Ce inseamna ACTA

We’re sorry but we are interrupting this program because the big corporations cannot adapt their internet business so then they do everything possible to control it. Further we will discuss about ACTA, what is it and why it is so important to oppose it. ACTA or Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is a legislative initiative whose purpose is to create unanimously accepted standards at international level in relation to protecting the intellectual property. It was signed for the first time on 1st October 2011 by Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and United States of America. Shortly, by ACTA the signatory states want to stop the production of counterfeit goods, generic medicines and the distribution of pirated material on the internet. Sounds relatively harmless, just content producers wanting to defend their …content. Well the situation is not so rosy. Behind the good intentions hides a desperate need to have control over the free flow of information on the internet, which would be restricted and punished through various sanctions There already are laws that protect copyrights but for them they are insufficient as long as they can’t gain enough from them In fact, if this treaty will be ratified In fact, if this treaty will be ratified in the summer of this year then the internet as we know it today will disappear for forever. Let’s see how this affects you. Firstly, according to ACTA all internet providers, yes those guys whom you have your internet connection, are forced to be like cops with their clients, i.e. to monitor and give reports about everything you do on the internet make an evidence of the websites you access and of the sharing you do, to detect any kind of piracy In the moment they catch you, either you lose access to the internet either reached on the hands of copyrights owners you get sued risking fines of hundreds of thousand of dollars and even 5 years of prison. Yes, 5 years of prison for a lousy MP3 .Apart from that, if you film yourself at a party and on the background runs an ordinary piece of music and you from the desire to show the world that you can drink 3 beers in 2 minutes with your nose and upload the video on YouTube again you risk the same sanctions huge fines and prison years for the usage of that music piece on the background for which you don’t own copyrights. Funny, yes? But the sanctions go even further than that, if you have pirated material on your laptop, mobile phone, tablet or any other device, in the moment when you are at the border or in the airport , according to ACTA the authorities have the right to verify the content of the device and in case they find something wrong they can destroy or seize the device and also you get another “beautiful” fine. And another thing, as we well know, the internet is a place where you can express your discontent against a political regime, right?! Well NO! If ACTA come into force , then we can say “goodbye” to anti-government protests and to videos in which citizens from everywhere expose political fraud and corrupt politicians. and this is because ACTA puts power in the hands of political apparatus, power which can reduce to silence any type of this initiative. With ACTA we can say “goodbye” to websites as YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter , Facebook and to the rights which we enjoyed on the internet till now, the most important being the right of freedom of speech. In January 2012 Member States of the European Union, including Romania, signed for this treaty raising the numbers of signatory states to 31. The Romanian representatives have signed without bringing this to public attention. Romanians weren’t informed about this decision, everything taking course in a hidden manner, away from the public and press. Also, before some leaks, all discussions about ACTA, starting with those from 2008, were held behind closed doors, nobody asked for the opinion of internet users, our opinion, the ones which ARE the internet. The final decision on implementing ACTA belongs to the European Parliament