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Obama Ratifies the ACTA Global Internet Censorship Agreement(W/O Senate)
The Real Agenda ^ | January 26, 2012 | Luis R. Miranda

Posted on 01/27/2012 6:18:00 AM PST by Texas Fossil

In another example of how little Barack Obama cares about the United States Constitution and the role of Congress -as bad as it can be- the current U.S. president ratified the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement or ACTA. President Obama had signed the first binding draft of ACTA last October 1, 2011, also in secret.

As we reported yesterday, ACTA is much more dangerous than SOPA, PIPA or OPEN, because it is the accord that legalizes internet censorship on a global basis. That is why presidents around the planet have received an signed the agreement without any review from their congresses or the people. This globally reaching agreement is often equalled to NAFTA or CAFTA because it standarizes the policies that will govern information trade, just as the other agreements define the rules of the circulation of goods and services between the United States and partner nations.

Read our in-depth report below:

(Excerpt) Read more at real-agenda.com ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet; Conspiracy; Government
KEYWORDS: acta; internet; internetcensorship; obama; pipa; ratified; sopa
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To: ShadowAce

Sen. Wyden Challenges ACTA Constitutionality Again

http://infojustice.org/archives/7031

The conflict between Senator Wyden and the administration over the constitutionality of ACTA continued anew last week.

As previously reported, Senator Wyden wrote a letter to President Obama in October, 2011, challenging USTR’s claimed authority to bind the United States to ACTA without Congressional consent. The complaint, echoing several academic commentators (Flynn, Lessig & Goldsmith, Hathaway & Kapczynski) and a submission to USTR signed by 30 law professors, is that Congress must approve any binding international agreement on intellectual property minimum legislative standards because the regulation of intellectual property and of international trade are Article I section 8 powers of Congress. The President can only constitutionally use a sole executive agreement to bind the country on matters that within the sole executive province of the President, which making IP law is not. So Wyden demanded the Administration submit the agreement to Congress or explain why it does not have to.

We now have the administration’s response, and it is pretty flimsy. Without describing the constitutional basis for its action, Ron Kirk, on behalf of the administration, basically explained that administrations have done other agreements on IP and other issues without submitting them to Congress before, so it can do it again now. This is not a constitutional justification, of course. I speed on my way to work every day, but that does not get me out of the ticket when I get caught.

The response is also telling in the precedents cited by Kirk. As any observer of international trade agreements knows well, nearly every IP minimum standards agreement from TRIPS and NAFTA to the KOREA FTA was submitted to Congress for its approval, normally as a congressional-executive agreement subject to approval by a majority of both houses (rather than the two thirds vote of the senate required for treaties). The last four agreements cited as precedents by Kirk do not alter this history. They appear to be traditional subjects of sole executive agreements. They implement administrative (as opposed to legislative) rules and practices or, in the last case, settle an ongoing trade dispute. But the first five agreements in Kirk’s list do indeed appear to be other IP agreements binding the US to a particular course of legislation without any approval by Congress. It is notable that the first of these was labeled a “memorandum of understanding,” perhaps attempting to signal that it is not intended as a binding international agreement. But the terms of the agreements do appear to tie Congressional hands in the forming of US legislation, without any consent by Congress.

This should lead Congress to ask more, not fewer, questions. Which is exactly what Wyden has done in new letter to the administration, this time addressed to its top international law expert – Department of State Legal Advisor and former Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh. Wyden asks:

If ACTA is entered by the President without Congressional consent, what will be the nature of the agreement and its legal implications under U.S. and international law? For example, is it the Department of State’s opinion that ACTA will be equivalent to a nonbinding “memorandum of understanding,” like some of the intellectual property agreements cited by USTR in the attached letter? Can ACTA be a valid and binding “sole executive agreement” under the U.S. Constitution, even though the regulation of intellectual property is not a sole executive function under the Constitution? Or must ACTA, to be binding, be a form of Congressional-executive agreement by virtue of ex ante or ex post congressional approval?
What is the nature of the international legal obligations that ACTA would create? Would the U.S. be in violation of the agreement if the Congress changed federal law in a way not consistent with the agreement, for example by ridding our law of statutory damages for online copyright infringement? What would be the implications of such a violation?
What are the constitutional limits on the President binding the U.S. to legislative minimum standard agreements over matters delegated to Congress under Article I Section 8 of the Constitution? Is the President free to bind the U.S. to any international agreement he chooses merely because he deems them to be consistent with U.S. law? (It is worth noting that many experts believe that ACTA is not, in fact, consistent with current U.S. law.)

Perhaps we will receive a more substantive explanation from Dean Koh.

AGREEMENTS CITED BY USTR AS PRECENDENTS FOR ACTA AS A SOLE EXECUTIVE ORDER

1. Trinidad And Tobago Intellectual Property Rights Agreement http://tcc.export.gov/Trade_Agreements/All_Trade_Agreements/exp_005407.asp

2. Jamaica Intellectual Property Rights Agreement http://tcc.export.gov/Trade_Agreements/All_Trade_Agreements/exp_005444.asp

3. Ecuador Intellectual Property Rights Agreement

http://tcc.export.gov/Trade_Agreements/All_Trade_Agreements/exp_002812.asp

4. Hungary Intellectual Property Rights Agreement http://tcc.export.gov/Trade_Agreements/All_Trade_Agreements/exp_005349.asp

5. Nicaragua Intellectual Property Rights Agreement http://tcc.export.gov/Trade_Agreements/All_Trade_Agreements/exp_005869.asp

6. Mexico Agreement Regarding Test Data Acceptance http://tcc.export.gov/Trade_Agreements/All_Trade_Agreements/exp_005750.asp

7. European Union Distilled Spirits And Spirit Drinks Agreement http://tcc.export.gov/Trade_Agreements/All_Trade_Agreements/exp_002818.asp

8. Memorandum of Understanding Between the Department of Transportation of the United States of America and the Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes of the United Mexican States on International Freight Cross-Border Trucking Services http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/documents/Mexican_MOU_Eng.pdf

9. Press release on the EU Beef agreement http://www.ustr.gov/about-us/press-office/press-releases/2009/may/ustr-announces-agreement-european-union-beef-hormones-


21 posted on 01/27/2012 7:11:29 AM PST by Whenifhow
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To: Disambiguator

Please, not the comfy chair!!!


