Secret super-copyright treaty MEMO leaked

Wikileaks has the full text of a memo concerning the dread Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a draft treaty that does away with those pesky public trade-negotiations at the United Nations (with participation from citizens' groups and public interest groups) in favor of secret, closed-door meetings where entertainment industry giants get to give marching orders to governments in private.

It's some pretty crazy reading -- among other things, ACTA will outlaw P2P (even when used to share works that are legally available, like my books), and crack down on things like region-free DVD players. All of this is taking place out of the public eye, presumably with the intention of presenting it as a fait accompli just as the ink is drying on the treaty.

Honestly, it's becoming clearer and clearer that the entertainment industry is an existential threat to the idea of free speech, open tools, and an open communications network.

Who is really behind ACTA? Follow the money:
Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA)[4]
Top four campaign contributions for 2006:
Time Warner $21,000
News Corp $15,000
Sony Corp of America $14,000
Walt Disney Co $13,550

Top two Industries:
TV/Movies/Music $181,050
Lawyers/Law Firms $114,200
Other politicians listed also show significant contributions from IP industries.

Link (Thanks, Espen!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: Copyfight

More at Boing Boing

Eurovision 2013: An American in London

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

spokehedz

We need to take to the streets, and overthrow these idiots in office.

Where can I go to help?
Kieran O’Neill

Well, I was wondering about this.

I also wonder how much we can do about it. The EU parliament has a “FAQ” page up where they assure everyone this treaty is all about protecting them from lead in their kids’ toys, “not ganging up on China” and protecting international trade.

It completely and conveniently glosses over the invasions of privacy, etc.
Anonymous

SAM, Unfortunately you do know what you’re talking about. The real tragedy is that you also fall into the intensely apathetic category. Which, we all know, is the only thing worse than those who do stupid things and expect it to work miracles. Apathetics actually work counter to the benefit of anyone, even themselves.

It is important to stay positive, so that progress is actually possible.

Kill Apathy & Relax.
I recommend empowerthyself.com for interesting tools and information about killing apathy and getting active with stuff you do care about.
Avram

Assistant Moderator speaking:

Sam (ct #9), please, no “cattle” or “sheep” talk. Our fellow citizens are people. Even when they’re not paying attention to what’s going on around them, when they’re putting blind faith in crooked leaders, they’re still people. I know how frustrating it all can be, but you’re not going to convince anyone by hurling insults at them.

And hey, big money doesn’t always call the shots. The House did hold up telecom immunity a few months back. (I wrote to my congresswoman about that one, and got a reply, though it may have come from an aide.) Sure, the telecoms are trying again, but it’s not guaranteed that they’ll win.

Protests in the streets are a fine idea, but letter-writing campaigns are far from useless. The religious right gets a lot of mileage out of them.
morehumanthanhuman

Outlawing region-free DVD players, look like they just made a bunch of anime fans very very angry. You never want a bunch of angry anime fans, ever.
Takuan

this is good news. Such greed and over-reaching will galvanize a fight. Would have been far worse if they were intelligent enough to close their filthy little web patiently
Sam

I don’t use p2p much, but if they outlaw it I sure will.
oldnumberseven

Torporous,

Mwahahahahahaha!

After I finish rubbing my hands together in evil glee, I will be trying to figure out how to market my evil mind reading over the internet by a single pixel in your monitor device!

Mwahahahahahaha!

your pal,
old
MountainViewRachel

I just sent email to my national representatives about this. (In my case, Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein and Anna Eshoo.) Here’s what I wrote in case anyone finds it helpful in sending a note to their reps:

I’m writing to express my opposition to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (which has nothing to do with counterfeiting of currency) because it attempts to limit the ways in which people can exchange information and create new sources of prosperity.

The free flow of information on the internet is good for the economy in the long run. It is speeding up the pace of innovation and problem solving faster than anything in history.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is an effort to clamp down on the free flow of information for the supposed benefit of the entertainment industry. Perhaps their interests will be somewhat damaged by the revolutionary changes of the internet, but society as a whole will benefit from these changes.

