Apr 13
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) was proposed to create a new governing body, outside of the World Trade Organization, United Nations, and World Intellectual Property Organization, to go after copyright infringement around the world. It’s been criticized as being a thinly-veiled attack on civil rights and privacy on the Internet.
Despite the controversy, it’s been signed by Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, the United States and the European Union. The European Parliament is set to vote on ACTA, possibly to stop it dead in its tracks, and it appears it’s losing support by the truckload. David Martin, a British Member of the European Parliament, who has been guiding ACTA through the European Parliament, has no come out in opposition. He is quoted as saying:
Today’s conference has confirmed my suspicion that ACTA raises more fears than hopes. What it delivers in terms of important intellectual property rights is diminished by potential threats to civil liberties and internet freedom. When the European Parliament rejects ACTA, the Commission must work to find other ways to defend European intellectual property in the global marketplace.
Coming from the guy who has been driving the ACTA bus, this is a huge development in the ACTA case and could result in total loss of support for ACTA.
