THOUGHTBOX

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...