Opponents protest signing of ACTA without adequate debate

[p2p rules]

Over the vocal protests of opponents, 22 European nations signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) on Thursday. A statement by the Japanese foreign ministry, which hosted the signing ceremony, indicated that the remaining EU member states were expected to sign the agreement "on the completion of respective domestic procedures." The United States, Canada, Japan, and several other nations signed the agreement in October.

The move sparked protests in Europe. Thousands of Poles took to the streets in protest, and more than a dozen members of the Polish parliament donned Guy Fawkes masks to express their displeasure at the signing.

Ars Technica

[White Stripes]

distract the public with SOPA and PIPA while passing the much worse ACTA into law...... nice trick....

[cuttingedge]

Every thing sounds so much more intimidating when they abbreviate.....
Abbreviations to look out for: RIAA, MPAA, SPOA, PIPPA, ACTA, WTO, WIPO, EFF, BSA.... And the list of abbreviated enemies goes on.   

"Quote wikipedia"(If thats still legal)
 ACTA was first developed by Japan and the United States in 2006. Canada, the European Union and Switzerland joined the preliminary talks throughout 2006 and 2007. Official negotiations began in June 2008, with Australia, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea and Singapore joining the talks. Apart from the participating governments, an advisory committee of large US-based multinational corporations was consulted on the content of the draft treaty,including the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the International Intellectual Property Alliance which includes the Business Software Alliance, Motion Picture Association of America, and Recording Industry Association of America

[White Stripes]

er... the EFF isnt a 'bad guy' ...

...and yes... quoting the wikipedia... even in full... is legal... its licenced as creative commons 'Attribution-ShareAlike' (means you can quote whatever you want as long as you say its from the wikipedia -- or if you prefer the long of it; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License )

[silicon_toad2000]

I wonder just how much they believe their revenues would grow if piracy ceased to exist.

How much of this is the emporers new clothes?
they've convined the movie bosses there's some obscene amount of turnover hidden behind this online piracy thing.
ha ha, the movie bosses are going to be the victims in all this, handing over all this money for the 'tailors' to make the 'new clothes'.
Who gets to tell them they're naked and bankrupt and the cons men behind the riaa/mpaa run off with millions?

[White Stripes]

i thought the movie bosses were the con men in this situation... the politicians are the ones going to be caught naked...

[silicon_toad2000]

You could be right, i think the movie bosses are the patsy's too.
They have to think theres billions in lost revenue to be throwing these resources at this.
who's telling them this?
maybe its them, I think there's some greedy opporunistic people who got some funding to look into this internet thing and liked it.
Now the lost revenue figures been snowballing ever since, probably exceeds the US national debt by now.

The thing is, if they get everything their way, just for arguments sake, then they wait for the sudden influx of revenue from cinemas, cd sales, online content delivery...
the actual increase in revenue is somewhat less than what they all believe will be realised.

[cuttingedge]

Whats next..... Outlaw DVR so's ya gotta watch advertising again? 

[Trestor]

You could be right, i think the movie bosses are the patsy's too.
They have to think theres billions in lost revenue to be throwing these resources at this.
who's telling them this?
maybe its them, I think there's some greedy opporunistic people who got some funding to look into this internet thing and liked it.
Now the lost revenue figures been snowballing ever since, probably exceeds the US national debt by now.

The thing is, if they get everything their way, just for arguments sake, then they wait for the sudden influx of revenue from cinemas, cd sales, online content delivery...
the actual increase in revenue is somewhat less than what they all believe will be realised.

I suspect you're right. It appears that for years they have been chasing an idea that if they could just stop people sharing their own purchased products for free (what they've elected to name 'piracy') it would deliver them a treasure trove. They don't seem to realize that an awful lot of people, if they couldn't get something for free, just wouldn't get those 'somethings' at all. The web has delivered a means to obtain-hard-to-get material; but the meaning of "hard to get" in this context is because a lot of people can't keep paying for everything on offer. In the internet there are so many things for sale and so many people have got their hands out for money that few people can afford to get everything they want, so they much choose their priorities.

If the industry is successful in its aims and people can't get the music, shows and movies for free, they won't turn and start buying DVDs and CDs in colossal numbers that would recover what the bosses have spent in stamping out 'piracy'; people just won't buy but instead will learn to live without them, thus reducing the potential market of interested people while also creating a hostile population.

This will leave the bosses looking pretty stupid, having spent huge amounts of money penalizing and persecuting a public they couldn't make money from anyway, trashing their own industry's reputation in the process amongst computer people and to a significant extent in the greater community as well, as they are now thought of as thieves and psychopaths out to do us harm by many, and securing a deeper place in hell for themselves. And for what? For a mirage, a chimera, that doesn't exist and has cost them a great deal of money.

If these bosses, as you say, could have their will and order everything to their liking, there would be no windfall of recovered sales of their products because people have only so much to spend, and they'll spend it in many places, just as they do now. Sales increases would be small and wouldn't equal what they spent in putting the genie back in the bottle.

And we'll all stand there and laugh at them.

[White Stripes]

few people can afford to get everything they want, so they much choose their priorities.

shelter, food, water... ...wheres the mpaa want the 'bluray' to fit in there with this economy? think they'd settle for once a year at xmas (if a game doesnt take the attention away from the latest overbudget plotless hollywood flick... which.. considering games are a fully interactive medium definitly gives them an advantage to the passive activity of 'movie viewing')

[silicon_toad2000]

people just won't buy but instead will learn to live without them, thus reducing the potential market of interested people while also creating a hostile population.

Exactly, people will pay what they think something is worth. If the price is higher than what consumers perceive it's worth, they just won't buy it.
Last time I went to the cinemas, 2 kids, 2 adults, popcorn and drinks, it was more than $100.

[p2p rules]

Pirate Party demands Australia reject ACTA treaty
The Pirate Party of Australia has made a submission to the Federal Government recommending it reject the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) signed this month by the European Union, despite the fact that Australia actually signed the deal in September last year.