ACTA Agreements,Laws how they impact Linux,Mint Users

[ASmith]

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a plurilateral agreement for the purpose of establishing international standards for intellectual property rights enforcement. The agreement aims to establish an international legal framework for targeting counterfeit goods, generic medicines and copyright infringement on the Internet, and would create a new governing body outside existing forums, such as the World Trade Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, or the United Nations.[1][2]

During a series of secretive USA preliminary talks in Geneva from 2006 onward thru 'official negotiations 2008- The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement was drafted [3]

ACTA first came to public attention in May 2008 after a discussion paper was uploaded to Wikileaks.[4] After more leaks in 2009 and 2010 and denied requests for disclosure by groups such as Doctors without Borders, IP Justice, the Canadian Library Association, and the Consumers Union of Japan,[5][6] the negotiating parties published an official version of the then current draft on 20 April 2010.[7]

In June 2010, a conference with "over 90 academics, practitioners and public interest organizations from six continents"[8] concluded "that the terms of the publicly released draft of ACTA threaten numerous public interests, including every concern specifically disclaimed by negotiators." A group of 75+ law professors signed a letter to President Obama demanding that ACTA be halted and changed.[9]

As noted above, 'The negotiations for the ACTA treaty were conducted in secret behind closed doors until a series of (Wikileaks) leaked documents relating to the negotiations emerged.'

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) opposing ACTA, calls for more public spotlights and discussions on the proposed treaty.[10] Since May 2008 discussion papers and other documents relating to the negotiation of ACTA have been uploaded to Wikileaks,[11] and newspaper reports about the secret negotiations swiftly followed.[12]

English PDF http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/assets/pdfs/acta-crc_apr15-2011_eng.pdf

French PDF http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/assets/pdfs/acta-crc_apr15-2011_fre.pdf

Spanish PDF http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/assets/pdfs/acta-crc_apr15-2011_spa.pdf

It has been reported that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has stated they will use the Fast track negotiating authority (Trade Promotion Authority) to implement ACTA, but will actually use the form of an executive agreement by US President Obama.[13]

Initial Problematic Issues:
More questionable issues will undoubtedly come to light as the ACTA Laws,Treatys are further exposed from it's now largely hidden/covert status of protection against disclosure under the guise of US National Security to scant public records of debates and the release of the final? ratified ACTA treaty by each individual European Union nation, hence 'Initial Problematic Issues'.

Opinion: Hidden or a Nations covert 'laws' still hold their citizens accountable to abiding to them, a defence of not knowing, or unaware of xyz is not a successful defence strategy,tactic.

Border Searches:

Seizure and downloading/imaging of cell phones,mobile devices,laptop computers and MP3 players under the guise of searching for illegal content. IF found forcing the owner to prove they are not in violation of copyright or trademark laws for each item found/discovered.

Such extensive proof would likely consist of a potential mountain of end user agreement forms in hand which would take an extended period of time to comb thru while that individual is detained.

Seizure of medical supplys and if found forcing the owner to prove their medical provider supplied those in a legal fashion.

Garmets carried and worn by travelers appear to also be included under the guise of seizing of counterfeit goods.

US Senator Russell Feingold called the policies "truly alarming" and proposed to introduce legislation to require reasonable suspicion of illegality and to prohibit racial profiling.[14] The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has previously upheld the constitutionality of laptop searches without reasonable suspicion at border crossings.[14]

It also allows criminal investigations and invasive searches to be performed against individuals for whom there is no probable cause, and in that regard weakens the presumption of innocence and allows what would in the past have been considered unlawful searches.[15]

An ACTA fact? sheet updated in November 2008, published by the European Commission, states:

ACTA is not designed to negatively affect consumers: the EU legislation (2003 Customs Regulation) has a de minimis clause that exempts travellers from checks if the infringing goods are not part of large scale traffic. EU customs, frequently confronted with traffics of drugs, weapons or people, do neither have the time nor the legal basis to look for a couple of pirated songs on an iPod music player or laptop computer, and there is no intention to change this.[16]

OPINION: Pundits could/would certainly spew/supply the above EU supplied ACTA fact? sheet by the EC as Gospel in the final ACTA laws, I see it only as a possible guidance and certainly NOT a iron-clad agreement on how ACTA is going to be implemented by customs agents and border searches.

