| As awareness of ACTA spreads protests are being organized across Europe, in the hope of stopping a treaty that threatens Internet freedom and is seen as more dangerous than SOPA.
Europe is the focus of attention as it is being seen as “the last bastion of hope” for stopping ACTA.
According to the blog of Access, a website campaigning for global digital freedom:
Though many countries have signed the treaty already, if the European Parliament rejects ACTA, it will be sent into the dustbin on history!
So why is there so much fear of a treaty that seems to purports to be an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement that seeks to normalize copyright protection and intellectual property standards across participating nations?
The fact that as a treaty, rather than legislation, it has been largely negotiated in secret is one reason why. Another is that despite having a seemingly laudable or innocuous aim it actually threatens Internet freedom and privacy as well as the ability to innovate in areas such as medicine. Since awareness of ACTA has grown, protesters have been vehemently opposed to it.
Moreover, protest seems to be effective. In Poland, where demonstrators took to the streets last month, the prime minister, Donald Tusk, has suspended ACTA ratification, saying that the Polish government had made insufficient consultations before signing the agreement.
Another EU signatory, Helena Drnovšek Zorko, who signed on behalf of Slovenia apologised for doing so saying:
I signed ACTA out of civic carelessness, because I did not pay enough attention
She drew attention to a protest today, February 4, in Slovenia’s capital city, Ljubljana, for those who object to the ratification of ACTA and asked for people to attend in her name. |
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