(2009-04-22) Doctorow Acta Process

Cory Doctorow on the ACTA Copy Right-oriented International Trade treaty. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a draft treaty among a bunch of rich countries that is supposed to combat "increase in global trade of counterfeit goods and pirated Copy Right protected works." It's a private, multilateral negotiation that's taking place without the benefit of the United Nations' World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the UN agency where copyright treaties are normally negotiated. WIPO is open to all the world's nations and to lots of non-governmental agencies (activists and corporate lobbyists alike), and it publishes public minutes. ACTA is taking place in the proverbial smoke-filled room, and its provisions are nominally secret. Still, though ACTA is nominally private - the actual treaty language has been classified by the Barack Obama White House as secret due to "NationalSecurity" (!) - we actually know rather a lot about its provisions... WIPO used to be the kind of place where corporate entertainment giants could go to get their farcical wishlists for Internet regulations rubber-stamped with a minimum of fuss. Once WIPO green-lit the rule, it spread like a virus to all the countries that could be arm-twisted into signing the treaty. But delivering expensive, corrosive privileges to entertainment companies is bad politics if you plan on getting re-elected. It only works well if all the negotiations take place in secret and no one gets to see the ugly, greedy horse-trading that happens behind the scenes.

Seriously, though: What's in ACTA? Here are some highlights:... Does this mean that your IPod will be inspected at the border? Maybe. Your Lap Top? More likely... Criminalizing copyright infringements that are currently only civil offenses.