Here’s a link with more info: http://www.boingboing.net/2008/06/06/secret-supercopyrigh.html

Thanks for your attention,

(your name here)
Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator

I’ll start with a general observation: you know how you periodically see news stories about how some Christian Defenders of Family Values-type organization that’s had congresscritters and big corporate advertisers runing scared turns out to be a handful of people who write a lot of letters?

Think about that next time someone tells you that you can’t make a difference in national politics, and that writing to your representatives will do no good. If it works for the fundies, it’ll work for you.

Sam (9, 20, 27), you’re wrong. Greg London is right. We do get listened to, and our protests and statements of opinion have the power to move the center of the debate in our desired direction.

Your advice is so bad that I’ve had flashes of wondering whether you’re a paid astroturfer. Taking the fight to the streets without first trying conventional methods is a great way to find yourself marginalized as a bunch of crazy extremists. Also, most people aren’t going to do that, so claiming that it’s the only effective action will only serve to politically neutralize an yone who listens to you.

Finally, when someone disagrees with you, the appropriate response is to explain and extend your own argument. You haven’t done this. All you’ve done is repeat the same set of assertions, plus insult Greg London for disagreeing with you.

RedFoxOne @10: You’re also wrong. We don’t know that the recording industry can buy any laws they want. Those of us who’ve been paying attention know that they’ve gotten some laws they want, but that’s getting harder and harder for them, largely because of organized resistance like the EFF, and individual citizens making themselves heard.

Also, I removed your .sig line and irrelevant link because we don’t do those here. If you want to link to a site, put the URL in your user profile.

Danny O’Brien, the idea that this is being discussed under an NDA makes me furious and confused. This is the people’s business.

Dainel @29, I doubt that would work. It’s too easy to show someone the financial records of your contribution. I’d say the better option is the new rule being used by one of the presidential primary candidates’ campaigns, and which that nominee has very recently caused to be extended to his entire party for the general election: no contributions are being accepted from any industry’s lobbyists. Instead, they’re raising their campaign funds from lots and lots of small individual donors.

Torporous: Yes. They’re cheap. I sincerely congratulate you on figuring out something that’s opaque to many of your fellow citizens: the amount of corporate money that’s riding on politicial decisions is hugely greater than the price of a poitician who’s up for sale. Note: not all politicians are up for sale.
Man On Pink Corner

Just had to be first on your block with a PS3?
You paid for this.

Couldn’t stand to miss Spider-Man 6: Electric Webaloo?
You paid for this.

Too lazy to use RIAA Radar when you shop for music?
You paid for this.

I could go on and on. None of the legislative abuses in this treaty would be possible if we, the consumers, weren’t practically tripping over our own shoelaces in our eagerness to pay for them.
Sam

#22 greglondon

Oh gawd, yes. anyone who has surplus time to go to a blog for the sole purpose of saying how hard life is must lead a truly horrific life.

h, xcs m, yr mjsty. ws nt wr tht s lbrr wsn’t llwd t xprss my pnn bt my fllw prltrts n yr lly wht blg.
Bggng yr prdn, thgh, sr. Whl brkng my bck my b my lf, ddn’t sy tht ws th hrd prt. Th hrd prt s bng brn nt cntry whr y r sddld wth th ndscrtns f yr rlng clss nd th mscncptns thy prvl n w lwly crtrs.
whysteriastar

It’s sickening how the principle their industry started out claiming to love the most is now the one they are are attacking the most.
Freedom of speech was once something they needed for artistic ability to create their works. Now they have formulas for everything and spurn it.
Takuan

gentlemen, gentlemen….
dainel

This may be somewhat off-topic, but I am wondering whether having full-disclosure on campaign contributions is such a good thing. After all, we see that politicians are still beholden to their principal campaign contributors, even when everybody knows who is in who’s pockets.

Would it not be better to make all campaign contributions secret from everyone, including the recipients. Let’s make it illegal tell the politician you have made a contribution, or even to promise a contribution. The government can set up a department to … “launder” contributions so that the recipients do not know who paid up.
kashmir kong

I have to agree with #9 completely, even the disemvoweled part.

