ThruIT

Information has been appearing all over the ‘net about the secret Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement being negotiated between roughly 40 nations in Seoul, South Korea. Rumblings about ACTA have been going on for a while now, but it seems what is actually in the treaty is beginning to come to light. What is allegedly being discussed is terrifying – a global DMCA-like regime that makes ISP’s the watchdog for copyrighted content (lions), three strikes disconnect policy (tigers), the end or major changes to safe harbor provisions (bears), and other major changes that could dramatically change the internet forever (Oh my!).

The US Government has not been forthcoming with any information about ACTA for some time, which led the Electronic Frontier Foundation to file a Freedom of Information Act request for the information. This was met with stonewalling by the US Trade Representative, who claimed that the information was a state secret. Non-Disclosure agreements were a requirement by the USTR to be privy to the negotiations, which could be why the industry has been so very quiet about all this.

Internet users of the world, commence the shaking in your boots. I have a nasty feeling the proverbial “boom” will be lowered soon on us all.

Read more about ACTA:
from EFF
from Michael Geist, Canadian Law Professor
from Afterdawn
from HuffPost