Possible ACTA Impacts on Free Software hosting,Linux and file sharing

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has published "Speak out against ACTA", stating that the ACTA threatens free software by creating a culture "in which the freedom that is required to produce free software is seen as dangerous and threatening rather than creative, innovative, and exciting."[17] ACTA would also require that existing ISPs no longer host free software that can access copyrighted media; this would substantially affect many sites that offer free software or host software projects such as SourceForge. Specifically, the FSF argues that ACTA will make it more difficult and expensive to distribute free software via file sharing and P2P technologies like BitTorrent, which are currently used to distribute large amounts of free software. The FSF also argues that ACTA will make it harder for users of free operating systems to play non-free media because DRM protected media would not be legally playable with free software.[17]

In September 2008, a number of interest groups urged parties to the ACTA negotiations to disclose the language of the evolving agreement. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Public Knowledge have filed a FOIA request which was denied.[6]

Both the Bush administration and the Obama administration had rejected requests to make the text of ACTA public, with the White House saying that disclosure would cause "damage to the national security."[18] In 2009, Knowledge Ecology International filed a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request in the United States, but their entire request was denied. The Office of the United States Trade Representative's Freedom of Information office stated the request was withheld for being material "properly classified in the interest of national security."[19]

"The EU and 22 member states sign the controversial ACTA 'Internet Surveillance' Treaty" [21]

22 European Union states, and the EU itself, have today signed the controversial ACTA treaty, which critics say could lead to severe restrictions on freedom and civil liberties online.

As Wired UK reports, at a ceremony in Tokyo, the UK, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden all agreed to adopt ACTA. [21]

As the Stop Acta campaign site [20] explains,the agreement would make ISPs liable for copyright infringements carried out on their networks, leading to them to introduce surveillance technology to keep tabs on their customers’ online activity. A ‘Three strikes’ policy would also be forced upon Internet users, blacklisting them from ISPs after a series of warnings if they were found to have shared files illegally. [21]

Critics also accuse ACTA of introducing important news laws ‘through the back door’, via a trade agreement which will become binding when ratified, instead of via individual countries introducing their own laws which would have to be debated openly in public. [21]

Outside the scope of this initial look on the ACTA Agreements and Laws is who is going to pay for this enormous increase of policing xyz globally. It appears to 'ME' the largely impoverished US,UK and ACTA nations global citizens are the very ones that are going to forced to pay for the increased policing of xyz globally. A very real concern of mine is that once a ACTA agreement has been forged, additional flurry's of new laws will be forced down the throats of the ACTA nations signers under the guise of questionable legal clauses bystepping national debate on ACTA parts 2,3,4.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement#Criticism

[1] USTR. "The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement – Summary of Key Elements Under Discussion" (PDF). http://www.ustr.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/factsheets/2009/asset_upload_file917_15546.pdf

[2] Pilieci, Vito (2008-05-26). "Copyright deal could toughen rules governing info on iPods, computers". http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=ae997868-220b-4dae-bf4f-47f6fc96ce5e&p=1

[3] Australia announced it would join negotiations on 1 February 2008, see the Press release by Simon Crean, Australian Minister for Trade http://www.trademinister.gov.au/releases/2008/sc_012.html

[4] "Proposed US ACTA multi-lateral intellectual property trade agreement (2007)". Wikileaks. 22 May 2008. http://wikileaks.org/w/index.php?title=Proposed_US_ACTA_multi-lateral_intellectual_property_trade_agreement_%282007%29

[5] Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement: Fact or Fiction?". Wired.com. 15 September 2008. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/09/international-i.html

[6] "What is ACTA?". Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Retrieved 1 December 2008. http://www.eff.org/issues/acta

[7] Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement Consolidated Text PUBLIC Predecisional/Deliberative Draft: April 2010 Prepared for Public Release EC.europa.eu http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2010/april/tradoc_146029.pdf

[8] Text of Urgent ACTA Communique — English, Portuguese, French, Korean, Spanish". Wcl.american.edu. 2010-06-23. Retrieved 2012-01-29. http://www.wcl.american.edu/pijip/go/acta-communique

[9] "Over 75 Law Profs Call for Halt of ACTA". Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property. 2010-10-28. Retrieved 2010-11-16. http://www.wcl.american.edu/pijip/go/blog-post/academic-sign-on-letter-to-obama-on-acta

[10] "Sunlight for ACTA". EFF. Retrieved 2008-07-05. http://www.eff.org/action/sunlight-acta

[11] "Proposed US ACTA multi-lateral intellectual property trade agreement (2007)". Wikileaks. 22 May 2008. http://wikileaks.org/w/index.php?title=Proposed_US_ACTA_multi-lateral_intellectual_property_trade_agreement_%282007%29