The majority of people are so willfully ignorant to this kind of stuff, it makes me want to chop down a tree in frustration.

That doesn’t mean I don’t do what I can, but honestly, it feels like a futile exercise.

“The Golden Rule: He who has the gold, makes the rules.”

~ They Live
oldnumberseven

What gets me is how little money the politicians take from billion dollar mega-corporations to sell out the citizenry. I can’t say that I have much to sell, but if I were to sell out, I would ask for a whole lot more dough.
Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator

Sam @37:

#35 Teresa Nielsen Hayden
I’ll start with a general observation: you know how you periodically see news stories about how some Christian Defenders of Family Values-type organization that’s had congresscritters and big corporate advertisers running scared turns out to be a handful of people who write a lot of letters?

Anecdotal evidence.

Excuse me? The only reason I didn’t provide links was because that type of story is so common that I trusted everyone would know what I’m referring to. You, on the other hand, have not only been running on purely personal or anecdotal reportage, but some of what you’ve reported runs counter to common experience.

However, I’ll be the first to say that you shouldn’t underestimate the power of a room full of grandmas with nothing but time on their hands and lots and lots of family. However, I’m not a room full of grannys –

Good thing, because that isn’t what I said. I was talking about the power wielded by everyday citizens.

– and I don’t have time nor the inclination to write to dozens of people, over and over again. Or anyone I know, for that matter.

You grossly misrepresent the process. It’s not necessary to write to “dozens and dozens of people, over and over again” to have a significant effect.

If someone were to say “here you go dude, this is your paid leave of absence where you go and write to your representatives.

It doesn’t take a leave of absence to write a letter. Further up the thread, and elsewhere on Boing Boing, there are examples of readers taking a few minutes to write letters. Many of them have copied those letters into the comment threads. It’s demonstrable from their timestamps that it took very little time to write them.

Also, I’m going to pay for you to go take classes on how the government works and how to write better”

Both of which are quite unnecessary. You can’t use them as an excuse for you or anyone else to sit on the sidelines and complain.

Yeah, I’d go do it. Sure. As it is, I have no impetus to go and do anything of the sort. Nor do I think it’s ok for someone to come along and look down on me because of that.

Oooh, nice red herring — and by the way, the jury’s still out on whether you’re a professional astroturfer. The answer, of course, is that what you’re characterizing as others looking down on you are responses to unprompted categorical assertions you made in this thread. They were wrong then, and they’re still wrong now.

I vote. I take time off from my job and join the small embarrassed gathering that was supposed to be some sort of protest against violence or whatever at my local city hall.

I don’t believe you.

I volunteer for campaigns in my area.

I really don’t believe you.

If you were politically active enough to be doing either of those things, you’d know that writing letters to your elected representatives is far easier and more efficacious than you’d have people believe.

Jst bcs thnk lttr wrtng cmpgn s stpd dsn’t mn wnt th trrrsts t wn.
I thought I was the one being insulted, or was I wrong about that too?

Yes, you were wrong. You were being argued with. You are being deliberately provocative. I think you’re a fraud.
Takuan

I email the government at the appropriate level all the time. If nothing else, some poor slob has to look at it and say “another for the “hate you” pile”. Evil loves to be ignored, it loves the dark, it thrives on complacency. I figure my emailng is worth at least a dozen once-every-few-years ballots.
Agent 86

…here you go dude, this is your paid leave of absence where you go and write to your representatives. Also, I’m going to pay for you to go take classes on how the government works and how to write better

Why would we want to spend more money on you if you didn’t get anything out of our money the first time around? The government already taught you how it operates, and how to write a handy little letter to your representatives when it paid for your schooling, and I like to think of social security paychecks as being paid to take time off of work to bother your local government.
GregLondon

Nice. From the link: “in a piece of brilliant marketing, the “Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement” (the agreement does not cover currency fraud).”

