ACTA Passed, we failed.

[Grunt_Man11]

Here's a fantastic post on reddit that should clear up what ACTA actually does and how it'll affect you. Apply critical thinking and you're educated.

http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/or8ag/ive_read_the_final_version_of_acta_heres_what_you/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzS5rSvZXe8 perhaps this will convince those who are "apathetic." What people don't seem to understand is that much of the piracy is in fact supported and distributed by media companies themselves. Yet they are never held responsible for their own actions. Companies like CBS are some of the biggest hypocrites I have ever seen in a long time.

I hope you haven't been getting all your information from a Youtube video, made up your mind, then found other people who reaffirm that opinion (likely others who have seen the video) and taken that it's fact. Do try to look at both sides of the debate, will you? Jumping to conclusions based on half the story is... well it's not exactly smart.

And if you found out about this via Youtube and made your mind up on the spot then I beg you to stop doing that.

So, that's ACTA. It's a treaty, and not a bill. It's also not as bad as people are making it out to be.

Oh, I think this is an important part of the article to point out.

Key point here. The treaty clearly states that it does not, and can not, make countries infringe their own civil liberties and rights in pursuance of the agreement. Again, it is up to the public to make sure their legislators deal with this fairly.

See? Now can we all calm down? Of course, be sure to read the entire article because it does address, (calmly I might add), potential issues that might occur.

Thank you Andy of Comix Inc for having the guts to actually think and get the whole story, instead of succumbing to fear-mongering and sensationalism.

 

[Vegosiux]

It's called trusting the people that govern Earth.

Now why would you want to do a silly thing like that?

I sure wouldn't trust myself to govern Earth and I'm one of the most trustworthy people I know...

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Obama proves irreversibly and forever that he is a real piece of shit who just doesn't give a fuck and has SIGNED ACTA: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/10/us-signs-international-anti-piracy-accord.ars

I know Ireland has signed ACTA too, haven't heard about any other countries as of yet, but it's so late in the game by now that even if we knew we couldn't stop it.

So congratulations everyone! Our combined apathy and inattentiveness has completely fuced over the internet we love and enjoy.

All we can hope to do now is damage control, and stop the Trans-Pacific Parternership, WHICH IS EVEN WORSE THAN ACTA: http://www.ustr.gov/tpp
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110105/02301112524/son-acta-worse-meet-tpp-trans-pacific-partnership-agreement.shtml

And, although it goes without saying, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35TbGjt-weA

It is not over here in the States! D:

IT HAS TO PASS CONGRESS TO BE LAW HERE!!!!!!

WE SHALL FIGHT IT IN THE HOUSE! WE WILL FIGHT IT IN THE SENATE!

But sadly... I cannot say the same for the other nations, I don't know how treaties become law in those nations.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

"Oh noes, teh guvermunts iz tryin to taek awai mah toruntz n ileegul downlodes, FUCKING PANIC IN THE STREETS."

This is what you are doing. Stop it. Now. You look incredibly silly. And it's not because of your hat. It's because you're a douche.

Actually you look quite ridiculous if think this is just about the internet and how how little you know about the 3 year running trade agreement.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

This bill can't mean much. It would have been on the news, we would have had more internet blackouts and I'm pretty sure anonymous would have something to say about it too .

They already have against Irish sites.

b

Jesus fucking Christ, son, you are actually accusing him of being paid off because he does not feel ACTA is the end of the world?

He does not agree with you and fall into perfect lockstep with your wild and unfocused, thoroughly unresearched and sadly fucking ignorant hyperbole, therefore he is a shill for the MPAA?

Really?

Really?

Here, let's play a game.

Why don't you explain to me what you think ACTA is and does.

I am... fascinated to hear this. Riveted. On the edge of my fucking seat.

before you start typing, though, please keep in mind that I have actually read it. (have you?)

Proceed.

ACTA is the latest attempt by major companies to control and censor what they don't understand and refuse to adapt to. In this case, the internet.

In this case, it is to lobby a gateway treaty to introduce another bill so that it can reach farther places. After the right laws are in place, they'll be able to legally overpower any website that challenges them or gains any support against them. Widening the gap between the lower and higher classes.

It is hardly a new attempt. You know this has been going on for 3 years and it is more than just an internet agreement.

Here's a fantastic post on reddit that should clear up what ACTA actually does and how it'll affect you. Apply critical thinking and you're educated.

http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/or8ag/ive_read_the_final_version_of_acta_heres_what_you/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzS5rSvZXe8 perhaps this will convince those who are "apathetic." What people don't seem to understand is that much of the piracy is in fact supported and distributed by media companies themselves. Yet they are never held responsible for their own actions. Companies like CBS are some of the biggest hypocrites I have ever seen in a long time.

I hope you haven't been getting all your information from a Youtube video, made up your mind, then found other people who reaffirm that opinion (likely others who have seen the video) and taken that it's fact. Do try to look at both sides of the debate, will you? Jumping to conclusions based on half the story is... well it's not exactly smart.

And if you found out about this via Youtube and made your mind up on the spot then I beg you to stop doing that.