[12] Weeks, Carly (2008-05-26). "Anti-piracy strategy will help government to spy, critic says". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2008-05-27. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080526.COPYRIGHT26//TPStory/National

[13] Katz, Eddan; Hinze, Gwen (November 2009), "The Impact of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement on the Knowledge Economy: The Accountability of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative for the Creation of IP Enforcement Norms Through Executive Trade Agreements" (PDF), The Yale Journal of International Law, retrieved January 30, 2012 http://www.yjil.org/docs/pub/o-35-katz-hinze-ACTA-on-knowledge-economy.pdf

[14] Nakashima, Ellen (2008-08-01). "Travelers' Laptops May Be Detained At Border". Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-08-01. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/01/AR2008080103030.html?hpid=topnews

[15] Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, Section 4: Criminal Enforcement". Retrieved 2011-01-21. http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2011/may/tradoc_147937.pdf

[16] Fact Sheet: Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement" (PDF). European Commission. 23 October 2007 (Updated November 2008). Retrieved 27 November 2009. http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2008/october/tradoc_140836.11.08.pdf

[17] "Speak out against ACTA". Free Software Foundation. http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/acta/

[18] McCullagh, Declan (2010-05-07). "Google attorney slams ACTA copyright treaty". News.cnet.com. Retrieved 2012-01-29. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20004450-38.html

[19] James Love (2009-03-12). "Obama Administration Rules Texts of New IPR Agreement are State Secrets". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2009-03-12. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love/obama-administration-rule_b_174450.html

[20] Stop Acta http://www.stopacta.info/

[21] The EU and 22 member states sign the controversial ACTA Internet Surveillance Treaty http://thenextweb.com/eu/2012/01/26/the-eu-and-22-member-states-sign-the-controversial-acta-internet-censorship-treaty/

[ASmith]

(Wikileaked US State Department) Cables Reveal (Horrific) Extent of US Copyright Pressure on Sweden [1][2]

"The (US Global) hunt for ordinary Joes who share music and movies with one another has been behind the largest dismantlement of civil liberties in modern history, and American interests have been behind every part of it." [2]

"Among the treasure troves of recently released WikiLeaks (U.S.) cables, we find one whose significance has bypassed Swedish media. In short: every law proposal, every ordinance, and every governmental report hostile to the net, youth, and civil liberties here in Sweden in recent years have been commissioned by the US government and industry interests." How such prestigious nations with such long and proud histories, like Sweden, The Netherlands, and so on, can succumb to pressure from a former colony is beyond me. We should know better. [2]

The Only Thing You Need To Know About ACTA [3]

If ACTA doesn’t change anything, why are they (USA Corporate Trade/Entertainment Industrys) pushing for its passage as if their life depended on it? [3]

If the (US) copyright industry is pushing for its life for something to pass, while pretending it’s not a change at all, and preventing lawmakers (And Public Agencys) from understanding the concepts defined (by US Presidents Bush-Obama claiming 'national security'), what do you think it contains? [3]

European Commission (Website) Slip Reveals Censorship in ACTA [4]


EU has slipped in a non-pirated qualifier opening up a huge can of worms on Internet Users while US Gov. agencys compile a huge list of academic and other documents,files which THEY would then spew were 'pirated'.

“Non-pirated”. Everybody will be free to share “non-pirated” material. All of a sudden, there is a qualifier to what information we are able to share on the net; this qualifier has never been there before. We have always been able to send whatever we like, and possibly answer for it afterwards. [4]

Commentarys:

The Copyright Industry: A Century Of Deceit [5]

What we have here is a century of deceit, and a century revealing the internal culture inherent in the copyright industry. Every time something new appears, the copyright industry has learned to cry and throw tantrums like a spoiled brat, and succeeds practically every time to get (AIPAC Lobby owned) (US) legislators to channel taxpayer money their way or restrict competing industries. And every time the copyright industry succeeds in doing so, this behaviour is further reinforced.[5]

DRM Needs To Be Banned Because It’s Toxic [6]

DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) is a type of fraud that robs citizens of their lawful rights. The copyright monopoly is chock full of exceptions that allow copying in many circumstances; DRM takes no notice of this whatsoever but establishes and enforces a superset of restrictions that goes well above and beyond those of the law. [6]

References:

