Just when you thought we won the battle against SOPA and PIPA, comes a new foe that has been lurking in the shadows for the better part of 5 years. This foe poses an even greater danger to the internet that we fought so hard to defend as it does not require and approval from our judicial system.
What is ACTA? Read on here! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement. If you want the TL;DR version, it’s simple; ACTA is basically denying you any rights what so ever and it affects the entire world not just the USA. If it passes it would be the death of online anonymity and that’s bad.
ACTA or Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement has been around since the Bush administration days and has survived so long under it’s curtain of silence due to involved of the very people that are supposed to be watching out for our common good; the government. In a nut shell they did not want any information regarding ACTA being released at all but thankfully there has been several leaks of the proposed act. You can see a early draft of this by going to the following links;
- http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100714/10404110214.shtml
- http://www.laquadrature.net/files/ACTA_consolidatedtext_EUrestricted130710.pdf
What makes ACTA more dangers than SOPA and PIPA is that it involves multiple countries who are lobbying for this bill, countries such as Australia, Canada, Switerland, The United States of America and even Japan. These countries are denying access to the draft’s of ACTA as they don’t want the people to know how much of an impact ACTA will make which is the complete oppositie to what our government is supposed to be doing for us.
However we as the people are aware and are looking to combat this new danger yet again. There are already several petitions setup in the USA opposing this and I highly recommend that you look into signing any or all of them. But before you do, please make sure you understand what’s at state here and that you just don’t sign it for “The Cause”. Do it cause you understand the impact and what’s at stake here.
Sign the petitions opposing ACTA!
- https://www.accessnow.org/page/s/just-say-no-to-acta
- https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/!/petition/end-acta-and-protect-our-right-privacy-internet/MwfSVNBK
- http://www.petitiononline.com/stopacta/petition.html
- http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/20685
Also be sure to write / harass the heck out of your state’s congressman or senator and let them know how you feel about this. Let’s go people, it’s the second round to “Fight for the Future”!
