[A2k] Not just Sanders, Brown, Leahy, Specter, Wyden...Legislators Worldwide Asking Questions About ACTA

[Manon Ress]

Michael Geist:

Legislators Worldwide Asking Questions About ACTA
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/4671/125/

Friday January 08, 2010
Legislators around the world are demanding more information on the
secret Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.  French Deputy Nicolas
Dupont-Aignan raised ACTA questions in the National Assembly late last
year, expressing concerns about a global three-strikes and you're out
approach, increased costs for medicines, and the lack of transparency
associated with the process.

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden goes even further in a letter to the USTR this
week that seeks answers to nearly a dozen questions about ACTA. Wyden
asks about:

     * possible constraints on domestic U.S. law reforms
     * ensuring ACTA does not interfere with public health
flexibilities in TRIPs
     * the definition of counterfeit
     * concerns about the inclusion of patents within ACTA
     * the role of ISPs in ACTA
     * whether increased monitoring of subscriber usage is envisioned
by ACTA
     * the privacy impact of ACTA
     * details on border measures provisions
     * third party liability for IP infringement
     * possible commitments worldwide to comply with the DMCA

Wyden is not the first U.S. senator to raise questions about ACTA.
Last year, Senators Bernie Sanders and Sherrod Brown also wrote to the
USTR as did Senators Pat Leahy and Arlen Specter in 2008.

Meanwhile, ACTA arose in the UK House of Commons yesterday, as Labour
MP Tom Watson asked questions on the government's plans for ACTA.  The
government response included a desire to ensure that ACTA remains
within the scope of existing UK legislation and a need to press for
greater transparency in the ACTA negotiations.

All of this comes on top of earlier efforts from Swedish Member of the
European Parliament Jens Holm, New Zealand MP Clare Curran, who has
repeatedly raised concerns about ACTA, and NDP MP Charlie Angus, who
posed questions about ACTA in the Canadian House of Commons late last
year.

***************************************************************************
Manon Ress
manon.ress@keionline.org
Knowledge Ecology International
1621 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20009 USA
Tel.:  +1.202.332.2670, Fax: +1.202.332.2673

Il vaut mieux remuer une question, sans la d=E9cider, que la d=E9cider,
sans la remuer. (Pens=E9es, essais, maximes et correspondance de J.
Joubert  p.249)
Translation: It is better to debate a question without settling it
than to settle a question without debating it