United States and Seven Other Countries Sign ACTA

[Nomrombom]

RIP. We will miss you.

 

Today in Japan, eight countries, chief among them the United States of America, have signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which aims to curtail piracy and intellectual property theft across shores. The European Union, Mexico, and Switzerland have not signed the agreement, though they support it and have stated they will sign it “as soon as (it’s) practical.”

 

The agreement, signed by the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Korea, is a voluntary agreement that provides a legal framework for member countries to pursue defence and/or litigation against copyright and/or patent infringers, though the text had been weakened from previous drafts that had been leaked to the Internet. However, ACTA—which is very similar to the United States’ Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA)—would require other countries to bring about America’s legislation in terms of package searches and seizures, as well as the monitoring of electronic devices.

 

The agreement has been dogged by controversy from the moment it became public knowledge. Negoations for ACTA had been held in secret for years, with the administration of United States under President Barack Obama calling them critical to national security and rebuffing any Freedom of Information requests. Some of the countries who have negotiated the agreement, chief among them the EU, have complained about the secrecy of the negotiations as well as the United States’ forceful style in both enforcing secrecy and pushing their requests upon the other countries. There are legal questions as well: legal provisions within ACTA supercede established law in the United States, which means that to be fully enforceable, it’s possible that the agreement would need Congressional approval to become law as it is currently not a full treaty.

 

ACTA is open for signing by other countries until 2013. The United States is hoping to bring other governments on board before that time. Notable among the economically strong countries not in negotiations for ACTA include typical U.S. antagonists Russia and China.

 

The entirety of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement can be read here.

 

Analysis: For those of us living in the United States, ACTA won’t make too much of a difference. Most of what’s in this bill is already covered by the DMCA, which isn’t quite as bad as it’s been made out to be. The DMCA is a curse word because groups like the RIAA and MPAA have used it as a blunt object to put forth their own agendas.

 

However, what’s truly offensive about this agreement is how the United States has bullied other so-called “allies” into accepting their own laws at the behest of their own private businesses. There’s no other way to put this: America has effectively been beating the [cabbage] out of the UK and Canada to please those two previously mentioned groups, who have managed to effectively buy their way into American government by way of billions of dollars in lobbying efforts. It’s shameful, and citizens in these countries—especially Canada with its excessively hostile business climate towards consumers with the lack of choice available for Internet needs—have every right to be offended by the United States’ imposing its will so harshly. Canada’s Conservative government has effectively kowtowed to America on this front, and with the Torries now having a full majority, we can only expect that to continue. The fact that the Obama administration has called ACTA a matter of national security would be laughable if it weren’t real. It reminds me of Alberto Gonzales saying that money saved towards piracy funded terrorism.

 

As for how this will affect gamers, it will make it harder to acquire software and/or hardware that could—not will, could—be used to get past someone else’s copyright. R4 and other similar devices are already hard to bring into the country, but with other countries now showing a willingness to search packages for things that pose no legitimate danger to their citizens, more of these devices will be picked up before they reach their destination. No one’s going to cry about R4s being searched, but it’s going to make both shipment of and travel with electronic devices—especially laptops or iPods—a much larger hassle. It’ll be made worse by the fact that they will be searched by untrained, largely incompetent and sometimes utterly antagonistic border security, who can make a traveler’s life a living hell just because they want to.

 

The ability to freely illegally download stuff, that is. http://www.gamingbus.com/2011/10/05/united-states-and-seven-other-countries-sign-acta/

 

Anyone think it'll actually do anything, or just be another useless unenforced law?

Edited October 7, 2011 by Kimberly
Please do not use disruptive topic titles.

[Guest Rob]

Too many people will illegally download to be able to effectively enforce this, imo.

[Actaeon]

This most likely will attack people with mass quantities of illegally downloaded software, most companies are handling with it themselves, such as Photoshop.