So, that's ACTA. It's a treaty, and not a bill. It's also not as bad as people are making it out to be.

Oh, I think this is an important part of the article to point out.

Key point here. The treaty clearly states that it does not, and can not, make countries infringe their own civil liberties and rights in pursuance of the agreement. Again, it is up to the public to make sure their legislators deal with this fairly.

See? Now can we all calm down? Of course, be sure to read the entire article because it does address, (calmly I might add), potential issues that might occur.

Thank you Andy of Comix Inc for having the guts to actually think and get the whole story, instead of succumbing to fear-mongering and sensationalism.

This is more than just an internet thing as people keep pointing out and scaremongering aside this has the potential for real impact in the pharmaceutical industry as well as having laws actually introduced so it can be enforced. The fact that this has been all hush hush should be enough of a warning to know it is not in our best interests.

Also no need to circle jerk just because you found someone on the internet that agrees with you does not make you or them the bastion of sense. There are real pros and cons to this people fail to see.

 

[Grunt_Man11]

This is more than just an internet thing as people keep pointing out and scaremongering aside this has the potential for real impact in the pharmaceutical industry as well as having laws actually introduced so it can be enforced. The fact that this has been all hush hush should be enough of a warning to know it is not in our best interests.

Also no need to circle jerk just because you found someone on the internet that agrees with you does not make you or them the bastion of sense. There are real pros and cons to this people fail to see.

That's why I encourage reading the whole article. It addresses all concerns the treaty possesses, but does so in a way that doesn't involve rabid, "OMFG, teh interwebs iz ded!!!!!1111111 FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!111111", ignorance.

ACTA is not as bad, for the internet, as SOPA was. However, there's nothing wrong with vigilance, (especially since, as you and others have stated, ACTA goes beyond the virtual realm of the internet). Just don't let it de-evolve into sensational paranoia.

I'm just asking people like the OP to calm down and think a little before jumping to conclusions.

 

[Jodah]

ive been mentioning in all the stop acta threads that people are 3 months to late to stop it but apparently people would just prefer to ignore that little stumbling block

Yeah, I've given up on ACTA. I've moved on to the bill that is disguised as a child porn bill.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

So, i personally just need to know this, after reading the Reddit post and getting a good feel for it. Am I, someone who might want to travel on a flight across the border or something, at a high risk of them searching my computer and iPod? Am I going to get massively screwed every time I wanna leave the country?

It completely depends on the laws of the country you travel to. If you just assume that the laws will be the same as in your home country, you are opening yourself to a world of hurt.

Uh, say I wanna fly to the States, while I live in Canada?

 

[newwiseman]

I thought we covered the "Treaties Are Not Laws" lesson in this class before I left for summer.

 

[Keava]

This bill can't mean much. It would have been on the news, we would have had more internet blackouts and I'm pretty sure anonymous would have something to say about it too .

That's because ACTA was kept in secret from public opinion and various NGOs throughout the whole process, and only got revealed by Wikileaks year ago. After initial outrage from big part of internet, they returned to working on it in same manner as before.
The whole signing process was voted for in EU in last year, the report on it was published on 48th page of a report about state of fishing in EU, so no one even looked there.

Anonymous does something about that. There is a relatievely new post on AnonOps, they recently DDoSed few sites as well. Thing is governments like to keep it quiet and media follow.

No. ACTA is not same as SOPA. It's very different but still very dangerous way of influencing law by big companies. It's another attempt of controlling trade and exchange by few big players on the market. It's also another attempt of tracking what people do on the internet, among other things.

 

[Hunter15]

Gentleman
its been an honor to blog and comment with you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPLcZ5Rk3Lg&feature=related

 

[Tommeh Brownleh]

Honestly I can't really fight this battle anymore. The media companies are refusing to adapt, and politely asking isn't going to work. They have enough money to shove these through as quickly as possible, and if this doesn't work, they're pulling every dirty trick in the book with the Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act. We may be in the right here, but being on the good guy's side doesn't always mean you'll win. I give up.

 

[ResonanceSD]

I'm not worried about ACTA because no one else is.

If I haven't heard of it, it's probably not a big deal.

It's called trusting the people that govern Earth.

\

Look at 90% of the posts in this thread. most of them either don't understand what ACTA is or are conspiracy theorists. "Trusting DA GUBMNT" isn't going to happen.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

I hope you get your money's worth out of the MPAA for that. :\

If this was an issue of corporations controlling free speech, I'd be against it. Of course I would. But this isn't. It's countries of the world slamming down on illegal trade practices . How is... how is this bad?! THERE'S NO CENSORSHIP INVOLVED! IN THE SLIGHTEST!! THE MPAA...

...yes. I'm rolling around in checks right now. The MPAA paid me really well, to speak out for this treaty that doesn't affect them in the slightest.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

Well, even if you grant that all that is true, the real issue is whether copyright law is good in the first place. Making something bad universal for the sake of consistency is not improving the situation.

Umm... yes. Copyright law (for individuals) is good. Very good. As someone who creates my own material, I like actually owning my IP. It's where my income comes from. So I can afford to eat 'n shit.

