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[News] ACTA an Abomination, Monopolistic Threat to Free Software

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Why We Must React to ACTA

,----[Quote ]
| The name of the “Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement” – ACTA – is indicative 
| of the overall approach being taken. First, this is a trade agreement, which 
| means that it by-passes many of the more open processes for drawing up 
| international agreements. This has allowed it to be discussed in secret, 
| amongst a cosy club of interested parties and their chums – notably, those in 
| industries based on exploiting intellectual monopolies.     
| 
| Moreover, this is an invitation-only club, which has led to the exclusion of 
| most developing countries, and hence most of the world in terms of 
| population. It is nothing less than cyber-imperialism by the rich countries 
| that for so long have imposed their agendas on the rest of the globe, but 
| which finally see their traditional hegemony threatened by the rise of new 
| powers – and new ideas. ACTA is a last-ditch attempt to lock the world into 
| an old and outdated mindset.      
`----

http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/why-we-must-react-acta

Senators Plan To Unveil New IP Bill

,----[ Quote ]
| Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and ranking member Arlen 
| Specter will join Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, on 
| Thursday in unveiling new legislation intended to boost government efforts to 
| crack down on counterfeiting and piracy.    
`----

http://techdailydose.nationaljournal.com/2008/07/senators_plan_to_unveil_new_ip.php


Recent:

FSF organizes against Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

,----[ Quote ]
| "At the moment, the campaign's mostly information," Lee says. "What we want
| to do is get more people involved who can help us build public awareness and
| also build up the information on ACTA."
|
| Other ways that free software users can help the FSF campaign, Lee suggests,
| include local campaigns that contact your elected representatives and
| starting grass root organizations to help create a world-wide action network.
| Lee also stresses the importance of translating information from English to
| help resistance to ACTA in non-English speaking countries.
|
| "It's early days for the campaign," Lee says. "It's an ongoing battle, but
| ultimately we're going to ride this through and see ACTA defeated. But we
| need people to get involved to help us do this."
`----

http://www.linux.com/feature/142403


ACTA threatens free software

,----[ Quote ]
| 1. It makes it more difficult to distribute free software: Without file
|    sharing and P2P technologies like BitTorrent, distributing large amounts
|    of free software becomes much harder, and more expensive. BitTorrent is a
|    grassroots protocol that allows everyone to contribute to legally
|    distributing free software.
| 2. It will make it harder for users of free operating systems to play
|    media: Consumers will no longer be able to buy media without DRM -- and
|    DRMed media cannot be played with free software.
| 3. It increases the chances of getting your devices taken away: Portable
|    media players that support free formats are less common than devices which
|    support DRM, such as the iPod. Will this make them suspicious to border
|    guards?
| 4. It creates a culture of surveillance and suspicion, in which the
|    freedom that is required to produce free software is seen as dangerous and
|    threatening rather than creative, innovative, and exciting.
`----

http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/acta


The right to peer inside your iPod

,----[ Quote ]
| An agreement on intellectual property rights to be ratified by the G8 heads
| of government highlights conflicts between ownership and privacy
`----

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jul/10/intellectualproperty.law


Microsoft could force your mobile into silence

,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is developing a new technology that could force mobiles into silent
| mode, or even prevent calls from being made.
|
| [...]
|
| Phone jammers, which work in small spaces, are banned in the UK and come with
|| a hefty fine for use.
`----

http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/microsoft-could-force-your-mobile-into-silence-393006


Digital copyright: it's all wrong

,----[ Quote ]
| The ACTA draft is a scary document. If a treaty based on its provisions were
| adopted, it would enable any border guard, in any treaty country, to check
| any electronic device for any content that they suspect infringes copyright
| laws. They need no proof, only suspicion.
|
| They would be able to seize any device - laptop, iPod, DVD recorder, mobile
| phone, etc - and confiscate it or destroy anything on it, merely on
| suspicion. On the spot, no lawyers, no right of appeal, no nothing.
`----

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/technology/digital-copyright-its-all-wrong/2008/06/09/1212863783566.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
http://tinyurl.com/6ylvpx


Embattled ACTA Negotiations Next Week In Geneva; US Sees Signing This Year

,----[ Quote ]
| Criticism from NGOs
|
| Canadian law expert David Fewer, staff counsel at the University of Ottawa’s
| Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, told the Ottawa Citizen
| that the discussion paper was very close to a potential Christmas wish-list
| by Hollywood companies.
|
| Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), in an earlier statement filed to USTR,
| warned against a lack in differentiation and clearness of core terms, like
| counterfeiting, infringement or piracy. “Is Microsoft a “pirate” for
| insisting on the right to continue to infringe the z4 patents in order to use
| an infringing DRM technology to protect Microsoft software itself from
| infringement by unauthorised uses?” KEI asked in its statement.
`----

http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=1071
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