THOUGHTBOX

The controversial ACTA trade agreement has been put on hold by the European Commission, as the body intends to pursue the aid of the European Court of Justice to decide whether the treaty violates any fundamental rights. This represents a fundamental step forward for us EU citizens, as one of the most dangerous accords that could have severely compromised our privacy is now being delayed, with several countries now refusing to ratify ACTA on those grounds. Which I think is a big plus given that it takes all 27 member countries of the EU to agree on ACTA for it to ever become the standard. Meanwhile, EU Commissioner Karel De Gucht considers that ACTA does not violate  the EU’s rights of freedom of expression and freedom of information, as " ACTA will not censor websites or shut them down; ACTA will not hinder freedom of the Internet or freedom of speech." So far so good - at least things are moving in a good direction with ACTA. We'll have to wait and see what the Europea...

Sorry, got a little carried away there by the veil of the dark side cast by the Dark Lord itself, ACTA with my last post. The world has gotten a little copyright/piracy/freedom of speech crazy lately, what with all the SOPAs and PIPAs and ACTAs. But let’s get serious for a moment, and talk a little about ACTA.   What is ACTA? Some call it the European SOPA – only it’s not SOPA. It’s not a law , it’s a trade agreement between a number of countries. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA - although counterfeiting is completely different in definition than what the bill aims to avoid) is a multilateral agreement which proposes international standards for enforcement of intellectual property rights . The reason this agreement is so controversial was that it was robbed of democratic credibility and clarity since it was negotiated behind closed doors, without public (aka voter) knowledge. It hasn’t been ratified yet, and final negotiations will take place during the summer of t...