Hollywood touts ACTA
p2pnet news view Politics | MPAA:- With their MPAA as the front, the major Hollywood studios have escalated their efforts to force ACTA, their secret copyright ‘initiative’, into being.
“Our interests in a robust ACTA are broad, ranging from providing ex-officio authority for law enforcement and customs officials to securing both the legal and practical tools necessary to protect intellectual property rights online,” says the LaLaLand enforcer.
Ex-officio authority for law enforcement? Hollywood pseudo-cops with powers to do whatever they want without reference to any legal authority.
But it isn’t only the MPAA. Big Music’s RIAA is also pushing ACTA for all it’s worth.
And it isn’t only ACTA. The entertainment industry — read the Big 4 record labels and Hollywood — is simultaneously hammering its Three Strikes plan, trying to have it adopted as law in countries such as Britain and France.
Implemented, it would have administrations acting as industry copyright agents, and local ISPs targetting their own customers on behalf of the cartels.
Worse, “It is important to recognise that 3-strikes is fundamentally unjust/unethical given that no evidence is required”, Crosbie Fitch recently pointed out.
“The victim is simply given two warnings (tipped-off as to what’s about to happen without any way of preventing it) before they are disconnected,” he said, going on:
“Your evidence of innocence has to wait until after your ISP has disconnected you, after your PC has been confiscated, after your assets have been seized, after you have located a lawyer willing to take on your case, after you have paid your lawyer to demonstrate at a tribunal that you have grounds to plead for an appeal against your disconnection, and then at your appeal your evidence can be presented (if you still have it).”
If Hollywood “could order intellectual property laws for Christmas, what would they look like? This is pretty close, said David Fewer, acting director of the University of Ottawa`s Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic.
And, The ACTA juggernaut continues to roll ahead, despite public indignation about an agreement supposedly about counterfeiting that has turned into a regime for global Internet regulation, wrote EFF international affairs director Eddan Katz in Deep Links, recently.
ACTA remains shrouded â at least as far as the people it will affect, are concerned, said p2pnet last month, adding, “ But in the US, the Obama administration has shared it with 42 Washington `insiders,` says Knowledge Ecology International (KEI).
Among them are »»»
- Three people from Google
- Three eBay reps
- An Intel lawyer
- The entertainment cartel`s International Intellectual Property Alliance
- Sony Pictures
- Rupert Murdoch`s News Corpse, and
- Two Business Software Alliance staffers.
A draft of the Canadian element appeared online in April.
The ‘cornerstone of America’s creative economy’
ACTA is a direct attack on democracy and freedom of speech everywhere.
It would give a small number of vested interest companies answering only to their shareholders and investors carte blanche to have consumers taken ofline at a corporate whim without any pretence of due process.
And now, “The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) strongly supports the Administration’s decision to pursue conclusion of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA),” says the MPAA, continuing »»»
We first expressed our support of this initiative when it was launched in October 2007 and later through a series of public filings and participation in public meetings. Our interests in a robust ACTA are broad, ranging from providing ex-officio authority for law enforcement and customs officials to securing both the legal and practical tools necessary to protect intellectual property rights online.
We urge you to support the Administration’s efforts to negotiate a sound and comprehensive ACTA that codifies best practices for copyright enforcement. The ability to finance, create and distribute entertainment, and the livelihood of the talented and dedicated men and women who work in our industry are dependent upon our ability to protect the intellectual property that is the lifeblood of our industry.
Outcries on the lack of transparency in the ACTA negotiations are a distraction. They distract from the substance and the ambition of the ACTA which are to work with key trading partners to combat piracy and counterfeiting across the global marketplace.
We appreciate the US government’s efforts thus far to broaden its consultative process on the ACTA. Despite these exceptional efforts, the protests persist, fostering apprehension over the Agreement’s substance. We understand that the ACTA parties agree on the desirability to provide meaningful opportunities for the public to provide input. We support this objective and encourage the US government to direct that process so that we can engage in a meaningful dialogue on substance rather than procedural matters.
