[solaris]

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is on a fast-track process as rich nations hope to wrap it up by the end of the year. Unfortunately for everyone who cares about the outcome, it's midway through September, and no draft text has yet emerged.

The secrecy and the delay have inspired many conspiracy theories, none helped by leaked sets of corporate "wish lists" and public comments making outrageous demands. A worldwide group of public interest organizations has now banded together to call on ACTA negotiators to open the process up to scrutiny and public comment.

The letter, signed by more than 100 groups, has tough words for ACTA negotiators. "The lack of transparency in negotiations of an agreement that will affect the fundamental rights of citizens of the world is fundamentally undemocratic," it says. "It is made worse by the public perception that lobbyists from the music, film, software, video games, luxury goods and pharmaceutical industries have had ready access to the ACTA text and pre-text discussion documents through long-standing communication channels."

Seven specific concerns are cited, all based on leaked documents or public comments from various trade groups, many of which seem bent on turning an anti-counterfeiting agreement into something more wide-ranging. It's unclear what the negotiators themselves think of most such requests, but that's part of the problem. According to the letter, ACTA might:

* Require Internet Service Providers to monitor all consumers' Internet communications, terminate their customers' Internet connections based on rights-holders' repeated allegation of copyright infringement, and divulge the identity of alleged copyright infringers possibly without judicial process

* Interfere with fair use of copyrighted materials

* Criminalize peer-to-peer file sharing

* Interfere with legitimate parallel trade in goods, including the resale of brand-name pharmaceutical products

* Impose liability on manufacturers of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), if those APIs are used to make counterfeits

* Improperly criminalize acts not done for commercial purpose and with no public health consequences

* Improperly divert public resources into enforcement of private rights

Full story here: 100 groups demand to see secret anticounterfeiting treaty

[solaris]

Negotiations have been speeding along with ACTA and public advocacy organizations are losing their patience over how long it's taking for ACTA to finally be made public.

There's no shortage of criticism for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), but one of the biggest criticism is that it's been kept out of the eyes of the public.

While the amount of secrecy has been a concern for a large number of people, now the concern has moved from vocal opposition to legal opposition.

Full story here: US Advocacy Organizations Sue Government to Make ACTA Public

[vikulenka]

Thank you for researching all of these