EFF and PK Reluctantly Drop Lawsuit For ACTA Info 150
mikesd81 notes a press release on the EFF website that begins "The Obama Administration's decision to support Bush-era concealment policies has forced the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Public Knowledge (PK) to drop their lawsuit about the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). Federal judges have very little discretion to overrule Executive Branch decisions to classify information on 'national security' grounds, and the Obama Administration has recently informed the court that it intends to defend the classification claims originally made by the Bush Administration. ... Very little is known about ACTA, currently under negotiation between the US and more than a dozen other countries, other than that it is not limited to anti-counterfeiting measures. Leaked documents indicate that it could establish far-reaching customs regulations governing searches over personal computers and iPods. Multi-national IP corporations have publicly requested mandatory filtering of Internet communications for potentially copyright-infringing material, as well as the adoption of 'Three Strikes' policies requiring the termination of Internet access after repeat allegations of copyright infringement, like the legislation recently invalidated in France. Last year, more than 100 public interest organizations around the world called on ACTA country negotiators to make the draft text available for public comment."
Re:Anti-Internet Freedom Agreement (Score:5, Informative)
There is still a way to get the document, the EU Public Access to documents reform [europa.eu].
I wonder if the Swedish Presidency will move forward with this.
Re:Still fighting? (Score:3, Informative)
That is the attitude that may cause us to loose. Freedom can only be obtained and maintained with vigilance. We must never think its impossible to be deprived of our freedom and must always remain wary of those who would seek to curtail it. The war is never over so long as overly ambitious and overly greedy individuals exist.
Meet the new boss... (Score:3, Informative)
Change you can believe in, but not really expect. Thanks for limiting our freedoms and working for big business, Democrats! You're just as bad as Bush.
Re:Anti-Internet Freedom Agreement (Score:4, Informative)
Since always. The government is just very selective about what international laws it cares about, and very picky about who it applies them to.
ACTA is a typical example of forum shopping tho; when the interested parties cannot ram their desires through WIPO or even the WTO any more, they start up yet another forum. So of course the US is going to care; it's made to order legislation created outside the democratic process and perfectly usable against its citizens, without having to take much of the blame.
It's the legislative process gone global, and moved out of reach of democracy.