[governance] BBC: European Parliament rapporteur quits in Acta protest

[Riaz K Tayob]

[1 person, just one person... !]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16757142 European Parliament 
rapporteur quits in Acta protest Comments (90) By Dave Lee Technology 
Reporter Mr Arif's resignation follows protests in several locations 
across Poland Negotiations over a controversial anti-piracy agreement 
have been described as a "masquerade" by a key Euro MP. Kader Arif, the 
European Parliament's rapporteur for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade 
Agreement (Acta), resigned over the issue on Friday. He said he had 
witnessed "never-before-seen manoeuvres" by officials preparing the 
treaty. On Thursday, 22 EU member states including the UK signed the 
agreement. The treaty still needs to be ratified by the European 
Parliament before it can be enacted. A debate is scheduled to take place 
in June. Mr Arif criticised the efforts to push forward with the 
measures ahead of those discussions taking place. "I condemn the whole 
process which led to the signature of this agreement: no consultation of 
the civil society, lack of transparency since the beginning of 
negotiations, repeated delays of the signature of the text without any 
explanation given, reject of Parliament's recommendations as given in 
several resolutions of our assembly." Mr Arif's decision to stand down 
follows protests by campaigners in Poland. Thousands of demonstrators 
took to the streets after the agreement was signed. Crowds of mostly 
young people held banners with slogans such as "no to censorship" and "a 
free internet". Earlier in the week, hackers attacked several Polish 
government websites, including that of Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The 
country's Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski defended the plans, telling 
local television: "We believe that theft on a massive scale of 
intellectual property is not a good thing." 'Legitimate demands' 
Campaigners' concerns have been buoyed by Mr Arif's strongly-worded 
statement released on Friday. "This agreement can have major 
consequences on citizens' lives," he wrote. "However, everything is made 
to prevent the European Parliament from having its say in this matter. I 
want to send a strong signal and alert the public opinion about this 
unacceptable situation. I will not take part in this masquerade." The 
treaty has caused controversy since an early discussion paper was 
published by Wikileaks in 2008 - two years after negotiations first 
began. The details were subsequently confirmed in 2010. People took to 
the streets across Poland to protest against Acta If ratified, it 
proposes to improve "the enforcement of intellectual property rights" in 
participating countries. It suggests setting international standards 
over how copyright infringements are dealt with, with preventative 
measures including possible imprisonment and fines. The UK's 
Intellectual Property Office has backed the measures, describing piracy 
as a "major global issue". "Yesterday's signing of Acta is important for 
the UK as it will set an international standard for tackling large-scale 
infringements of IPR, through the creation of common enforcement 
standards and more effective international cooperation. Importantly, it 
aims to improve the enforcement of existing IPR laws, not create new 
ones," it said. 'Dangerous' Darrell Issa, a US senator and vocal critic 
of the stalled Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa), voiced his concerns about 
Acta at the World Economics Forum in Davos. "As a member of Congress, 
it's more dangerous than Sopa," he said. "It's not coming to me for a 
vote. It purports that it does not change existing laws. But once 
implemented, it creates a whole new enforcement system and will 
virtually tie the hands of Congress to undo it." In addition to 
internet-based measures, the agreement also seeks to curb trade of 
counterfeited physical goods. Past drafts of the treaty suggested that 
internet service providers would have to give up data about users 
accused of copyright infringement and might have to cut them off - 
although this segment of the agreement has since been removed. Outside 
of the EU, the treaty has also been signed by the US, Australia, Canada, 
Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea. In response to 
Mr Arif's resignation, a spokesman for the European Commission told the 
BBC: "Mr Arif and other members of the European Parliament's [Committee 
on International Trade] have had access to successive versions of the 
Acta text. The full text has been fully public since April 2010. It was 
made available in the first place because the European Commission 
convinced the other countries to publish this text. "There have been 
four stakeholder conferences since 2008, and at least three speeches in 
the European Parliament on Acta. And now there will be a full debate. 
This is exactly what the normal process is. "But most importantly Acta 
does not change any EU laws, it simply levels the playing field so that 
other countries match our standards. There is no threat to internet 
freedom or privacy. Everything you can do legally today in the EU, you 
would be legally able to do if Acta is ratified."

-------------- next part --------------
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.igcaucus.org
To be removed from the list, visit:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing

For all other list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/governance
To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/

Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t