As we've discussed, the ACTA took all of this country's worst copyright ideas --many of them enshrined in the controversial DMCA -- made them considerably worse, then foisted them upon much of the globe with little to no real public discussion. With SOPA temporarily derailed due to public disgust, attention is now shifting to the entertainment-industry-written awfulness that is the ACTA. Combined with the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) these agreements do a number of things, but most notable for our readership is the effort to ensure ISPs must be held liable for the content shared on their networks.
SOPA opponents are hoping some activism can rub off on attempts to stop the ACTA and TPP, and have started a new petition trying to erode ACTA support. Poland meanwhile is reviewing their decision to sign off on ACTA after the websites of the prime minister, parliament and other government offices were taken offline by Anonymous. Apparently the combination of the attacks combined with public outrage caused Polish leaders to rethink their position:
And Michal Boni, the minister for administration and digitization, acknowledged in a radio interview Monday that the government had failed to hold enough consultations with the public on the matter. An opposition party, the Democratic Left Alliance, also called on the government to not sign in it in a gesture of solidarity with those who warn it could hurt Internet freedom.
While there were victories had last week, the mindset and dysfunctional global political systems that allowed SOPA/PIPA to exist in the first place remain intact. It's driven by a United States entertainment industry that stubbornly refuses to adapt to the broadband age and has resorted to burning down the house in an effort to save the baby: passing awful protectionist laws to prop up dying middleman legacy business models, regardless on the repercussions for free speech, free markets, artist payouts or the proper functioning of the Internet.As SOPA has shown, the growing U.S. public disgust at the actions of the government, MPAA and RIAA (now operating as one unified organization) could prove particularly toxic in the upcoming U.S. Presidential elections. Such actions are even less popular across the pond where citizens are already sensitive about their leaders becoming errand boys for American interests.
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