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ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement)

The dishonestly labelled Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement which is really an Internet, copyright and patent trade agreement.

Canadians rally for day of action against Bill C-11 (Internet Lockdown)

Press release below. See for more details.

For Immediate Release

Canadians rally for day of action against Bill C-11 (Internet Lockdown)

Public Outcry Heats up Against Legislation that threatens Internet Freedom

February 10, 2012 – Today, public outcry will grow to new proportions for what many are calling “the Internet Lockdown”. People across Canada plan to come together online and offline to rally against Bill C-11, known as the Copyright Modernization Act.

The Canadian public outcry comes in the wake of the fervor surrounding SOPA—a hotly contested copyright bill that millions of Americans and make websites like Wikipedia and reddit successfully came together to defeat.

Canada should not ratify ACTA

I have drafted a new submission to Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada for their ongoing consultation (skip to bottom) on the deceptively named Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). I haven't yet sent it in to the department, but want to generate discussion.

It is available anonymously as a Google Doc as well as a PDF from my webserver.

If you are looking for SOPA/PIPA or C-11 comparisons, please note that ACTA contains beyond-WIPO protection for TPMs and thus includes the harmful effects I discussed in my comparison between Bill C-11 and SOPA/PIPA?.

We Have Every Right to Be Furious About ACTA

Maira Sutton and Parker Higgins have an excellent article on ACTA, the deceptively labeled Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.

It ends with the following:

It is now up to the collective will of the public to decide what to do next, and for individuals to ask themselves what they want their government to look like. Do you believe in democracy? Do you believe that laws should be made to reflect our collective best interests, formulated through an open transparent process? One that allows everyone, from experts to civil society members, to analyze, question and probe an agreement that will lead to laws that will impact potentially billions of lives? If we don’t do anything now, this agreement is going to crawl itself into power. With the future at stake like this, it’s never too late to fight.

ACTA Recommendation: Ditch the Crazy Stuff

A must-view video from Public Knowledge.

5 Minutes with Harold Feld: ACTA Recommendation: Ditch the Crazy Stuff

The same thing with Bill C-32. Some things which aren't too bad are being held up with what I consider to not only be "Crazy Stuff", but questionably constitutional, and in my opinion unquestionably harmful to Canadian creators.

CIPPIC Signs Urgent ACTA Communique

An article on the CIPPIC website indicates they have endorsed the Urgent ACTA Communique. I have as well, and suggest others who agree with the statements to do so.

Why legal protection for technical measures is controversial

For those who will be in Ottawa on Saturday, August 14, 2010, I will be presenting a talk titled Why legal protection for technical measures is controversial at Open Source Technology showcase - SC2010.

Not surprisingly, we will be discussing the USA's National Information Infrastructure (NII) Copyright Protection Act of 1995, the 1996 WIPO Internet treaties, the USA's DMCA in 1998, as well as Canadian bills C-60 (2005), C-61 (2008) and C-32 (2010). If it isn't dead yet, we'll discuss the Orwellian double-speak named Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

WIPO supporters must oppose ACTA / move ACTA to WIPO?

Yesterday I authored, printed, signed and sent through snail-mail a letter to Peter Van Loan, Minister of International Trade. It was in reply to a reply letter he had written me earlier on ACTA, the Orwellian double-speak named Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. In it I asked him to protect the global intellectual property system from this attack on existing institutions.

This morning I read that the European parliament passed a resolution calling on Canada to support moving ACTA to WIPO.

While a bit out-of-date a day later, I included my letter in an article on IT World Canada's blog.

Geist is running his playbook again?

I added the following as a comment to a blog article by Chris Castle which he titled, "The Consultation of the Mikado Part 2: Geist is running his playbook again ". It is also interesting to ask why the same isn't lobbed against musician and MP Charlie Angus who, along with myself, share many policy views with Michael Geist. Maybe it is seen to be easier to pick on a lawyer than fellow artists?

Podcast #35: The iTax & Fair Dealing

Jesse Brown interviewed Charlie Angus about his private copying regime private members bill and fair use motion.

US walks out on talks

From today's Globe and Mail.

“Significant international discussions on Arctic issues should include those who have legitimate interests in the region,” the U.S. Secretary of State said.


Ms. Clinton apparently believed strongly enough, that all parties with vested interests should be included in the discussion, that she did not come to the conference.

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