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

Riaz K Tayob riaz.tayob at gmail.com
Sat Jan 28 04:43:33 EST 2012


I would not go that far, but it does seem like it flows to those with 
crazy values...!

It is a values crisis (left and right in Europe mostly share the same 
predilections, but the European left parties have been equally good at 
delivering neoliberal values). Self interest can lead to the common 
good, it just depends.

But is it not surprising that during a right-wing turn in Europe and 
concerns about foreigners taking locals's jobs that ACTA would be 
passed, and it will actually make it easier for outsourcing of 
production to other countries? Or that low intensity democracy is used 
as a shield for instituting new forms of oppression?

And perhaps it is just me, but does the American system seems to have a 
better quality bun fight over issues like this than Europe?


On 2012/01/27 08:07 PM, ricardo ruiz wrote:
> sad. Very short-minded people gorvernments from EU and US. Attached to
> the past, with no solutions for a already existing new world. "money,
> money, money, people, is the root of all the evil"
>
> Deus salve MacunaĆ­ma no fim dos tempos -
>
> Best and good luck for us, poor citizens,
>
> R
>
> 2012/1/27, Riaz K Tayob<riaz.tayob at gmail.com>:
>> [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


More information about the Governance mailing list