Here is what is at stake: The US motion picture industry continues to be a cornerstone of America’s creative economy, employing millions of Americans in skilled, high value jobs. Over 180,000 people work in studios, independent production and distribution companies, and for the core industry suppliers, such as film labs, special effects and digital studios, and in prop and wardrobe houses. The industry employs another 231,000 workers, including technical and craft specialists, actors, directors, writers, and musicians. Our industry also generates nearly 1 million indirect jobs. The US motion picture and television industry is one of the few US industries that consistently generates, even in these difficult economic times, a positive balance of trade, distributing films to over 150 countries around the world. In 2007, that surplus was $13.6 billion.
Internet piracy has emerged as the fastest growing threat to the filmed entertainment industry. Our highest priority is enhancing the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights online. MPAA firmly believes that a strong ACTA should address this challenge, raising the level and effectiveness of copyright enforcement in the digital and online marketplaces. Unfortunately for the millions of Americans who work in and rely on the motion picture industry, this is
precisely the arena in which the ACTA negotiation has come under strident attack.
Technological advances have enabled more copyrighted works to be disseminated to more people in more countries through more media than ever before. But the inescapable truth about this dissemination is that the vast majority of it is illegal, and delivers no benefit to those who created these works in the first place or invested in their development and distribution. Piracy on an unprecedented scale is depriving creators and copyright owners of the return they deserve on their massive investments of creativity, expertise, hard work, and other resources. This undermines the creative sector in every country, and threatens the future viability of the enormous contributions the US motion picture industry makes to jobs, exports, and economic growth here in the U.S. An enhanced global commitment to enforcement of the copyright laws now on the books is an essential ingredient in pushing back this threat.
Opponents of ACTA are either indifferent to this situation, or actively hostile toward efforts to improve copyright enforcement worldwide. Many of them decried the WTO TRIPS agreement when it came into force in the 1990’s and they now insist that any effort to build upon the TRIPS minimum standards for enforcement is “anti-consumer and anti-innovation.” This view overlooks the common stake that consumers and innovators share in ensuring the health of the creative sector of our economy. It is also at variance with Congress’ demonstrated interest in improving the enforcement of US intellectual property rights through PRO-IP and is an attempt to erode the regimes you and your colleagues have wisely supported.
The TRIPS enforcement standards, drawn up nearly 20 years ago, form an essential foundation for enforcement efforts in the US and other countries. But these are minimum standards. The ACTA provides the US and its key trading partners an opportunity to build on these minimum enforcement standards, drawing on lessons learned from enforcement efforts here and abroad, to reflect the reality of the global digital economy and respond to current business models.
In the evolving online marketplace, a critical element of this best practices framework involves legal incentives that promote cooperation between right holders and service providers to clean up the pervasive piracy that pollutes the market. This is not a zero sum game. The common interest of the technology, communications and content sectors is a predictable marketplace in which legitimate commerce in creative works is safe, reliable, convenient, and inexpensive. Massive online infringement undermines that common interest and stifles healthy conomic growth. Around the ACTA table, our government is coming together with like-minded trading partners to foster a key prerequisite for that growth-effective enforcement of copyright laws. That effort is completely consistent with both the letter and the spirit of the TRIPS Agreement and the other treaties that make up the robust global framework of copyright law.
The MPAA and our member companies support the goals of the ACTA. We firmly believe that for the ACTA to meet its full potential, it must include robust online protections. We hope you will support the Administration’s efforts to work with other ACTA parties to achieve this objective and to provide for continued transparency as the negotiation moves forward. I am sending a similar letter to Senator Sessions and the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the Senate Finance Committee, House Judiciary Committee, House Committee on Ways and Means, and House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
The tragedy is: this piece of arrant nonsense will be seriously considered by Obama officials as though it’s a genuine discussion paper coming from credible sources.
