Intro: "As cyberspace turns its attention to the SOPA and PIPA bills in the US, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, has been quietly signed or ratified by most of the developed world and is arguably the biggest threat to Internet freedom yet."

Hundreds of people waged a street protest in Warsaw to protest ACTA. (photo: AFP/Getty Images)

ACTA, Secret Censor Tool Worse Than SOPA and PIPA

By Russian TV

27 January 12

s cyberspace turns its attention to the SOPA and PIPA bills in the US, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, has been quietly signed or ratified by most of the developed world and is arguably the biggest threat to Internet freedom yet.

ACTA has – officially – been in the works since 2008, and was signed by the US, Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea in 2011. All negotiations were held behind closed doors, and it is mostly thanks to Internet hacktivist groups like Anonymous that news of the potential damage ACTA could cause has spread.

Most recently, Anonymous turned their attention to Poland, where officials announced that they will sign the controversial treaty on January 26. A number of government website attacks has left them paralyzed for two days, and several Polish websites have since announced they will go dark in protest at the treaty, echoing recent unprecedented actions by Wikipedia, Redditt, BoingBoing and many others.

Thousands of people have protested both online and on the streets. However, Polish officials have said they will sign the agreement as planned. Government minister Michal Boni said "The ACTA agreement in no way changes Polish laws or the rights of Internet users and Internet usage," after a meeting with Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The irony of that statement is that ACTA will do exactly that. It will surpass the sovereign laws of participating nations, especially in the matter of ISP monitoring.

ACTA's reach is far more global, with countries like the US, Switzerland, Japan and all European Union members in its grasp. It is allegedly being introduced "to create new legal standards of intellectual property enforcement, as well as increased international cooperation, an example of which would be an increase in information sharing between signatory countries' law enforcement agencies." But in reality, the measures that have been worked on by behind-the-scenes politicians and media industry moguls are just shy of draconian.

Under this new treaty, Internet Service Providers will police all data passing through them, making them legally responsible for what their users do online. And should you do something considered "breach of copyright" like, for instance, getting a tattoo of a brand logo, taking a photo and posting it somewhere, you may be disconnected from the Internet, fined or even jailed.

This, of course, threatens the entire founding idea of the Internet – the free sharing of information. But ACTA doesn't stop there. It goes beyond the Internet, bearing down on generic drugs and food patents. If passed, ACTA will enforce a global standard for seed patenting, which would wipe out independent, local farmers and make the world completely dependent on the patent owners (read "big corporations") for supplies.

The agreement states that it must be signed and ratified by 2013, but the seemingly late deadline is no cause for celebration. And if the secrecy surrounding this latest censor tool continues to hold, it may be put into effect without anyone noticing.

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+16 # Huck Mucus 2012-01-27 08:39

The one Achilles Heel in the government is the free flow of truth. Thus, the internet MUST be brought to heel.

I read part of the new Google privacy and use policies going into effect in March. I already feel my desire to speak freely has been chilled. In other words, I will NOT tell you people what I really think. And, while my thoughts might not be important in the scheme of things, I think that is a damn shame.

Pretty soon the only bulwark against power will be technonerdgeeks in Anonymous and Wikileaks who know how to protect themselves and their computers. I know I don't have the ability to protect myself, my information or my computer.

But once people like me are brought to heel then those harbingers of freedom (Anonymous, Wikileaks, etc.) will not be able to get there message to me, so it won't matter what they do to spread the word.

I long for the free-wheeling days of usenet. WTF happened to that?

I want to quit caring. "The Man" is winning.

0 # John Locke 2012-01-31 14:49

For every action their is a reaction. internet geeks will find a way to set up a facility where controlls are outside any signatory to this abomination. We are under full attack now, as they seek to control us, what we see, say and read. The more they push the closer the revolution comes. I believe Oakland was just a sample of what will follow. There will be literally millions of good Americans who will be imprisoned before this is over, and those who have taken over our government are fully prepared for it.

+2 # Kev C 2012-01-27 19:30

Hang in there. The battle is simply a battle. It is only a part of the war. A small part of a greater struggle. It is not the entire war. We are fighting a war against bastards with no soul. They care nothing for you or I and only money and power will satisfy their greedy hides. However they have missed one crucial issue. One huge fact. The fact is that without our co-operation they will lose everything.
The simple way to beat them and defeat them forever is to refuse to play their silly games.
By refusing to become involved with their actions and laws we stay free. The law will only become effective when we accept it and obey it. In other words we give the laws life and purpose by obeying them. If we do not do these things then the law is no-more. It cannot be a law when no-one acknowledges it or obeys it. You see there has to be an equal and opposite reaction to every action and this is the way of all things. The power elite only exist because we fools allow them to exist by giving them credit and identity.

0 # Kev C 2012-01-27 19:31

Food for thought. I'd say it was fuel for dissent. They won't incarcerate me for a crime that they decide is a crime and yet a crime I did not commit in the free world. What value they place on insignificant pieces of information is meaningless in the greater scheme of things. There will come a time very soon when they will fall and never rise again and it will be because the masses decide to ignore their mutterings and diktats and leave them talking to themselves.

+3 # RMDC 2012-01-28 06:25

World Wide Web is over. We now have the World Wide Wiretap.

The internet has become the main way that regimes across the world surveil people. The US regime is the worst since it surveils the entire world. This is a government + private industry project.

+3 # MsAnnaNOLA 2012-01-28 14:03

The seed monopoly is even more disturbing than the internet control/censorship. Let's face it we won't litterally die without the internet. Well we might kill ourselves of boredom, but we won't die like we will if we do not have food.

Genetically modified foods are not safe. Rats fed a diet of GMO soy suffer from kidney and liver failure and become sterile and unable to have children. This is the future if we don't stop transgenic gmo foods. We should not be mixing species in the laboratory. What are we going to eat if the whole food supply is contaminated?

We already have farmers committing suicide in India because they cannot afford the seed. They used to just save some seed for the following year now they can't so they kill themselves. So sad and so unnecessary.

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