[pp.int.general] ACTA

[Glenn Kerbein]

Hello fellow pirates,
	I'm not totally sure if you are all up to speed on what ACTA
is, so I'll give you the brief rundown. ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting
Trade Agreement (a poorly given name), was presented to the presidents
of the United States, Switzerland, and Japan. It allows for private
copyright holders to use federal funds (at least in the US) to seize
and refuse to return property thought to be "infringing". According to
the text, "As a deterrent to groundless defenses, award plaintiffs full
costs and fees for overcoming frivolous challenges to titles,"
meaning, to my best knowledge, allows the private sector to be
compensated for groundless cases.
	What it all boils down to is that the RIAA and MPAA (here in
the US, the major coporate rights holders varies by country) can sue
whomever they want, take their property (and not return it!), without
the need to have an accurate warrant, nor even a reason!
	Just about all of the EU parties need to get involved in this
issue, regardless of the recent to-do over the manifesto final draft. 


More information here:
http://www.keionline.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=190
http://www.eff.org/issues/acta
Wikileaks article:
https://secure.wikileaks.org/wiki/Proposed_US_ACTA_multi-lateral_intellectual_property_trade_agreement_(2007)

-- 
Glenn Kerbein
Co-Administrator
Pirate Party of the United States
glenn.kerbein at pirate-party.us
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