According to IDG, The European Parliament has approved the controversial ACTA copyright treaty. The EU Parliament voted 331-294, with 11 abstaining to accept the current language. There were concerns that the treaty would run afoul of EU data privacy laws. This action will allow the European Commission to accept the deal at a meeting in Sydney next week.
The treaty was negotiated in a series of closed-door meetings over the last few years. That situation is the likely cause for such a large no vote in the Parliament. The secrecy was allegedly imposed by the US negotiators because of the onerous requirements for three-strikes laws. Three-strikes laws would require users accused of copyright infringement three times to be barred from the Internet. The original draft of the legislation when it was leaked said countries would be required to institute these laws. The current language only encourages it.
Many groups are opposed to the treaty, which seems to be on the path to international acceptance. They cite China's lack of participation as an impediment to the treaty actually reducing counterfeiting. The likely target it seems, is copyright infringement. The US State Department made the text public on November 15. How does ACTA sit with you?
Comments are closed on this article
Nimrod
November 28, 2010 at 7:53pm
Well what do you know, the EU is STILL a police state. God i cant wait till the Euro collapses and the EU is finished. Then European customers can buy copies of Windows with IE included again. lawl but seriously, the EU is crazy.
Ghok
November 25, 2010 at 8:05pm
Wait, so you only have to be accused three times before being barred from the internet? What if I listen to a song that's been put illegally on YouTube? Does that count? I've been exposed to countless examples of copyright infringement all over the internet, without even trying to be. I can appreciate laws aimed at stopping copyright infringement, but they need to be clear and fair.
And why all the secrecy? Isn't that a good reason to be concerned by this?
eugovector
November 24, 2010 at 5:27pm
For once, the first post, a spam post offering the sale of counterfit shoes and other clothing seems appropriate. I wonder how effective this new bill will be at stopping the kind of counterfitting? I'd expect the poster to be banned from the internet in just 3 more posts.
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