Jon Newton - p2pnet
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pushing ACTA – RIAA ACTA wish-list, June 30, 2008
Three Strikes plan – Entertainment cartel UK 3 Strikes Plan stalled, November 21, 2009
fundamentally unjust/unethical – Open letter to Featured Artists` Coalition, November 1, 2009
appeared online in April – Full Canadian ACTA details online, April 3, 2008
p2pnet – US shares ACTA secrets with RIAA, Sony Pictures, October 1, 2009
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November 22nd, 2009 at 7:02 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_the_United_States#The_Relation_between_Hollywood_and_the_Politicians
Hollywood, the entertainment capital of the world, is also an endless pool of money for any presidential candidate. The relation between Hollywood and Washington began with a need for Hollywood to acquire a status of power by being seen with politicians and that relation is today reversed with Washingtonâs need for Hollywoodâs money.
It all started in the beginnings of Hollywood, mostly during the mogulsâ era, the founders of the studios. Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford were used to sell war bonds for World War 1 and their image worked to attract crowds. It wasnât so long until the moguls began looking for something else than fame and money from their successful businesses. Most of the moguls and power figures of Hollywood in the 1920s were Jews. Being a Jew in this era was seen as negative, in a time when Jews were not welcomed in America. Despite their success, the moguls did not have the respect or the social status that they wanted. By being seen with powerful politicians, they would raise their social status and assure the respect they wanted. MGMâs powerful executive Louis B. Mayer accomplished this desire by being a good friend with candidate Herbert Hoover. The role of Hollywood in national politics began with this friendship between Mayer and Hoover. From this friendship, Hoover gained the support of Mayerâs friend William Randolph Hearst, press lord and producer, in his cause. Mayer was a strong supporter of Hoover who eventually became the 31st President of the United States, and Mayer succeeded in being well respected and became an even more powerful figure in Hollywood.[8]
In the 1930s the Democrats and the Republicans saw a huge pool of money in Hollywood. President Franklin Roosevelt saw a huge partnership with Hollywood. He used the first real potential of Hollywoodâs stars in a national campaign. Melvyn Douglas toured Washington in 1939 and met the key New Dealers. Endorsements letters from leading actors were signed, radio appearances and printed advertising were made. The use of a star was to drawn a large audience into the political view of the party. By the 1960s John F. Kennedy and Frank Sinatra had a strong friendship in this glamour era when young Kennedy was a new face for Washington. The last moguls of Hollywood were gone and young new executives and producers began generating more liberal ideas. The celebrity and the money attracted the politicians into the high-class glittering Hollywood life-style. As Ronald Brownstein wrote in his book âThe Power and the Glitterâ, the television in the 1970s and 1980s was an enormously important new media into the politics and Hollywood helped in that media with actors making speeches on their political beliefs, like Jane Fonda against the Vietnam War.[8] In this era we saw former actor Ronald Reagan became Governor of California and then President of the United States. It continued with Arnold Schwarzenegger as Californiaâs Governor in 2003.
Today Washingtonâs interest is in Hollywood being a money provider, with its huge pool of money. On February 20, 2007, for example, Senator Barack Obama had a $2300-a-plate Hollywood gala, being hosted by David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg at the Beverly Hilton.[9] Hollywood is a huge donator for presidential campaigns and this money is attracting politicians into Hollywood. Not only is Hollywood influencing Washington with its glamour and money but Washington is also influencing Hollywood. With the help of the Pentagon and, based on Jean-Michel Valantin analysis in âHollywood, le Pentagone et Washingtonâ, Capitol Hill and the White House influence most notably the War films of Hollywood with their politics and ideologies.[10]
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:36 am
I’m still boycotting purchasing any Hollywood product (DVDs, Blu-Ray). Fuck you, Hollywood.
November 24th, 2009 at 12:33 am
Same here. I’m ethically opposed to buying anything that the MAFIAA has touched.
Which is why I only buy music from unsigned bands, and only at concerts.