Tuesday, February 7, 2012

A post about ACTA

I never had the intention of turning this blog into a political soapbox, but ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) does deserve some attention, also in light of the recent SOPA/PIPA media frenzy... While SOPA & PIPA made headlines all over the Internet not too long ago, and deservedly so in my opinion, ACTA has been making the rounds in government offices all over the globe quite a while now, mostly behind closed doors (in the interest of 'national security', if you can believe it) and with as little media attention/exposure as possible. ACTA has just as potentially damaging consequences as SOPA/PIPA, and from what I can tell is quite broad in scope. Unfortunately it has already been signed by governments all over the world including the US, Australia and the majority of the EU countries. But in the case of the European Union, it is still not too late to act and turn the tide, as the European Parliament still needs to vote on it. Anyways, as I am not a lawyer nor do I feel I am the right person to explain the inner workings and potential consequences of ACTA, here are some links (with varying points of view and backgrounds) you can check out, which I urge you to do. Decide for yourself.

ACTA full text pdf
Thought SOPA Was Bad? 10 Reasons to Oppose ACTA
What's wrong with ACTA Week
How to act against ACTA
Counter-Arguments Against ACTA
As Anonymous protests, Internet drowns in inaccurate anti-ACTA arguments
Impeach Obama for bribery? Anti-ACTA spin reaches new lows

And a video by Anonymous (which does take a worst case scenario stance, but why not?!):

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