If you’ve forgotten, ACTA is the fantastic secret treaty where corporations attempt to get you banned from the internet if they suspect you might be pirating their intellectual property. Some people are rightly upset at this and have been working to get it out in the public.
The most laudable man behind blowing the cover and exposing this crap for what it is, Michael Geist, has just put up part three of his continuing look at ACTA and tries to explain from where all the secrecy stems and why.
To sum it up:
The inescapable conclusion is that the ACTA approach is hardly standard. Rather, it represents a major shift toward greater secrecy in the negotiation of international treaties on intellectual property in an obvious attempt to avoid public participation and scrutiny.
And how. I mean who would think the public would be upset by being banned from the internet for mere suspicion by the RIAA or MPAA. That nice new fancy Apple iPad would be mostly worthless without an internet connection.
Hell, we are waging a battle of words with other countries (China) over internet policies and the next version of the military industrial complex will be squarely focused on said internet.
The internet is the future of information and social exchange – too fucking right there needs to be some public participation and scrutiny on a global treaty where corporate greed is allowed to cut you off from what is fast becoming a basic utility with no due process and no review.
I think everyone owes Geist a beer or two for continuing to keep this matter out in the limelight where it belongs.
[...] To bring you up to speed on ACTA, check out what I wrote last month. [...]
[...] Though it has been quiet, lobbyists are still forcing ACTA on countries like an international date rape fest. If you’ve forgotten about ACTA I blogged about it previously here. [...]