rnbxclusive.com website was illegally obtained from artists, leading the industry to attribute losses of approximately £15m per year to the site’s activity.
Rumours that the rnbxclusive.com takedown was a hacker’s prank were spread by the site’s Facebook fans, but are untrue.
Tomi Engdahl says:
European Commission discusses tactical, partial retreat on ACTA
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number10.3/ec-discusses-partial-acta-retreat
At the meeting of the heads of cabinet of the European Commission on Monday of this week, Commissioner De Gucht’s representative announced that a referral of ACTA to the Court of Justice of the European Union is currently being considered.