[vox] [fwd] Action against ACTA: Sign the petition supporting a firm, simple declaration against ACTA

[Bill Kendrick]

Seen on the Free Software Foundation's "GNU Generation" mailing list:

I'm only just learning about this, but here are some key points
posted at http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/acta/ (also see:
http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/acta/why-acta-declaration )

  "ACTA's official name is "Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement", but
  the term "counterfeiting" in this context is a distortion of the word
  and a misrepresentation of the issues [...]

  ACTA threatens free software
  1. It makes it more difficult to distribute free software [regarding P2P like
     BitTorrent]
  2. It will make it harder for users of free operating systems to
     play media: Consumers may no longer be able to buy media without DRM
     -- and DRMed media cannot be played with free software.
  [...etc.]"


Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement )
mentions, in the "Criticism" section:

  "The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a proposed
  plurilateral agreement for establishing international standards on
  intellectual property rights enforcement. [...] The Electronic
  Frontier Foundation opposes ACTA, calling for more public spotlight on
  the proposed treaty [...] An open letter signed by many organizations,
  including Consumers International, EDRi (27 European civil rights and
  privacy NGOs), the Free Software Foundation (FSF), the Electronic
  Frontier Foundation (EFF), ASIC (French trade association for web 2.0
  companies), the Free Knowledge Institute (FKI) states that "the
  current draft of ACTA would profoundly restrict the fundamental rights
  and freedoms of European citizens, most notably the freedom of
  expression and communication privacy.""

-bill!

----- Forwarded message from Danny Piccirillo -----

Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:22:48 -0400
From: Danny Piccirillo
Subject: Action against ACTA: Sign the petition supporting a firm, simple declaration against ACTA

Here's the petition: http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/acta/acta-declaration

And if you're on identica and reddit:
http://identi.ca/notice/36556026
http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/duplicates/cfrcj/

    *      ACTA must respect sharing and cooperation: it must do
nothing that would hinder the unremunerated noncommercial making,
copying, giving, lending, owning, using, transporting, importing or
exporting of any objects or works.
    *      ACTA must not weasel about what is commercial: no labeling
of any noncommercial activities as somehow commercial-like or treating
them as if they were commercial.
    *      ACTA must not tighten digital handcuffs: it must not hinder
any activity in regard to any product on account of its capacity to
circumvent technical measures that restrict use of copies of works of
authorship.
    *      ACTA must not interfere with individuals' noncommercial use
of the Internet (whether or not carried out using commmercial Internet
services) or undermine individuals' right or ability to connect to the
Internet.
    *      ACTA must not require anyone to collect or release any data
about individuals' use of the Internet. It must not harm privacy
rights or other human rights.
    *      ACTA must not hold the companies that implement the
Internet responsible for the substance of their customers'
communications. (For example, no punishment by disconnection, neither
explicitly required or indirectly compelled.)
    *      ACTA must not require copyright or patents, or any law
similar to one of those, to attach to any particular sort of thing or
idea.
    *      ACTA must not make any requirements about what acts
constitute civil infringement, or what acts constitute criminal
infringement, of copyright law, or patent law, or any law similar to
one of those.
    *      ACTA must not use the propaganda term "intellectual
property" or try to treat copyright law and patent law as a single
issue.
    *      ACTA must not stretch the term "counterfeiting" to apply to
copyright or patent infringement.
    *      If ACTA includes a mechanism for amendment, it must apply
these requirements to all future amendments of ACTA.

Or, as a simpler alternative,

    * Cancel ACTA entirely. Although parts of it are not
objectionable, they are secondary to ACTA's threat to our freedom.
Unless we are sure that the repressive aspects of ACTA are blocked,
the main significance of ACTA is as a threat to society. Killing ACTA
would be a fine way to get rid of this threat.


-- 
.danny

????????? - http://www.google.com/profiles/danny.piccirillo
Every (in)decision matters.

----- End forwarded message -----

-- 
-bill!
Sent from my computer