p2pnet news view | P2P | Politics:- ACTA is short for Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement and, “If Hollywood could order intellectual property laws for Christmas, what would they look like? This is pretty close,” p2pnet quoted Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) counsel David Fewer as saying just before the recent Canadian elections.

“Hollywood front man Dan Glickman and other corporate interests desperately want to see the ACTA become law,” we said, going on:

“But More than 100 international public interest organizations are demanding officials from Canada, the United States, Mexico, the European Union, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, all of which are negotiating ACTA, publish immediately the draft text of the agreement.”

“Secrecy around the treaty negotiation has fueled concerns that its terms will undermine vital consumer interests,” we had CIPPIC as saying.

Now, “While the ACTA debate has largely disappeared from the public radar screen, talks continue,” posts Michael Geist, going on »»»

Over the summer, I reported about attempts to establish a private consultation committee composed of industry groups that excluded public interest organizations.

The status of the consultation committee remains unknown, but newly obtained documents under the Access to Information Act provide additional insights into the secretive nature of the negotiations as well as the results of a limited public consultation conducted by the Department of Foreign Affairs in the spring.

The documents confirm that the U.S. and Japan have emerged as the primary supporters and drafters of the treaty. Countries have met three times in recent months to discuss the treaty with those two countries providing draft treaty language to the other participants just prior to the formal meeting.

In late May, the U.S. and Japan forwarded draft treaty language on new border measures provisions to the Canadian delegation, two weeks before a round of talks in Washington. According to Australian officials, subsequent meetings in Geneva and Tokyo addressed statutory damages and criminal provisions for unauthorized camcording. The next meeting is set for Brussels in December with Internet issues on the agenda.

Although bits of information about the meetings have leaked out, participating countries have gone to great lengths to keep the talks under wraps. Countries are prohibited from discussing the substance of discussions and all documents are subject to strict confidentiality conditions. Secret negotiations are common for trade deals, but international intellectual property agreements have traditionally been conducted in a more transparent manner.

Internal government documents also shed light on the results of a brief Canadian consultation on ACTA. Launched in April, the Department of Foreign Affairs consultation invited the public to express views on the treaty and the negotiation process.

While the Foreign Affairs has yet to reveal results of the consultation, an internal draft report summarizing the responses notes “individual Canadian citizens were generally critical of Canada’s role in the formal negotiation of ACTA.” Individual responses cited the lack of transparency associated with the process, the absence of evidence that a new treaty is needed, the exclusion of developing countries from the negotiations, and the concern that ACTA might undermine Canadian law.

The consultation also generated responses from 13 Canadian business associations. Many received personal invitations to participate in the consultation from government departments as Canadian Heritage alone notified 23 groups it considers its stakeholders.

These business groups were not only generally supportive of ACTA, but some asked for the inclusion of provisions that would necessitate significant changes to Canadian law. One submission recommended provisions mandating that Internet service providers terminate access in cases of repeated allegations of infringement.

To date, it appears that ACTA is pushing Canada toward a host of new international commitments drafted by officials in Washington and Tokyo with virtually no public input. With the next round of talks only weeks away, these revelations reinforce the need for new Industry Minister Tony Clement and Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore to open the process to greater scrutiny.

Michael Geist
[Geist is the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa. He can be reached by email at mgeist[at]uottawa.ca and is on-line at www.michaelgeist.ca.] 

p2pnet – Win for Harper? Return of Canadian DMCA, October 8, 2008
desperately want – Hollywood steps up for ACTA, September 22, 2008
Michael Geist – Government Keeps ACTA Consultation Results Under Wraps, November3, 3008

---

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.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 12:19 pm and is filed under P2P, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

HOME

Viewed 3694 times