What ACTA Is

ACTA is a worldwide treaty being signed in numerous countries - some of which have already signed it. The greater majority of earth's population, it would seem (or at least those who know of it and what it is), strongly oppose ACTA. Those who are pro-ACTA are in the entertainment industry, as a rule.


A glance at what ACTA will do:

ACTA calls for cooperation between copyright-holders and ISPs (Internet Service Providers). The ISPs must provide copyright-holders with the private data (both browsing and other personal information) of their customers whenever the copyright-holders request it, or face civil sanctions - "aiding and abetting", from what I understand. This more or less forces the cooperation of the ISPs, and bypasses the need for an order/warrant from a judge. However, they don't need to show proof of copyright infringements in order to ask police to take action (monetary/jail penalties, surveillance or collection of evidence). This too bypasses the need for a judge, as well as the citizen in question's right to a trial, fair or otherwise. Once it is in place, ACTA will be controlled by an "ACTA commitee" - keeping further developments out of the hands of democracy.

To sum up: The entertainment industry can look at all your private information whenever they want, accuse you of whatever they want, and get you thrown in jail for as long as they want. And if loopholes are found, or people don't like it, the ACTA committee will "fix" things as they see fit.

It's very loose and open to interpretation in many areas, and the entertainment industry will use it to their advantage. It has the potential to shut down blogging platforms, p2p networks, free software, cyber lockers, deviantArt, Photobucket, Flickr, Imgur, and even Wikipedia.


Help act against ACTA - spread the word, and join the fight! ACTA must be stopped if we want to retain our rights, privacy, and keep the Internet the way it is. The minimum you'd have to do is simply make a tweet about it, or write about it on your Facebook page. People will notice. Then they'll learn.