[A2k] Boingboing: Canadian MP demands answers on secret copyright treaty

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/01/26/canadian-mp-demands.html

Cory Doctorow

POSTED AT 9:54 PM January 26, 2010

Canadian MP demands answers on secret copyright treaty

Canadian MP Charlie Angus -- a successful musician, the former front-
man for punk legends L'Etranger -- has stood up in Parliament to
demand that Prime Minister Harper and Minister of Foreign Affairs and
International Trade Peter Van Loan explain exactly what the hell they
think they're doing negotiating a secret copyright treaty without
Parliamentary oversight or input from Canadians. Remember, this is the
government that is meant to be working to design a copyright law based
on an unprecedented public commission on copyright, where thousands
and thousands of Canadians told government what they wanted from their
national copyright law.

The secret copyright treaty -- ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade
Agreement -- contains provisions for border searches of laptops and
personal media players, asks ISPs to spy on their users, and requires
signatory nations' ISPs to disconnect the households of Internet users
who are accused of copyright infringement.

It is presently being negotiated in Guadalajara, Mexico, in smoke-
filled back rooms that are off-limits to the press, the public, public
interest groups, independent copyright and trade experts, independent
copyright creators -- just trade negotiators and representatives from
big business are allowed to know what's going on.

     1) First and foremost, why the secrecy? When the original WIPO
treaties were being negotiated, the draft of texts were posted online
and made available by Industry Canada. The federal government invited
submissions on the process being undertaken.

     ACTA, on the other hand, is being negotiated entirely behind
closed doors. Your government has gone along with this process by
freezing out input from Parliament, public interest groups and key
internet industries that could be adversely affected. This secrecy
undermines the credibility of the Ministers of Industry and Heritage
who have both made efforts to engage the public prior to the
development of any new copyright framework for Canada.

     Canadians deserve transparency on this issue. Therefore I am
asking if you will produce for the House of Commons the latest draft
held by your Department of the (a) civil enforcement, (b) border
measures, (c) criminal enforcement and (d) intellectual property
rights enforcement section of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement?

     2) Will you produce the mandate letter given to Canada's
negotiation team at ACTA? This will help provide the Canadian public
with a sense of how far you've directed our representatives to go on
key issues that affect our domestic laws and sovereignty.

     3) What instructions have you given your negotiators regarding
the issue of searching and seizing I-pods and laptops at international
border crossings for potential non-commercial infringement of
copyright? The ACLU reports that U.S. customs officials searched
hundreds of devices last year. Is Canada prepared to authorize similar
activities at our borders in an effort to ferret out alleged
infringements by private citizens?

     4) Is your government willing to impose a "Three Strikes and
You're Out" approach to claims of copyright infringement?

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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