[p2p-research] Fwd: [opennetcoalition] Stop ACTA!

[Michel Bauwens]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: La Quadrature du Net <jz at laquadrature.net>
Date: Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 3:10 PM
Subject: [opennetcoalition] Stop ACTA!
To: opennetcoalition at laquadrature.net


La Quadrature du Net - For immediate release

Permanent link: http://www.laquadrature.net/en/stop-acta


Stop ACTA!



*** Paris, Apr. 12th 2010 - This week, a new round of negotiations on the
Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is taking place in Wellington,
New Zealand. Recent leaks have revealed that the agreement aims at exporting
the harshest sanctions related to copyright, patents and trademark
infringement, and could turn Internet operators into a private copyright
police. In addition, the whole process is an illegitimate circumvention of
democracy. ACTA must be stopped. ***

The negotiators of ACTA probably know that the current text is going against
the general interest and could never get through regular democratic
procedures. They are thus imposing ACTA through the backdoor with an ad-hoc
negotiation between selected parties. The latest leaks [1] reveal that the
Presidency of the EU Council, negotiating alongside the European Commission
on behalf of the European Union, is trying to sneak criminal sanctions that
are offensive to fundamental rights and go well beyond existing EU law. This
export of such unwarranted legislation without democratic oversight
unecessarily undermines the legitimacy of copyright and patents.

Through this "policy laundering", ACTA will impose a regime where everyone
could be presumed guilty of infringement: fake medicines assimilated to
unlicensed generic drugs, filesharing to massive commercial counterfeits,
inciting and aiding infringement subjected to criminal sanctions [2], etc.
By inducing restrictions of access to the Net, ACTA negotiators would also
put restrictions on our fundamental freedoms.

"There is no way of influencing or checking the work of the ACTA
negotiators. All the leaks show that their intent is to push for tougher
sanctions on citizens and more legal insecurity over Internet actors. By so
doing, they would restrict privacy, freedom of speech as well as access to
knowledge and technology all over the world. The denial of reality that has
been displayed so far and the hostility towards the general interest is
untolerable. Given the current conditions, there is no choice but to reject
ACTA as a whole", says Jérémie Zimmermann, spokesperson for the citizen
advocacy group La Quadrature du Net.

La Quadrature du Net calls on everyone attached to the values of democracy,
fundamental freedoms and who enjoy the Internet to raise awareness about
ACTA, including by spreading the "Stop ACTA! alert box" [3] on their
websites and signing the Wellington declaration [4].


* Références *

1. Leak of the full consolidated ACTA dated Jan 18th:
http://www.laquadrature.net/en/0118-version-of-acta-consolidated-text-leaks

2. More about these fundamental reasons to reject ACTA:
http://www.laquadrature.net/en/brief-the-fundamentals-of-acta

3. You can find and spread the "alert box" here:
http://www.stopacta.info/alertbox

4. More info about signing the Wellington declaration:
http://publicacta.org.nz/sign-the-wellington-declaration



** About la Quadrature du Net **


La Quadrature du Net is an advocacy group that promotes the rights and
freedoms of citizens on the Internet. More specifically, it advocates for
the adaptation of French and European legislations to respect the founding
principles of the Internet, most notably the free circulation of knowledge.

In addition to its advocacy work, the group also aims to foster a better
understanding of legislative processes among citizens. Through specific and
pertinent information and tools, La Quadrature du Net hopes to encourage
citizens' participation in the public debate on rights and freedoms in the
digital age.

La Quadrature du Net is supported by French, European and international NGOs
including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Open Society Institute and
Privacy International.

List of supporting organisations :
http://www.laquadrature.net/en/they-support-squaring-net-la-quadrature-du-net


** Press contact and press room **

Jérémie Zimmermann, jz at laquadrature.net, +33 (0)615 940 675

http://www.laquadrature.net/en/press-room



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