[A2k] PCWorld: ACTA Talks in Mexico to Address Transparency Concerns

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/187893/acta_talks_in_mexico_to_address_transparency_concerns.html


ACTA Talks in Mexico to Address Transparency Concerns
Secretive international talks about how to curb counterfeiting and
Internet piracy are under way in Mexico this week. Transparency is on
the agenda.
Paul Meller, IDG News Service
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 11:50 AM PST

Secretive international talks about how to curb counterfeiting and
Internet piracy are under way in Mexico this week. But instead of
focusing on the subject at hand, negotiators will spend much of their
time discussing transparency, or rather the lack of it in the whole
process.

Negotiators from the U.S., the E.U. and nine other countries aim to
draft an anticounterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA) by the end of this
year.

They have been meeting behind closed doors over the past two years,
and although the treaty they are crafting will affect almost every
single user of the Internet, none of the draft text has been made
public. Only firms that have signed stringent nondisclosure agreements
have been allowed to see it.

But leaks about the draft text emerged late last year, revealing that
it goes way beyond fighting counterfeiting. Proposals under discussion
include severing the Internet connection of illegal file-sharers and
making ISPs (Internet service providers) liable for copyright
infringements by their customers.

If adopted in the final text, the liability clause would open up ISPs
and telecom operators to lawsuits from owners of content, such as
music and movies, and would force them to snoop on their subscribers
in order to protect themselves from prosecution.

Transparency is one of four items on the agenda of this week's meeting
in Mexico, said Velasco Martins, a senior European Commission civil
servant attending the meeting, during a telephone interview. The other
three subjects are civil enforcement, customs and the Internet.

"It is understandable that there are rumors and concerns about these
discussions. Most other parties involved in the meeting are also aware
of people's concerns. We are looking at them," he said.

He declined to comment further about the talks, but said a statement
would be issued after they conclude on Friday.

Concerns about the ACTA negotiations are shared by civil liberties
groups and phone and Internet companies. On Tuesday ETNO, a trade
group representing telecom providers, joined the chorus of criticism
of the talks. "ETNO is concerned that disproportionate and wide-
ranging measures such as filtering or the possibility of disconnecting
Internet users could be introduced," said Director Michael Bartholomew.

In an interview Wednesday, Bartholomew said the ACTA in its current
form contradicts existing laws, especially in Europe, and would
rewrite the ground rules of e-commerce in Europe.

The proposal to raise Internet service providers' legal liability for
the content they carry "calls into question laws already on the books
on which our members' business models are based," he said.

Martins insisted that the ACTA would not contradict existing E.U.
laws. "They are our basis, our inspiration for the discussions," he
said, adding that laws limiting ISPs' liability for the content they
carry are flexible and leave room for interpretation to the 27 member-
states of the E.U.

The specific law for telecom providers and ISPs, which act as so-
called mere conduits, is the e-commerce directive, but Martins said
this law doesn't totally waive firms' liability.

"They do have some obligations," he said, adding: "Keeping this
flexibility is important."

Some ISPs argue that their role in distributing information for their
subscribers is akin to a postal delivery, arguing that to make them
liable for the context of electronic communications by subscribers
would be as absurd as prosecuting the deliverer of a letter containing
illegal material.

Some critics of the ACTA talks remain unconvinced by the fact that
negotiators are addressing the transparency issue. "This is pretty
standard -- transparency has been on the agenda for the past few
meetings," said Michael Geist, a law professor and specialist in e-
commerce and Internet law from Ottawa University in an e-mail.

The next meeting of ACTA negotiators will take place in New Zealand in
April.

The participating countries are the U.S., the E.U., Canada, Mexico,
Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore, Jordan, Morocco and
the United Arab Emirates.

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Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
thiru@keionline.org


Tel: +41 22 791 6727
Mobile: +41 76 508 0997