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Deutsch: ENDitorial: Europäische Kommission präsentierte falsche ACTA-Version

At a meeting in Brussels on 22 March 2010, the European Commission presented a counterfeit version of ACTA to participants. As with any good counterfeit, it bore quite a strong relationship with the genuine article. However, the differences were quite obvious for those in the know.

For example, in this counterfeit version, there is no mention of ISP liability changes that would lead to measures such as the cutting off of consumers ("three strikes"). Similarly, in this counterfeit version, the European Union is not proposing language to require criminal penalties for "inciting, aiding and abetting" certain offences, including "at least in cases of willful trademark counterfeiting and copyright or related rights piracy on a commercial scale." The counterfeit version also presents no risks for fundamental rights in developing countries, which is great news because otherwise "information sharing" and policing obligations for Internet access providers would be a threat for privacy and free speech across the globe. Remarkably, and very oddly for a counterfeit, this version is better than the real thing in almost every way.

Thankfully, however, there are pirate versions of the negotiating documents available due to the many "leaks" that have happened over recent months. The pirate versions - unlike the counterfeit presented by Mr Devigne of the European Commission - are perfect copies of the original and show the ACTA proposals.

Of course, the question now is whether the Commission's promises of more transparency in this process are also counterfeits. In the meantime, we can only hope for more pirate versions in order to inject some democracy into the proceedings.

Video of the meeting (22.03.2010)
https://www.bof.nl/live/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/acta_2010mar22.ogg

The EU ACTA Consultation: European Commission vs. European Parliament (22.03.2010)
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/4894/125/

EDRi-gram: ENDitorial: ACTA, the Euro Parliament resolution and political clarity (10.03.2010)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number8.5/acta-european-parliament-positi...

(Contribution by Joe McNamee - EDRi)