[1] Cables Reveal Extent of US Copyright Pressure on Sweden http://www.osnews.com/story/25580/Cables_Reveal_Extent_of_US_Copyright_Pressure_on_Sweden
[2] Cable Reveals Extent of Lapdoggery From Swedish Govt On Copyright Monopoly http://falkvinge.net/2011/09/05/cable-reveals-extent-of-lapdoggery-from-swedish-govt-on-copyright-monopoly/
[3] The Only Thing You Need To Know About ACTA http://falkvinge.net/2012/01/28/the-only-thing-you-need-to-know-about-acta/
[4] European Commission Slip Reveals Censorship in ACTA http://falkvinge.net/2012/02/03/european-commission-slip-reveals-censorship-in-acta/
[5] The Copyright Industry:A Century Of Deceit http://falkvinge.net/2012/01/27/the-copyright-industry-a-century-of-deceit/
[6] DRM Needs To Be Banned Because It's Toxic http://torrentfreak.com/drm-needs-to-be-banned-because-its-toxic-111016/

[ASmith]

It is with a sad note that the UK has passed it's ACTA law which has a 10 YEAR Prison Sentence to UK citizens downloading anything the 'English Empire' deems as Illegal. Such ambiguity shielded under 'National Security' concerns appears to simply pave the way to arrest and imprison ANY UK citizen for real or imagined Internet or device usage if the rulers of Queensland so chose.

What I mean more specifically is that it is entirely unclear exactly what is deemed illegal although it is clear the UK powers that be would make that determination. Such an extremely broad ruling appears to place a terrorist spy cause upon all internet activity which the citizen would not only have to prove they were utterly innocent, the UK ACTA LAW could be applied and construed to remove activists, political opponents, whistle blowers among perceived enemys of the Queensland under the mere guise of illegality after seizing that citizens computers, devices, laptops, tablets, cell phones.

Until trials by panels of citizens are arrayed against a defendant over simply a ISP log record which is not collaborated on that person's computers, laptop or Internet device (because the defendant had the forethought to employ full disk encryption (three-fish, serpent or both) OR had the brief heads up to securely wipe their hard-drives before they were seized, it is difficult to determine how such 'remote' incidental evidence could be shaped into placing a individual into prison for 10 yrs. YOU were certain that was a free game, later you find the police are telling you that is copyrighted and demanding sales slips for that and dozens of movies you have in digital format, no sales slip resulting in a single charge for each.

Now, it seems that downloading content from a file-sharing website has been put on a par with “Class A drugs, people smuggling and human trafficking, major gun crime, fraud and money laundering.” [1]

Opinion:
More than likely, a great many UK Internet users will be summarily charged with a violation of the new ACTA UK law and the various police agency's in Britain will then own that individual swinging a 10yr. sentence over their head to extort or steer them into working for them or performing various duty's for them. I could certainly extort and tell the readers, I told you this was coming but such a crass reality and loss of liberty's and freedom's is nothing to cheer about. Not even to the nuts wanting to pass out the 'tin foil hats' to those including myself that warned this would happen, it's simply a sad event like the death of a friend.

References:

[1] ACTA in UK: 10 years in prison for 'illegal downloads' http://rt.com/news/acta-uk-illegal-downloading-jail-753/
[2] How to Protect Your Hard Drives from Goose Stepping Gov Data Forensics http://null-byte.wonderhowto.com/blog/dont-get-caught-protect-your-hard-drives-from-data-forensics-0133751/
[3] Download and burn .ISO image of Darik's Boot and Nuke onto a CD for emergency secure wipe on your hard-drives http://sourceforge.net/projects/dban/
[4] You can apply multi-encryption algorithms across entire hard-drives, or just directory's or files using True Crypt http://www.truecrypt.org/
[5] Add Option of Full Disk Encryption to all future Linux Mint http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=88688
[6] Does disk encryption really protect your data from unauthorised access by gov.agencys or more common thugs and thieves? YES provided the passphrase is strong enough along with a strong multi-encryption algorithm http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2011/12/05/does-disk-encryption-really-protect-your-data-from-unauthorized-access/
[7] Linux and BDS desktop distributions with support for full disk encryption http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2011/07/26/linux-and-bsd-desktop-distributions-with-support-for-disk-encryption/
[8] How to install Linux Mint Debian Edition on an encrypted LVM file system http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2011/01/01/how-to-install-linux-mint-debian-edition-on-an-encrypted-lvm-file-system/
[9] Full Disk Encryption easy HOWTO-Linux Mint Community http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/344
[10] Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM) for Linux distros to configure and manage quick and easy full disk encryption installations http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2008/11/17/linux-logical-volume-manager/#
[11] The Benefits of Using Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM) http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2008/09/24/the-benefits-of-using-linux-logical-volume-manager/
[12] Include the New PRIVACY SWEEP Feature In Mint 13 LTS http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=96111

[Lasher]

Outstanding post. Thankyou for the information!