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Deutsch: What's Wrong with ACTA Week – Aktionswoche "Was läuft falsch b...

Since many politicians and citizens are not yet aware of ACTA's serious implications, EDRi has launched a "What's Wrong with ACTA Week".

Introduction The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a plurilateral international agreement which wants to set a “gold standard” for the enforcement of intellectual property rights. The Agreement will have major implications for freedom of expression, access to culture and privacy. It will also harm international trade and stifle innovation.

Decision-time in the European Parliament

In February, the European Parliament will be formally given the dossier. It then plans to discuss the dossier with the International Trade Committee as the body in charge, with input from the Industry, Legal Affairs, Civil Liberties and Development Committees.

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Deutsch: Italienische Polizei sperrt Seiten mit Bannerwerbung für mutmaßlich ...

The Italian cybercrime police, Guardia di Finanza Agropoli, has recently DNS blocked a series of websites that were offering links to content indexed on BitTorrent, cyberlockers and eDonkey networks. Five of the blocked sites belonged to Italianshare.net network, which were allegedly releasing the links to the movies, games or music before their commercial release.

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Deutsch: ACTA: Niederländisches Parlament lehnt geheime Verhandlungen ab

ACTA is creating quite some noise, not only internationally but also domestically. National Parliaments, including the Dutch Parliament, will have to decide whether they will approve ACTA or not.

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Deutsch: Scarlet vs. SABAM: Ein Sieg für die Grundrechte und die Freiheit des ...

On 24 November 2011, the European Court of Justice decided that an Internet service provider (ISP) can not be ordered to install a system of filtering of all electronic communications and blocking certain content in order to protect intellectual property rights.

On 4 July, the European Parliament has rejected ACTA with an overwhelming majority (478 against, 39 in favour, 165 abstentions).

If you want to see who voted what you can either have a look here on Votewatch or all the details per groups and countries on here. Our first reaction to the vote is here.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a plurilateral agreement which proposes international standards for enforcement of intellectual property rights. The Agreement, negotiated by a handful of countries1 in coordination with certain parts of industry, is controversial in both process and substance. If ratified, it will have major implications for freedom of expression, access to culture and privacy, it will harm international trade and stifle innovation.

The European Parliament now has to take responsibility and vote “no” on ACTA in the upcoming “consent” procedure. The ratification process of ACTA is also starting on a national level in the various Member States.

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Deutsch: Finnischer Provider soll "The Pirate Bay" sperren

Hot on the heels of a Belgian court decision obligating two ISPs to block the Pirate Bay, the Helsinki District Court ruled on 26 October 2011 that the large Finnish ISP Elisa must block access to The Pirate Bay from its network, or face a 100 000 Euros fine. The block must take effect by 18 November 2011.

Elisa says it will appeal the ruling.