Posted on 11/25/2009 6:29:52 AM PST by Hodar
POLITICIANS in the former British colony of Virginia are starting to wake up to the fact that its government is about to sign a secret treaty called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) that will give sweeping powers to the movie and music businesses to lock up filesharers.
Two US senators are not happy about allowing the government to sign such a treaty, which is so secret that hardly anyone knows about it and the entertainment cartels have the right to send death squads around to the houses of people who are in the know but shouldn't be [you made the last bit up didn't you? Ed].
Despite the fact that the record companies and movie studios have been telling senators that secret treaties are normal, some are not buying it and are wondering why the White House is going along with the idea.
Senators Bernie Sanders and Sherrod Brown have sent a firmly worded letter to US Trade Representative Ron Kirk asking that the proposed provisions of the ACTA treaty be made public.
The letter points out that "the public has a right to monitor and express informed views on proposals of such magnitude."
The US government claims that the ACTA treaty has to be kept secret for reasons of, er, national security.
As it is the terms of the treaty are being shared with all countries in the negotiations and with dozens of representatives of large corporations but kept secret from the public.
Sanders and Brown are concerned that the secrecy reflects a desire to avoid potential criticism by the great unwashed who will be most affected by it after it's signed and placed into effect.
In Blighty we are keeping it secret too. µ
Wow, what a huge surprise, the President who promised us transparency is negotiating a secret treaty with other nations, bypassing Congress - and impacting each and every one of us, utterly bypassing 2 of the 3 Legislative branches of our Gov't.
Funny, one would think that the Lame Stream Media would pick this one up and run with it.
Obama can negotiate all he wants. However, the power to ratify treaties lies solely with the Senate.
IIRC negotiating is an executive function - ratification is the job of the senate ...
Further - most treaties are "secret" during negotiations -
Except the copyright cartel has had a front-row seat throughout the process. The treaty basically reflects their desires, and nobody else's, as they're the only ones who had input. Later, about 40 people were allowed to see what was going on, and they were all from copyright-based corporations with the exception of a few token people from public interest groups.
No matter - as long as the ratification process is open.
As far as bypassing Congress, that's the intent. They don't want the trouble of flat-out passing such draconian copyright laws that are so clearly pandering to special interests. But if it's a treaty they can present it as a fait accompli, then it will be easier to enforce the copyright cartel's will.
That's how they did the last copyright extension, the CTEA, a.k.a., the Mickey Mouse Protection Act.
The problem is the treaty is completely biased towards the copyright cartel, to whom the entire process has been open. There was no chance for a balanced treaty that could have been ratified. This is pure corporate welfare.
This is their mechanism to try to take control of the internet. In order to enforce it, they will have to track everything. Who better to get in bed with to do that then the national security agencies that are probably already doing it? This is right out of some bad futuristic cyberpunk novel.
Of course, the social mores of the youth don’t seem to align with their master plan. What are they going to do, lock up and sue millions of people for copyright infringment? Technical progress sucks if you are on the losing side, but trying to prevent it is futile. In the age of electronic file sharing, copyright holders are never going to win against the masses. If nothing else, people will turn to sneaker nets or highly encrypted privately-held services to distribute the data. The solution is simple, provide high quality easy-to-use digital data services that are relatively inexpensive and pump the content faster than the pirates can redistribute it. The masses will always consolidate on things that lower the hassle factor while adding to the fun factor.
“Obama can negotiate all he wants. However, the power to ratify treaties lies solely with the Senate.”
Who has enough dem votes to move directly to ratification without debate. Buy 6 republicans and it is passed before the public knows what hit them.
NAFTA was a treaty yet it wasn’t. De jure it wasn’t so they let it pass with majority vote (rather than 2/3). De facto it is, so it has the force of a treaty.
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