ACTA - More Underhand Activity As Many Countries Sign UP To Secret Laws

[GhostShip]

I see a disaster in the making and a lot of hyperbole from the culture thieves who seem to have bribed/contributed/sponsored this anti consumer set of agreements behind closed doors and without full legal scrutiny at any national level.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110927/10504716112/us-eu-canada-japan-australia-others-to-sign-acta-this-weekend-despite-legal-concerns.shtml

Despite serious Constitutional concerns in the US, and significant legal questions in the EU, it appears that the US and the EU, along with most of the other participants in the ACTA negotiations are planning to sign ACTA this weekend in Japan. In the US, this may very well lead to a Constitutional challenge. President Obama, via the USTR, is ignoring the Senate's oversight concerning treaties, by pretending ACTA is not a treaty, but rather an "executive agreement." Pretty much everyone else agrees that ACTA is a binding treaty -- in fact, EU negotiators have been quite vocal on that point.

The others that are listed as planning to sign the document are Japan, Australia, Canada, South Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and Switzerland. Basically all the countries who took part in the negotiations. The fact that Mexico is on that list is interesting, given that the Mexican Congress has already told the Mexican President that it will not ratify ACTA, and made it clear that Mexico needs Congress to ratify ACTA to have it go into effect. In other words, it sounds like Mexico is facing a similar executive run-around as in the US.

A dangerous game of brinkmanship is being played out here and like it or not we are all involved as our rights to fair use are further stolen and our right to a free internet are eroded by stealth.  I don't think we should all start rioting on the streets just yet but a few letters to our elected representatives to remind them that we are watching and paying attention to what seem to be unethical agreements made in secret could be helpful, after all if we are not privy to such secret laws why should we honour their terms ?

[GhostShip]

An update on this Topic folks:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110929/00562116128/eu-mexico-switzerland-will-not-sign-acta-this-weekend-despite-signing-ceremony.shtml

The EU had also been investigating whether or not ACTA was in line with EU law, and that process has not been completed, so we thought it was premature for the EU to sign onto ACTA. Thankfully, the EU Commission agrees... and has now said that it will not be signing ACTA this weekend, and also saying that Mexico and Switzerland have also said they won't sign...

Of course, this is not a complete rejection of ACTA, but it is a reprieve. It also sounds as though all the other countries listed will be signing, including the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Korea, Morocco and Singapore. That's a pretty bold move by the Obama administration, considering the evidence that signing ACTA in this manner without Senate approval is unconstitutional. I guess actually expecting the president to follow the Constitution is only important when you're not in office. Once you get there, all bets are off...

The day a politician keeps their word is a day we should remember for a very long time, they reap what they sew