ACTA (Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement)is a proposed plurilateral agreement for the purpose of establishing international standards on intellectual property rights enforcement. It would establish an international legal framework for countries to join voluntarily, and would create a governing body outside international institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) or the United Nations. Negotiating countries have described it as a response "to the increase in global trade of counterfeit goods and pirated copyright protected works." The scope of ACTA includes counterfeit goods, generic medicines and copyright infringement on the Internet. Groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) oppose ACTA, stating that civil society groups and developing countries were excluded from discussion during ACTA's development in an example of policy laundering. The agreement was signed on 1 October 2011 by Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and the United States. In January 2012, the European Union and 22 of its member states signed as well, bringing the total number of signatories to 31. After ratification by 6 states, the convention will come into force.

Opponents have argued that the treaty will restrict fundamental civil and digital rights, including freedom of expression and communication privacy. "The bulk of the WTO's 153 members" have raised concerns that the treaty could distort trade and goes beyond the existing Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.[13] Opponents also criticize ACTA's removal of "legal safeguards that protect Internet Service Providers from liability for the actions of their subscribers" in effect giving ISPs no option but to comply with privacy invasions.According to an analysis by the Free Software Foundation, ACTA would require that existing ISPs no longer host free software that can access copyrighted media, and DRM-protected media would not be legally playable with free or open source software.

slug: article14 date: 2012-02-04 18:24:02 title: author: raisercostinraisercostin@gmail.com tags: type: answer toslug: article8 —

I don't trust such agreements, particularly when the same politicians create Mickey Mouse Protection Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act

slug: article41 date: 2013-11-07 08:32:54 title: author: SorinPostelnicusorin_postelnicu@yahoo.com tags: type: answer toslug: article8 —

Is this really debatable? :)

Is it not a clear abuse by the industrial-political complex against the liberty of the "little people"?