Copyright for corporations might not be so hot, but that's something we'll have to deal with, and when they lash out as with SOPA and PIPA, we slap them back down. International copyright law is great. Mostly. By breaking down borders it means that the few people who don't already abide to trade laws (mostly places like China and Korea), it simply means they have an obligation to do something about infingements. That's a good thing.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

Look? Guys? Will you all please calm down. Some of you are calm. That's awesome. You're all brilliant. Some of you are predicting the doom of everything you hold precious, though.

I want you all to do several things for me.

One: read the treaty itself. Throw out everything you already know if you haven't read it; just throw it all away, and read the treaty. It's likely not as bad as you think of it.

Two: If someone disagrees with your point on it, reason with them. I was accused of being bribed by the MPAA, a corporation that I associate with Dick Dastardly. That wasn't good reasoning. That was delusion. I didn't enjoy that, and their opinion was rendered void thusly.

Three: Please... stop assuming everything is evil. People are assuming that SOPA/PIPA are following onto ACTA, like it's a trend of four-lettered ending-in-"A" laws that will impede on their freedoms. SOPA and PIPA were bad apples that were going to ruin the internet forever. ACTA... not so much. It's not brilliant, it makes things harsher on law abiding citizens and it's worded vaguely enough to make that an issue. But it's not evil.

...I know, I KNOW, that people saying dumb, uneducated things on the internet is the norm. But we are discussing international politics here. Would it kill you to do your own research that didn't involve watching bloggers talk about it on Youtube? Some of you have, of course, and are siding against ACTA for well thought-out, good reasons. Others have taken a neutral stance. Some agree with it. I'm neutral to the treaty for now, of course; until its affects are actually become near enough to be called "impending" with a straight face, I'll watch and see where it goes. It's nowhere near finalized and the sentiments behind it are fair.

But I can see reasons to be both for and against this treaty, and the way it was handled and presented. If you don't, however, take some initiative and do your own research, make up your own mind, you'll come off as a screaming lunatic. This isn't a LOT that I ask. It's mostly common sense. We're discussing a fairly serious topic here and those of you who are screaming from the rooftops will only go to exasperate the desperation further. We need to be cool and calm and collected. I do hope you can deal with that.

To everyone who's done their research and is speaking from an educated viewpoint: thank you so, so much, for treating this important topic with the respect and care it deserves.

 

[Lionsfan]

I'll be glad once we all get over this annoying (and slightly hypocrtical) "dah intahnet is ehn danger the gubbement is evil" phase and maybe move on to freaking out about something else. Like those aliens. Up to something, I tell ya.

Mandatory Image:

Now, In regards to my atrocious spelling habits lets conduct an experiment.

A. 2+2=4
B. two plus two equals four
C. tu plas tu ekwals four

Now although the spelling in sentence C is very poor(far worse in fact than my spelling errors)and is different than both A and B it's obvious correctness isn't negated by this fact.

And actually Sentence C is complete gibberish. Tu, plas, ekwals aren't real words, therefore there was nothing correct about sentence C.

And I'm going to have with [user]xvbones[/user] on this one; it's the constant boy-cries-wolf that has people not caring about politics. They just get so tired of dealing with people over exaggerating the impact of legislation that it's not worth it to pay attention since life won't be changed for the most part. Why do you think it took so long for SOPA protests to get started? Because people had just been bombarded by over-zealous fools who didn't know what they were talking about, and how the new NDAA is going to turn America into a fascist police state when SURPRISE! Nothing happened[footnote]Just like with the Patriot Act[/footnote].

 

[superbatranger]

Lol, dude, the treaty is about HARDWARE PIRACY, like DVD-bootlegging. This isn't SOPA. The internet will be fine.

In my eyes, ACTA is potentially worse. SOPA could have killed the internet. ACTA could kill so much more. Humans, for one thing.

Humans are more important to you than the internet? Your priorities are ridiculously skewed man.

We must educate him.

 

[RamirezDoEverything]

Well. Fuck.

This is just saddening news, our rights are being taken away from us slowly.

NDAA, ACTA, what next?

 

[SenseOfTumour]

I've had enough of companies selling us hardware that will never be ours and games that have expired. I'm hunkering down with cookies and milk and hitting my books.

No one can ACTA, SOPA or 'it's-not-yours-you-only-paid-for-the-right-to-bring-it-home' books.

What with SOPA etc messing with the internet and Cameron doing his best to close libraries all over the UK, anyone like to join my conspiracy theory that world leaders know that a dumb, uneducated population is more easily controlled and, on a side note, that's how Simon Cowell, Piers Morgan and Jeremy Kyle get so much airtime despite no-one I know having a good word for any of them?

What concerns me most about SOPA, and in fact most new laws is they keep seeming to push them thru with gaping holes in, meaning they can just screw around and do what they like.

Look how the 'necessary powers' brought in by anti terrorism laws were being used on peaceful protests for example, or even just on groups of 3 teenagers to make them move along.

The terrorists supposedly hate us for our freedoms, damn, we should send em a map with Sweden and Holland marked on it, we'd never hear from them again.