[A2k] ACTA: "Hollywood's Christmas list"

[Manon Ress]

Secrecy claims on copyright treaty. By Karen Dearne, Australian IT,
August 19, 2008.
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,24202770-15306,00.html

THE Bush administration's plans for a copyright treaty, dubbed
"Hollywood's Christmas list" by privacy advocates, may be disrupted as
protests over "secret negotiations" emerge in participating nations,
including Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

US Trade authorities had been hoping to conclude the Anti-
Counterfeiting Trade Agreement by the end of the year.

But documents posted on Wikileaks have raised global concerns that the
treaty goes far beyond tackling counterfeit and fake goods
trafficking, and overhauls existing intellectual property and digital
copyright laws.

Electronic Frontiers Australia chair Dale Clapperton said the proposed
multinational treaty had been "developed behind closed doors" in
consultation with big music and film industry copyright owners.

Little information had been made available, but "there appears to be
significant involvement by the Recording Industry Association of
America and other copyright lobby groups", he said.

Without consultation over the legitimate interests of copyright users
and the wider public, "the resulting treaty will look like Hollywood's
Christmas list".

The association recently published its "suggestions for the content of
the agreement", including criminal sanctions for copyright
infringements on a commercial scale, and making it an offence to make
or distribute devices that could be used to circumvent copyright
protections.

It also proposes requiring internet service providers to monitor users
for potential copyright infringements and disconnect or throttle
internet access.

There are fears the treaty will extend the definition of "commercial
copying", turning ordinary consumers into criminals for downloading
music or entertainment files.

Internet Industry Association spokesman John Hilvert said the IIA was
hopeful of getting a briefing from Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade negotiators.

"It's certainly unusual," he said. "The treaty is being seen by some
as an attempt to amend the current international trade agreements on
intellectual property in a fairly secretive and unusually informal way."

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Manon Ress
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