EU Parliament demands access to ACTA details

EU Parliament demands access to ACTA details
Members of European Parliament are united in opposing the European Commission's secret negotiation of the highly controversial ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) treaty. They voted 663 to 13 in favor of a resolution requiring the Commission, the European Union's representative in ACTA negotiations, to share all information about the talks with them.

Besides the lack of transparency in the negotiations, MEPs have concerns about provisions which would dictate how intellectual property protection in EU member states would work.



This would include what's covered, for how long, and even the definition of fair use and types of penalties for infringement. In other words it could require a substantial rewrite of most European IP law.

They are also concerned about language that could be at odds with EU privacy rights. They are demanding that the European Commission provide proof that no fundamental rights would be impacted.

The resolution "Calls on the Commission to conduct an impact assessment of the implementation of ACTA with regard to fundamental rights and data protection," and "consult with Parliament in a timely manner about the results of the assessment."

In addition they want to make sure future ACTA negotiations are open to scrutiny by Parliament. They want this to be addressed during the next round of ACTA negotiations in April, and expect an immediate report when those talks conclude.

And what will they do if the European Commission doesn't comply with their demands? According to the resolution, their options include "bringing a case before the Court of Justice in order to safeguard its prerogatives."

A recent draft of the treaty reportedly doesn't require laws to kick people offline after repeated accusations of copyright infringement. Instead ISPs would apparently be required to insert similar terms into service agreements.

The effect would be the same, but arguably with less oversight or legal recourse for the accused. The resolution addresses this, saying "the proposed agreement should not make it possible for any so-called ‘three-strikes’ procedures to be imposed."

MEPs also addressed an issue which has become somewhat lost in the ACTA debate, but which was in fact a highlight of the first ACTA leak back in 2008.

On the issue of warrantless searches and seizure at international borders, they urged the Commission to ensure "no personal searches will be conducted at EU borders," and requested "full clarification of any clauses that would allow for warrantless searches and confiscation of information storage devices such as laptops, cell phones and MP3 players by border and customs authorities."

Written by: Rich Fiscus @ 10 Mar 2010 12:21
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  • 12 comments
  • scum101

    They should just throw it out right now.. declare it illegal and put threats of economic sanctions on any member state which signs without FULL public disclosure of ALL the details and a FULL public vote on the matter.. Then we will see..

    Time these people started working for their employers and not the cartel and USA..

    10.3.2010 14:07 #1

  • defgod

    @scum101 Could you re-word your post stating US Government and Corporations? Most of the regular every day people here are appalled by the wording in this treaty. Just my 2 cents.

    10.3.2010 22:26 #2

  • KillerBug

    Yeah...remember that the USA is a facist republic run by the corportations and the corrupt politicians belonging to the bipartison party. The citizens hate the government and most of the laws, but can do nothing about it because the voting machines are built by corporations owned by the bipartison party, and our government is so attached to power that they would use the H-bomb to stop an uprising.

    10.3.2010 23:44 #3

  • Mez

    The media put Obama in the White House so expect bad things from there. Fortunatly for that effort, the Whitehouse has proved to be fool hearty. Politics is pretty much like a pack of wild dogs. Last year's allies and this year's enemies. Many politicians up for election are taking bites out of Obama hoping they can keep their job. They only have the power to screw up other countries too stupid to fight them at this point. I suspect the other countries politicians do not want to catch what Obama is carrying.

    11.3.2010 09:18 #4

  • Mr-Movies

    It's funny we left Europe to get away from this crap and now the US is getting just like the EU fortunately Obammy hasn't pushed showing ID when crossing state boarders like the EU sounds like they are going to do. History keeps repeating and no one ever seems to learn, what a shame. Let's hope that the EU starts doing things above board but I wouldn't hold my breath for the US or the EU in that area.

    11.3.2010 22:43 #5

  • KillerBug

    Originally posted by Mr-Movies: It's funny we left Europe to get away from this crap and now the US is getting just like the EU fortunately Obammy hasn't pushed showing ID when crossing state boarders like the EU sounds like they are going to do. History keeps repeating and no one ever seems to learn, what a shame. Let's hope that the EU starts doing things above board but I wouldn't hold my breath for the US or the EU in that area.Actually, we have checkpoints at all the boarders...we are even building a fence with mexico, in the tradition of the USSR in Berlin. What the USA calls "states" are not truly "states"...that is why there are no checkpoints between them.

    11.3.2010 23:45 #6

  • xtago

    Originally posted by Mr-Movies: It's funny we left Europe to get away from this crap and now the US is getting just like the EU fortunately Obammy hasn't pushed showing ID when crossing state boarders like the EU sounds like they are going to do. History keeps repeating and no one ever seems to learn, what a shame. Let's hope that the EU starts doing things above board but I wouldn't hold my breath for the US or the EU in that area.it wouldn't be ID but passports.

