SOPA Was a Sideshow, Hiding the Real Sellout of Internet Freedom – But Here’s How to Stop It

While attention was misdirected towards SOPA, a greater threat to internet freedom was quietly being managed, and the sellout of our internet freedom seems like a done deal. But it isn’t. What’s been done is unconstitutional, and we can press our senators and congressional representatives to step into the gap.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is an international treaty that does an end-run around national sovereignty. Its misleading title gives the impression its purpose is to stop the international sale of ersatz goods. It is, though, a Trojan horse, hiding the sinister  purpose of  destroying the internet as we know it and handing it over to multinational corporations.

If there’s any doubt about the intentions behind it, they should be quelled by the fact that negotiations have been held in secret. ACTA is just another means of turning the world into a mass serfdom.

ACTA would allow any claim from any party in any nation to force the closure and seizing of any website. No proof would be required. As anyone who pays attention knows, the right to make such a claim won’t be genuinely available to just anyone. It’ll take money and power to bring a claim. For those who have such wealth, the claim itself will suffice. The rest of us are left with no option but to anticipate complaints and act as self-censors.

The act requires severe penalties for the owner of a site on which users might have illegally transferred files. These penalties must include asset forfeiture, severe fines, and prison.

Even powerful sites like Apple are at risk. They provide the ability to record music, which has the potential of being misused. Thus:

We the people will be denied the right to use tools simply because someone
might
perhaps
may
could
possibly
misuse them.

ACTA is the equivalent of imprisoning the truck driver because one item in one box on his truck might contain something illegal, even though he has no reasonable way of knowing that. Nothing much beyond the claim that such an item might be on his truck would be enough to assure that his truck could be taken from him. No due process would be required. In fact, the equivalent of an ISP, the road on which the truck is driven, would be responsible for shutting him down.

It would be absurd, except for the fact that President Obama has already signed the treaty. He, of course, presents this as a done-deal. It isn’t, though.

The organization, Stop ACTA, states that it would:

• Turn Internet operators into a private copyright police.
• Impose harsh and unfair penalties on users and consumers.
• Harm access to medicines and to essential knowledge in poor countries.
• Inhibit innovation.
• Establish new anti-democratic policy-making that bypass parliaments.

Why Obama’s Signature is Not Legal

Although President Obama has signed ACTA, there is strong question about whether he has the authority. If no one speaks out, then it will become a fait accompli. However, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon has pointed out in a letter to the President that the Executive Department does not have the authority to engage in such an agreement. He stated:

[T]he executive branch lacks constitutional authority to enter a binding international agreement covering issues delegated by the Constitution to Congress’ authority, absent congressional approval.

The President has acted outside the Executive powers granted by the United States Constitution. 

Here is a full copy of Wyden’s letter to President Obama:

 

How Bad Is ACTA?

EU Parliament’s ACTA Rep Quits, Condemns ACTA Process

Kader Arif was the European Parliament’s rapporteur for ACTA. Following mass protests in Poland—tens of thousands on the streets day after day protesting against ACTA—he resigned this week, stating:

I condemn the whole process which led to the signature of this agreement: no consultation of the civil society, lack of transparency since the beginning of negotiations, repeated delays of the signature of the text without any explanation given, reject[ion] of Parliament’s recommendations as given in several resolutions of our assembly.

Quotations in Opposition

Many in public life are protesting ACTA. Here are quotes from Stop ACTA:

• “Intellectual property must be protected, but it should not be placed above individuals’ rights to privacy and data protection.”—Peter Hustinx, European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), issued a report on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), claiming that it could prove unworkable under current European Union data protection laws.
• “ACTA is legislation laundering on an international level of what would be very difficult to get through most Parliaments”—Stravros Lambrinidis, Member of European Parliament, S and D, Greece
• “Third party liability for Internet Server Providers is like making the post office responsible for what is inside the letters they send.”—Alexander Alvaro, Member of European Parliament, ALDE, Germany.

Darrell Issa, a US Senator, states:

As a member of Congress, it’s more dangerous than SOPA. It’s not coming to me for a vote. It purports that it does not change existing laws. But once implemented, it creates a whole new enforcement system and will virtually tie the hands of Congress to undo it.

What You Can Do

We don’t have to stand for it. Congress backed down on SOPA after a massive outcry. We must let our senators and congress members know that we do not accept ACTA, either, and that we expect our congressional representatives to do their jobs.

If we do, they will respond.
We’re not threatened with SOPA because we spoke out.
Let’s do the same to stop ACTA!

We need to tell them two things:

• ACTA is an infringement on the rights of the people and on the sovereignty of the nation.
• The balance of power in the nation has been overturned by President Obama’s signature on the ACTA treaty. Congress needs to take a stand—and this is just the cause for them to do so. The people are on the side of Congress.

Send letters and e-mails to your members of Congress. Phone them. Let them know what you think. Don’t worry if your grammar and spelling are good. What counts is that they know your vote is!

Click here to find out who your representatives are and how to contact them.

The people of Poland know how important this is. This video is of their demonstrations. They articulate the issue quite clearly.Surely we can tell Congress to stop ACTA!

Here is the full text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA):

Tagged ACTA, acta destroys free speech, acta sovereignty, acta treaty, Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, balance of powers acta, illegal signature of ACTA, obama acts illegally, politics, politics acta