It’s got nothing to do with “counterfitting” as anyone would normally think of it. i.e. counterfitting money. But by wrapping the treaty in a name that no one can argue with, will automatically create some supporters.

i.e. You don’t want a “Clean Air Act”? What’s wrong with you?

This is more accurately described as a treaty to create a Copyright Cartel.

As the monopoly gets more money, they get more power, as they get more power, they get more money, until they have gobbled up everything.

And Berman should read my book Bounty Hunters. There’s a politician character in there (the “Mayor”) that describes him exactly.
eustace

…and of course, re-writing that to emphasize what you personally find important is a good idea. Representatives do actually hear what their constituents say as a general rule.
Sam and Redfoxone, you are going to have an uphill battle on your hands trying to convince Cory that the fight is hopeless!
GregLondon

Berman’s contact information, for those who live in California’s 28th district, is here.

His email address is howard.berman@mail.house.gov

Berman is chairman of the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property. Folks might want to go to the committee page and see if any representative from their state is on the committee and send them a note.

Or, folks can punch in their zip code here and send an email to all of their representatives at once.
Argon

Look at this slimy, writhing heap of worms, reaching out for nourishment from the decomposing corpse of liberty. Revolting! Yes we should be.
nzlemming

Well said Teresa.

Torporous, the reason they’re so cheap is that then they can tell themselves that they didn’t sell out, they were only taking care of the interests of their supporters.
Sam

#11 greglondon

If you were going to do nothing from the beginning, maybe you could have skipped the part where you preach the “abandon hope all ye who enter here” sermon to people who were actually doing something.

Oh, yeah, now I feel bad. I’ll just quit breaking my back day in and day out. Quit my daily struggle. I’ll throw off my yoke of debt and taxes and become a freedom fighter for the good of the people. I’ll starve to death or go to prison, but at least I’ll know I’ve thrown my rock at the goliath, eh? It’s all worth it, now that you’ve pointed your finger at me. Shame on me.
Torporous

@30..OK man. I was just finishing my awesome comment when I looked up and read yours and I don’t know what kind of mentat powers you truly possess but…GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!

Now with that out of the way please proceed on to my comment. Sadly not so special anymore..

***

Is anyone else utterly amazed at just how little money it takes to buy a politician. These are (in Corporate terms) utterly paltry sums and shows just how scummy these politicians really are.

“Sony Corp of America $14,000″

Are you f’ing kidding me?

Why not just ask for a pretty new TV and blu-ray player…

These are mega corps..at least have the balls to ask for some real money.
Robotech_Master

Unless this is something new (and it doesn’t look like it), then check out Ars Technica’s article on the matter:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080602-the-real-acta-threat-its-not-ipod-scanning-border-guards.html

This is a discussion paper of things that could, theoretically, be in such a treaty. It doesn’t mean that they are things that necessarily will be in the final proposal. I’m sure even politicians must have some sense.

It’s good that people get upset about this, because the more upset people get sooner, the more likely a lot of this stuff won’t be in the final treatyâ€”but as Ars puts it, “Discussion of ACTA at this point needs a lot more ‘might’ in it.”
kenturamon

Can’t find anything in the linked document that suggests outlawing p2p technologies. Perhaps somebody could enlighten me?
klobouk

@ #s 30 & 31
It’s a little unfair to assume that these politicians were low-balled like that. The figures there are only the declared contributions. It doesn’t take into consideration contributions from “private individuals” shilling for these companies or any possible under-the-table gifts of goods.
These representatives may well have gotten their money’s worth.
Let’s give the benefit of the doubt and assume that they are capable negotiators until we have reason to believe otherwise.
mdhatter

Honestly, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that the entertainment industry is an existential threat to the idea of free speech, open tools, and an open communications network.

and…. vice versa.
Binaryloop

@MountainViewRachel

I live in CA too and I’ve written to Feinstein and Boxer in the past regarding digital rights and fair use. Usually I get a form letter from them saying: “Thanks for writing. We have to protect everyone’s rights (including the big copyright cartels). I’ll keep your suggestions in mind. Blah, blah, blah.” Those two are deep in the pockets of the media oligarchy. I’ve given up writing to them and now, when election time comes, I vote for people running against them.
GregLondon

I’ll just quit breaking my back day in and day out.