    The EU is different countries each with it's own government and laws and passports, it isn't like the USA where your simply in 1 country and pass through states.


    From what I can understand seems like the EU has seen the court case in Australia where AFACT tried to sue iiNet (ISP) because they wouldn't disconnect people even after AFACT send millions of emails saying they must do so due to laws which don't actually exist in Australia and the court case ended up getting thrown out because it doesn't actually follow the law and AFACT would rather side step the law to get their way.

    12.3.2010 09:18 #7

  • ikealamp

    'tis impressive that the EU is teaching us about real freedom - we need to start making noise!

    12.3.2010 13:54 #8

  • Tarsellis

    Oh no! They've given a soft verbal reprimand saying that they well be forced to give a firm verbal reprimand if this isn't listened to! Oh no, woe is me, woe is me, we are about to enter ww3! ^_^

    13.3.2010 14:18 #9

  • hkskwa

    Wow this is crazy we have jumped from demands of info to ww3. In case nobody noticed a war has been ongoing for several years. Never mind that. There have been no privacy rights anywhere for quite some time. There are camera's everywhere, they listen in on phone conversations. Here in the US Good ole George called it the Patriot act. I call it him being a criminal, but that is just me. I think he is a big time War criminal, and was in shock when he wasn't impeached after his eight years just like Clinton. All Clinton did was well we all know what he did. That was made into a mountain, and all the George stuff a mole hill. I don't get it. As for Europe Their course has always been a little different than ours.
    HKS

    HKS

    20.3.2010 16:53 #10

  • Mez

    Originally posted by Mr-Movies: It's funny we left Europe to get away from this crap and now the US is getting just like the EU fortunately Obammy hasn't pushed showing ID when crossing state boarders like the EU sounds like they are going to do. History keeps repeating and no one ever seems to learn, what a shame. Let's hope that the EU starts doing things above board but I wouldn't hold my breath for the US or the EU in that area. Actually, this was proposed. New US IDs to keep illegals from getting jobs. They already need an ID to get a job in the first place. However, you would need the ID to vote and a dozen more events or places. Eventually, it would spread.

    Well the media had to put out serious money to induce the politicians to go along with this very unpopular issue. I would write politicians and say I do not know how to prevent my kids from down load stuff so I would have to cancel the internet so my kids would suffer educationally. If you vote for this bill I know you were paid off. When you write dozens of those kinds letters to each committee member coming from their district they used to get weak kneed. The bi9lls never got out of committee.

    20.3.2010 17:07 #11

  • Tarsellis

    Originally posted by Mez: Originally posted by Mr-Movies: It's funny we left Europe to get away from this crap and now the US is getting just like the EU fortunately Obammy hasn't pushed showing ID when crossing state boarders like the EU sounds like they are going to do. History keeps repeating and no one ever seems to learn, what a shame. Let's hope that the EU starts doing things above board but I wouldn't hold my breath for the US or the EU in that area. Actually, this was proposed. New US IDs to keep illegals from getting jobs. They already need an ID to get a job in the first place. However, you would need the ID to vote and a dozen more events or places. Eventually, it would spread.

    Well the media had to put out serious money to induce the politicians to go along with this very unpopular issue. I would write politicians and say I do not know how to prevent my kids from down load stuff so I would have to cancel the internet so my kids would suffer educationally. If you vote for this bill I know you were paid off. When you write dozens of those kinds letters to each committee member coming from their district they used to get weak kneed. The bi9lls never got out of committee.
    Oh no, these IDs are NOT to keep "Undocumented Workers" from getting jobs. They can still use their consulate IDs, etc. This is only mandated for "Citizens", and is going to be rolled out into higher paying jobs that require education and work in the areas that government has just taken over (cyber "security", health care, etc). The jobs that the large corporations want cheaper labor for will not be affected, this NO AFFECT WHATSOEVER on illegal immigration.
    And, last I checked, it was dictatorships that required ID, and I thought the constitution guaranteed us the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This interferes with all three with government run health care and jobs.

    [edit] You think it matters whether or not people want something? Haven't these last few months woke you up to the fact that we no longer have any semblance of a representative or republic government, but are truly an oligarchical fascist state?
    A private central bank controls our money, who's heads are the CEOs of the largest corporations on earth, and life-time politicians who are not subject to the laws of the citizens, and a "president" chosen by the media with 2+ billion spent on his election, against another media selected "candidate" that was nearly identical in ideology. Perhaps he was a national socialist, instead of a global socialist. Wow glad I had that "choice".

    22.3.2010 09:58 #12

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