In yet another underhand moved being orchestrated by the US trade representatives an important EU vote was virtually hidden from those who should have been present to scrutinise it, is this the sort of "democracy" the US govt should be proud of ?
http://www.p2pnet.net/story/33141the European Parliament now has powers that allow it to block things like ACTA, should it so desire. That’s obviously a problem for those European politicians used to getting their way without such tiresome democratic obstacles.
Despite this shameful attempt to keep everything behind closed doors, the presentations show that even among those with access to the inner circle there are doubts about ACTA’s “gold standard”. Here’s what the academic Annette Kur said in her presentation.
Using the public concern about serious crimes like fabrication of fake and noxious medicaments as an argument pushing for stronger legislation on IP infringement in general is inappropriate and dangerous
It is dangerous because it obscures the fact that to combat risks for public health is not primarily an IP issue
It is inappropriate because it will typically tend to encourage imbalanced legislation
Underhand activity and stealth then are what is passing for democracy these days,what can the general public do when faced with such corruption ?
Use your votes and use your voice online or offline, these "politicians" are only as powerful as we allow them to be and if they act against the common good they should be villified and pilloried until they get the message that such corrupt and un-democratic activity is not acceptable and nor are those who practice it.
