Portal:ACTA
Portal about ACTA[modifier]
- To read
- Related negotiations
- ACTA - Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
- CETA - Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement
- GATS - General Agreement on Trade in Services
- TAFTA - Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)
- TiSA - Trade In Services Agreement
- TRIPS - Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.
Next steps
The European Parliament rejected ACTA by a huge majority, Wednesday 4th of July, 2012. Now, it is time to start a positive reform of copyright to adapt it to the digital era.
In this regard, La Quadrature du Net's platform of proposals provides a thorough analysis of the key stakes and a consistent set of proposals, for the copyright reform as well as related culture and media policy issues.
To ensure further victories and continued action, please support La Quadrature, by making a donation or by helping out.
What is ACTA?[modifier]ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) is an agreement secretly negotiated by a small "club" of like-minded countries (39 countries, including the 27 of the European Union, the United States, Japan, etc). Negotiated instead of being democratically debated, ACTA bypasses parliaments and international organizations to dictate a repressive logic dictated by the entertainment industries. It is one more offensive against the sharing of culture on the Internet. NO to ACTAA two-minute video released by La Quadrature du Net on the occasion of the Free Culture Forum in Barcelona, to inform citizens and urge them to take action against ACTA.
|
Why is it dangerous?[modifier]Blueprint for laws such as SOPA, ACTA, would impose new criminal sanctions and measures pushing Internet actors to "cooperate" with the entertainment industries to monitor and censor online communications, bypassing the judicial authority. It is thus a major threat to freedom of expression online and creates legal uncertainty for Internet actors. Private PoliceBy imposing the liability of internet service providers and access providers for the transmission or storage of copyrighted material, ACTA will radically alter the shape of the Internet. In practice such legal uncertainty will turn all Internet operators into private police and justice auxiliaries. ACTA will force internet actors to accept any kind of content filtering, content removing, and "three strikes"-like "voluntary" agreements. ACTA restricts your rightsJurisdictions and parliaments already decided that Internet access was essential for the exercise of fundamental rights (European Parliament twice with am. 138 and with final Telecoms Package text, Constitutional court in France, decision 2009-580). ACTA, negotiated out of any democratic control, goes against this. By restricting access to the Internet, ACTA will therefore restrict our fundamenal freedoms (expression, information, communication). Lack of transparencyThe lack of transparency of the negotiated text might be considered as "normal" for trade agreements, but ACTA is much more than a trade agreement as it has an impact on criminal rights, and on the whole Internet ecosystem. Such important matters requires democratic process and transparency. ACTA circumvents democracy. |
Act against ACTA[modifier]
Stay informed and raise awareness about ACTA around you
Read our dossier or our analysis of ACTA's final version to know more about ACTA. The page ACTA: to keep in mind and our press review will let you know the latest important points about it. You can also read the page Who is against ACTA?
To subscribe to our discussion list about ACTA, send a blank email to acta-subscribe@laquadrature.net.
Lastly, don't hesitate to refer people to la Quadrature's webdossier on ACTA and share it with family, colleagues, friends (not just geeks, everyone). Numerous pictures and other resources are at your disposal to decorate your messages.
Contact your MEPS
Contacting your Elected Representatives is the most useful thing you can do, right now and until the final vote in the European Parliament. Each of the steps in the European Parliament is an occasion for us to make ourselves heard against ACTA.
La Quadrature du Net provides you with a campaigning tool, the Piphone, which allows you to call MEPs very easily and free of charge, as well as a list of counter-arguments to help you debunk the EU Commission's lies, which are relayed by pro-ACTA MEPs.
To be informed about the next steps to urge Members of the European Parliament to reject ACTA, send a blank email to NOtoACTA-subscribe@laquadrature.net to subscribe to our list.
Support la Quadrature du Net
If you can afford it, financial support is of course greatly appreciated. You can make a donation to help La Quadrature keep fighting ACTA and acting on the other dossiers it works on.
To go further
Please refer to this page which lists various ways to act against ACTA.