[Randox]

Anyone else have the sudden overwhelming urge to download as much stuff as possible before anyone gets around to possibly enforcing this?

 

Canada would sign this. Makes sense though. We pirate near as much as the states, and we do it with a tenth of the people. National pass time after hockey, igloos and beavers.

[Guest Rob]

If you have the time, try to get in a class instead of using Rosetta Stone. Much more effective imo, but obviously harder to work into your life.

[Nomrombom]

If you have the time, try to get in a class instead of using Rosetta Stone. Much more effective imo, but obviously harder to work into your life.

 

The only thing that is actually effective (unless you really, really care a lot) is immersion. There is no better way to learn most languages.

[aspeeder]

The DMCA already does most of this for us in the USA, it looks like this is just an international framework so that companies in America can apply their copyright to those living in the states that agreed and pursue legal action more easily.

[Dizzle229]

If you have the time, try to get in a class instead of using Rosetta Stone. Much more effective imo, but obviously harder to work into your life.

 

The only thing that is actually effective (unless you really, really care a lot) is immersion. There is no better way to learn most languages.

Most effective by far, but usually impractical if you're not dead set on it. I'm learning Russian as a hobby (the right word to use here?), and I've learned a decent amount just by keeping a folder of printed sheets.

 

...also because I never got my pirated Rosetta Stone to work.

[sees_all1]

Boo-hoo, people will actually be able to profit from their intellectual property.

 

I, for one, like getting paid for developing my ideas.

[Guest Rob]

If you have the time, try to get in a class instead of using Rosetta Stone. Much more effective imo, but obviously harder to work into your life.

 

The only thing that is actually effective (unless you really, really care a lot) is immersion. There is no better way to learn most languages.

 

Agree 100%. You can learn a language far quicker with this. Though for most people, it's simply too impractical to do.

[Saradomin_Mage]

Boo-hoo, people will actually be able to profit from their intellectual property.

 

I, for one, like getting paid for developing my ideas.

Kind of sums up what I feel.

Is it really so hard to buy genuine?

[The_Gabe]

So they're making it illegal to download illegal stuff?

 

wat

[aspeeder]

So they're making it illegal to download illegal stuff?

 

wat

They're making it easier to sue internationally for breaking those kind of laws :P

[D. V. Devnull]

Boo-hoo, people will actually be able to profit from their intellectual property.

 

I, for one, like getting paid for developing my ideas.

Kind of sums up what I feel.

Is it really so hard to buy genuine?

things cost money, of which i have little. i also happen to have been completely desensitized to piracy due to decades of bootlegging culture.

Just to stack on that, there probably wouldn't be so many pirates if the prices for genuine software weren't all the way into 'overkill ripoff ionosphere' territory. That, plus a bad economy, equals drive to pirate stuff. For those of you bent on pushing genuine, go stick that in your sebsi and smoke it, and then come back after the prices for genuine are 33% or less of what they are now. The end of piracy starts with a lack of overly high prices, as people will then better reason between the real mccoy, and the stuff that might be loaded with malware! :angry:

 

~Mr. D. V. "Sheesh... Talk about a way to get me smoking mad!" Devnull

 

 

(p.s.: I'm no pirate, but I do get how many of them feel. I'm just communicating that emotion here. "Gotta think like them to beat them", I would say.)

[Alg]

I'm pretty sure that as long as products costs money, people will pirate them.

[Saradomin_Mage]

Boo-hoo, people will actually be able to profit from their intellectual property.

 

I, for one, like getting paid for developing my ideas.

Kind of sums up what I feel.

Is it really so hard to buy genuine?

things cost money, of which i have little. i also happen to have been completely desensitized to piracy due to decades of bootlegging culture.

