[Ip-health] TechDirt.com- ACTA Negotiations Back On... White House Shows Small Group Proposed Text Under NDA

[Terri - Louise Beswick]

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ACTA Negotiations Back On... White House Shows Small Group Proposed Text
Under NDA

from the but-what-about-the-public dept

With the next round of negotiations on the ACTA treaty -- which may
require the US and other countries to make significant changes to
copyright law that favor the entertainment industry -- set to get
underway, the White House still refuses to release details
<http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090925/0801256322.shtml>  to the
public, but did show the text to 42 Washington "insiders" under NDA
<http://keionline.org/node/660> . The good news is that the list
includes a fair number of folks who recognize the problems with
copyright law and the ACTA proposal -- including people like Gigi Sohn,
William Patry, Sherwin Siy, David Sohn and Michael Petricone. Many of
those people will push for the public's best interests. But, still, it's
a bit troubling that the whole conversation remains secret for "national
security" <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090313/1456154113.shtml>
reasons. If we're talking about changing copyright laws that effect
everyone, why not let everyone know? Sherwin Siy, from Public Knowledge,
told KEI (in the link above) about his experience viewing the document,
which sounded greatly limited, and notes that while the document has
been adjusted, "the most troubling aspects" have not been "resolved."

In the meantime, it's worth asking why this is necessary again. First of
all, in a world where trade agreements are supposed to be about breaking
down trade barriers, ACTA seems designed to be putting up protectionist
policies. Protectionism doesn't work and only creates more harm. But,
much more importantly, much of the push for ACTA is based on lobbyists'
claims of the "harm" done by counterfeiting. Except both the GAO and the
OECD have put out independent reports showing that counterfeiting isn't
that big a problem
<http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070504/130335.shtml> , and that
whatever problems there are seem to be significantly exaggerated by
lobbyists <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070510/040317.shtml> .
Yes, those same lobbyists who were given much earlier access
<http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090317/0144084145.shtml>  to the
document and, records suggest, had a hand in shaping the document
itself. So why do we need ACTA again? And why are we allowing those who
the government has already found to have exaggerated the problem drive
the negotiations?

http://techdirt.com/articles/20091013/1854546514.shtml