22 posted on 01/27/2012 7:19:23 AM PST by An.American.Expatriate (Here's my strategy on the War against Terrorism: We win, they lose. - with apologies to R.R.)
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To: cardinal4

that is an “argh”


23 posted on 01/27/2012 7:27:05 AM PST by dforest
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To: dforest
that is an “argh”

Or maybe:


24 posted on 01/27/2012 7:29:34 AM PST by An.American.Expatriate (Here's my strategy on the War against Terrorism: We win, they lose. - with apologies to R.R.)
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To: Texas Fossil

And our brave Congress does...what?


25 posted on 01/27/2012 7:36:57 AM PST by onedoug
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To: Texas Fossil

Does someone have a real news link to this? I hate to get burned by posting this on FB just to find out the “real agenda” had a hidden agenda and didn’t give all the facts.

I’d like to see a real news article where Obama ratified this and how he justified it. Clearly that would be unconstitutional.


26 posted on 01/27/2012 7:41:26 AM PST by for-q-clinton (If at first you don't succeed keep on sucking until you do succeed)
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To: onedoug

They wring their hands and whine, “What to do? What to do?”


27 posted on 01/27/2012 7:42:11 AM PST by Darksheare (You will never defeat Bok Choy!)
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To: Disambiguator; An.American.Expatriate
Martian Inquisition
28 posted on 01/27/2012 7:49:28 AM PST by Darksheare (You will never defeat Bok Choy!)
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To: Texas Fossil; Jet Jaguar; Lady Jag; Slings and Arrows; maggief; Dog; BP2; Candor7; ...

ping


29 posted on 01/27/2012 7:54:28 AM PST by bitt (Socialism works great until you run out of Chinese money.)
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To: bitt

Thanks for the ping!


30 posted on 01/27/2012 7:59:16 AM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: Texas Fossil

It will eventually be overturned in the courts.

In the meantime, watch yourself.


31 posted on 01/27/2012 8:09:22 AM PST by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: <1/1,000,000th%
It will eventually be overturned in the courts.

Which court? The Supreme Court? This is State Law and what is clearly written in the Constitution. Not an Obozo Dictate. The balloting is clearly a state issue. The requirements of eligibility is stated in the Constitution.

32 posted on 01/27/2012 8:26:02 AM PST by Texas Fossil (Government, even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one)
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To: for-q-clinton

It was posted on Drudge, but the link was to infowars. That is not an acceptable source.


33 posted on 01/27/2012 8:27:34 AM PST by Texas Fossil (Government, even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one)
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To: for-q-clinton

Link from Drudge:

http://www.infowars.com/obama-signs-global-internet-treaty-worse-than-sopa/


34 posted on 01/27/2012 8:32:24 AM PST by Texas Fossil (Government, even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one)
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To: dforest; An.American.Expatriate

Explain to me why I should have not posted this?


35 posted on 01/27/2012 8:35:19 AM PST by Texas Fossil (Government, even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one)
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To: Texas Fossil; An.American.Expatriate

Huh? I don’t care if you posted it. It is a good article.

“argh” was my answer to An.American.Expatriate because he asked what word to use to use for a frustrated groan.


36 posted on 01/27/2012 8:46:24 AM PST by dforest
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To: dforest

OK, misunderstood.


37 posted on 01/27/2012 8:47:39 AM PST by Texas Fossil (Government, even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one)
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To: Texas Fossil

Argh, LOL;^)


38 posted on 01/27/2012 8:55:50 AM PST by dforest
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To: Texas Fossil
Obama's signature is nothing but an initial indication that the treaty MIGHT be acceptable. Until the Senate ratifies the treaty by the Constitutionally prescribed number of votes, it is not binding in any fashion. The wannabe King in the White Hut just needs to get over himself. Other President have signed treaties that were never ratified and thus not honored.
39 posted on 01/27/2012 9:01:38 AM PST by Myrddin
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To: for-q-clinton; Texas Fossil; Nachum
If You Thought SOPA Was Bad, Just Wait Until You Meet ACTA
Forbes ^ | 1/23/12 | E.D. Kain, Contributor

When sites like Wikipedia and Reddit banded together for a major blackout January 18th, the impact was felt all the way to Washington D.C. The blackout had lawmakers running from the controversial anti-piracy legislation, SOPA and PIPA, which critics said threatened freedom of speech online.

Unfortunately for free-speech advocates, these pieces of legislation are not the only laws which threaten an open internet.

Few people have heard of ACTA, or the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, but the provisions in the agreement appear quite similar to – and more expansive than – anything we saw in SOPA. Worse, the agreement spans virtually all of the countries in the developed world, including all of the EU, the United States, Switzerland and Japan....

40 posted on 01/27/2012 9:33:51 AM PST by thouworm (.)
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