Just to stack on that, there probably wouldn't be so many pirates if the prices for genuine software weren't all the way into 'overkill ripoff ionosphere' territory. That, plus a bad economy, equals drive to pirate stuff. For those of you bent on pushing genuine, go stick that in your sebsi and smoke it, and then come back after the prices for genuine are 33% or less of what they are now. The end of piracy starts with a lack of overly high prices, as people will then better reason between the real mccoy, and the stuff that might be loaded with malware! :angry:

 

~Mr. D. V. "Sheesh... Talk about a way to get me smoking mad!" Devnull

 

 

(p.s.: I'm no pirate, but I do get how many of them feel. I'm just communicating that emotion here. "Gotta think like them to beat them", I would say.)

If you don't have enough money to afford it, simply don't buy it. That's basic economics, isn't it?

And yeah, I'd rather fork out money than risk my security over a download that may potentially contain malicious software.

[Giordano]

Good luck buying Adobe products for your hobby when you're a teenager. :thumbup:

[sees_all1]

Good luck buying Adobe products for your hobby when you're a teenager. :thumbup:

How about you write your own software and use that instead? Things cost money for a reason.

[jasignhagj]

>Canada

 

Go [bleep] yourself Harper.

[Alg]

Good luck buying Adobe products for your hobby when you're a teenager. :thumbup:

How about you write your own software and use that instead? Things cost money for a reason.

Or use open source equivalents, like GIMP with addons for photoshop-like features and interface. :razz:

[Sbrideau]

>Canada

 

Go [bleep] yourself Harper.

 

Was going to post the same thing. Even if the conservatives were my choice, I didn't vote for them because of the Harper gov't in the last elections.

 

It's a good thing that I already very rarely download my programs, but it is also very rare that I buy new software. I usually go for the open-source equivalent. Open-source is very good nowadays, for example VirtualBox performs much better than vmware, and can even run Win 8 while vmware can't. Btw Win 8 is available to public through MSDN.

[Saradomin_Mage]

Boo-hoo, people will actually be able to profit from their intellectual property.

 

I, for one, like getting paid for developing my ideas.

Kind of sums up what I feel.

Is it really so hard to buy genuine?

things cost money, of which i have little. i also happen to have been completely desensitized to piracy due to decades of bootlegging culture.

Just to stack on that, there probably wouldn't be so many pirates if the prices for genuine software weren't all the way into 'overkill ripoff ionosphere' territory. That, plus a bad economy, equals drive to pirate stuff. For those of you bent on pushing genuine, go stick that in your sebsi and smoke it, and then come back after the prices for genuine are 33% or less of what they are now. The end of piracy starts with a lack of overly high prices, as people will then better reason between the real mccoy, and the stuff that might be loaded with malware! :angry:

 

~Mr. D. V. "Sheesh... Talk about a way to get me smoking mad!" Devnull

 

 

(p.s.: I'm no pirate, but I do get how many of them feel. I'm just communicating that emotion here. "Gotta think like them to beat them", I would say.)

If you don't have enough money to afford it, simply don't buy it. That's basic economics, isn't it?

Sure, I could do that. Or I could just pirate it.

Only because piracy has become an option :P

Someone also pointed out freeware, though, which sounds like a perfectly respectable equivalent.

[aspeeder]

Good luck buying Adobe products for your hobby when you're a teenager. :thumbup:

How about you write your own software and use that instead? Things cost money for a reason.

Because one teenager can write all the code for a professional-grade software that's taken almost 30 years to develop into its current state. GIMP is a pretty good open-source equivalent and can help get the basic techniques down, so if you want to try out photoshopping without hundreds of dollars give that a shot first.

[sees_all1]

Because one teenager can write all the code for a professional-grade software that's taken almost 30 years to develop into its current state.

That's the point. They're selling it at a bargain price.

[Locke_Superbus]

Boo-hoo, people will actually be able to profit from their intellectual property.

 

I, for one, like getting paid for developing my ideas.

even if this legislation were to actually work (which it wont) you wont be able to use it. The only people who will be able to use this will be the self same companies who will flagrantly steal from people not rich enough to fight them (aka you).