Wikileaks runs ACTA proposal
p2pnet news | Politics:- “I’ve received a huge number of emails referencing the leak of a document that outlines possible provisions in the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement,” blogs Ottawa law professor Michael Geist, going on:
“The leaked document has been circulating around for some time and it is not clear who is the original source (ie. government or trade group). Regardless, it reinforces the concerns that the ACTA is being negotiated behind closed doors with absolutely no transparency.
“The Canadian government’s participation demonstrates again that Industry Minister Jim Prentice is not a leader on IP – he takes orders rather than gives them.”
CIPPIC (Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic) had a, “great ACTA submission to DFAIT and IP Justice maintains an excellent collection of links as well,” he notes.
‘Handful of the wealthiest countries …’
The proposed US ACTA multi-lateral intellectual property trade agreement (2007), with the notorious Hollywood Howard Berman (right) up front, is hosted by Wikileaks, which states >>>
In 2007 a select handful of the wealthiest countries began a treaty-making process to create a new global standard for intellectual property rights enforcement, the “Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement”. The agreement does not cover currency fraud.
ACTA is spearheaded by the United States, the European Commission, Japan, and Switzerland – those countries with the largest intellectual property industries. Other countries invited to participate in ACTA’s negotiation process are Canada, Australia, Korea, Mexico and New Zealand. Noticeably absent from ACTA’s negotiations are leaders from developing countries who hold national policy priorities that differ from the international intellectual property industry.
A “Discussion Paper on a Possible Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement” was reportedly provided to select lobbyists in the intellectual property industry, but not to public interest organizations concerned with the subject matter of the proposed treaty.[1]
Wikileaks has obtained the document.
The agreement covers the copying of information or ideas in a wide variety of contexts. For example page three, paragraph one is a “Pirate Bay killer” clause designed to criminalize the non-profit facilitation of unauthorized information exchange on the internet, which would also negatively affect transparency sites such as Wikileaks.
The document reveals a proposal for a multi-lateral trade agreement of strict enforcement of intellectual property rights related to Internet activity and trade in information-based goods. If adopted, a treaty of this form would impose a strong, top-down enforcement regime, with new cooperation requirements upon internet service providers, including perfunctionary disclosure of customer information and a ban on anti-circumvention measures.
The proposal also specifies a plan to encourage developing nations to accept the legal regime.
The source states that trade representatives intend to formalize the agreement at the G-8 summit in July 2008.
The following summary of the trade agreement issue is from IP Justice, an international group directed from San Francisco group that fights for a just world intellectual property regime:
After the multi-lateral treaty’s scope and priorities are negotiated by the few countries invited to participate in the early discussions, ACTA’s text will be “locked” and other countries who are later “invited” to sign-on to the pact will not be able to re-negotiate its terms. It is claimed that signing-on to the trade agreement will be “voluntary”, but few countries will have the muscle to refuse an “invitation” to join, once the rules have been set by the select few conducting the negotiations.
The US is negotiating ACTA through the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), an office within the Bush Administration that has concluded more than 10 “free trade” agreements in recent years, all of which require both the US and the other country to increase intellectual property rights enforcement measures beyond the international legal norms in the WTO-TRIPS Agreement. [2]
Talking points from the European Commission, the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and others have published selected passages ostensibly from the document in response; refer to [3] for useful links.
The ACTA push appears to have been launched on October 23, 2007 by US Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab. A copy of her opening remarks follow:
Remarks by U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab
Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)
October 23, 2007
Thank you all for being here. Today we are announcing a major new initiative in the international fight against IPR counterfeiting and piracy.
I want to begin by thanking our host today, the Congressional Caucus on Intellectual Property and Piracy Prevention, and its co-chairs – Representatives Bono, Feeney, Wexler, and Adam Smith of Washington.
Thank you also to the Members present, who have done so much to advance the cause of IP protection, including:
Rep. Mary Bono (R-CA)
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA)
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA)
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
I also want to acknowledge and thank the Ambassadors and representatives of our trading partners who have joined us today.
[...]
We are pleased to be working in this broader effort with a number of key trading partners, large and small, including Canada, the European Union,
Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, and Switzerland. We hope and believe that others will join over time, marking an emerging consensus on stronger IP enforcement. All who share our ambition and commitment to stronger IPR enforcement are welcome.
[...]
With that goal in mind, the U.S. Government is eager to move ahead as fast as possible with the negotiation of this important new agreement.
Thank you.
Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA)[4]
Top four campaign contributions for 2006:
Time Warner $21,000
News Corp $15,000
Sony Corp of America $14,000
Walt Disney Co $13,550
Top two Industries:
TV/Movies/Music $181,050
Lawyers/Law Firms $114,200
Other politicians listed, “show a similar contribution spectrum,” observes Wikileaks dryly.
In August, 2007, “The entertainment industries have been leading contributors to Berman since 1993, topping up his coffers with amounts totalling close to $1,000,000,” p2pnet posted.
Stay tuned.
.
.Stumble It!
Michael Geist – The ACTA Leak, May 23, 2008
p2pnet – ISPs as copyright cops, August 28, 2007
Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. It’s really easy!Subscribe to p2pnet.net | | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile – http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php
Net access blocked by government restrictions? Use Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Go here for details. Download here.
May 24th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
legal bribes, how wonderful…
May 24th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
looks like encrypted p2p is the way of the future…
May 24th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Hopefully encrypted p2p isn’t that far off…
May 24th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
That thing is utter BS. Seeing it is legal to download music in canada due to the tariff on cds and mp3 players how can they (border gaurds) be responsible for deciding what it legally copied or downloaded and what is not. I can undersatnd looking for child pornography on laptops and such ( even though I dont think border gaurds should be able to look through laptops and other personal effects that are electronic), but how are they gonna figure out what is legal music and what is not.
Border gaurds should look for things that are a risk to security of said country and contrabaned stuff ie drugs, firearms etc. They shouldnt be made to look for copyrighted music, dvds, etc. I recently bought a friend a prtable hard drive so she could take her thousands of “legally” obtained music with her when she moved overseas. I would have hated for border gaurds to look at that and tell her to delete those songs or pay some fine for having them.
May 24th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
“Buying” a politician used to be a joke used in corny movies. Sadly, it’s no longer a joke, it’s reality. Unfortunately, the US government is so corrupt that the problem of large corporations bribing politicians (and that’s what huge campaign contributions, a bribe!) will probably never be fixed.
Any pretense that the government represents the people has been dropped. They don’t even try to pretend that the corporations are their number one concern anymore.
Right now, I’m ashamed to be an American.
May 25th, 2008 at 7:06 am
A NEW WAY NEEDED
That thing is utter illusion.
Really, nothing will work as long as computers have “save as” options (an invitation to copy) and write on hard disk, flash memory, usb memory sticks, blank media, lase printers are sold.
This is a new era and a new revolutionary way to reward creators and artists (not businesses) is needed, (while allowing free copying and distribution). Hey, wasn’t that the the whole purpose of copyright?
May 26th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Copyright law has been twisted and distorted to the point where it no longer honours its original purpose. It’s simply a vehicle for the entertainment cartels to crush and suppress competition and opposition. No one dares stand in their cyclonic path; especially not government who readily accept the myriad inducements which they are offered.
May 26th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
It is unfortunate there is no Stalin anymore. Because those who got involved in these secret negotiations should be sent to Siberia for life or something worse.