Oh gawd, yes. anyone who has surplus time to go to a blog for the sole purpose of saying how hard life is must lead a truly horrific life.

Here. Have a lollipop. O–
CANTFIGHTTHEDITE

What I find typical and unsurprising about this document is that it in no way broaches the subject of enforcement on the basis of responsibility or practicality.

Border and Customs officials. Aren’t they busy enough as it is looking for illegal weapons, and other actually dangerous things/people? Regardless of any new technologies or processes that improve efficiency, not only will these new search items add significantly to wait times for people crossing international borders, but it will require massive investment in additional training and equipment.

Internet Service Providers. Maybe I’m mistaken about this, but the gov’t is more than likely to pass on the responsibility of electronic-enforcement to ISP’s, and that’s only going to hurt their bottom line because they don’t profit from the lawsuits filed by the various IP organizations, and that’s the only way to make money from this kind of situation.

And if all of these additional costs are going to be passed on to the consumer, which they certainly will be, aren’t we all going to have less money to spend on legal copies of Time Cop and Three’s Company?

ACTA isn’t just stupid, it’s sadistic.
Sam

You guys are dreaming, there’s not going to be a fight. Politicians don’t listen to the people, they listen to the almighty dollar. Fire off as many emails you want, I guarantee they’ll never get to the actual representative.

Unless you can organize an actual protest with actual people on the actual streets, en masse, all over the country, this country’s gonna roll over to industry and ask to have it’s belly scratched.

Ths cntry s fll f cttl.
B2B

Copyrights are surely giving the entertainment industry a run for their money. But the problem is beyond the actual law – it’s cultural.

Or maybe people infringe because they ‘know’ they can’t get cut. Here’s an interesting article in Internet Evolution regarding Michael Arrington and his position towards copyright – by Andrew Keen. Keen: “Arringtonâ€™s position certainly threatens our culture.”
Danny O’Brien

EFF has an ACTA alert which will find your senators, and a form letter you can adapt for your own uses.

As to whether this does anything, let me say a couple of things about the politics of such treaties. The US Trade Representative has mostly been doing this work in the background: I doubt it’s on the scopes of any senators at this point.

Now, I can’t speak to whether they will object to the contents, but secret treaty negotiations are *not* something that Senators like as a rule, given that one of their key powers is oversight of foreign policy. When we flagged the broadcast treaty to the senate via a write-in campaign, they quickly dropped a note to the negotiators saying to pack it in. Given that this treaty is so secret, those attending a conference this week on it in Geneva had to sign *an NDA*, I think we’ll get some traction here.
GregLondon

sam@9: Fire off as many emails you want, I guarantee they’ll never get to the actual representative. Unless you can organize an actual protest with actual people on the actual streets

Hm, so, you seem to be against the ACTA, but you’re not going to email, and you’re not organizing a protest in the streets.

If you were going to do nothing from the beginning, maybe you could have skipped the part where you preach the “abandon hope all ye who enter here” sermon to people who were actually doing something.
Takuan

@10 redfozxone; your commercial link to services that can be got for free makes your post spam. Not a good start.
Sam

#35 Teresa Nielsen Hayden

I’ll start with a general observation: you know how you periodically see news stories about how some Christian Defenders of Family Values-type organization that’s had congresscritters and big corporate advertisers runing scared turns out to be a handful of people who write a lot of letters?

Anecdotal evidence. However, I’ll be the first to say that you shouldn’t underestimate the power of a room full of grandmas with nothing but time on their hands and lots and lots of family. However, I’m not a room full of grannys and I don’t have time nor the inclination to write to dozens of people, over and over again. Or anyone I know, for that matter.

If someone were to say “here you go dude, this is your paid leave of absence where you go and write to your representatives. Also, I’m going to pay for you to go take classes on how the government works and how to write better” Yeah, I’d go do it. Sure. As it is, I have no impetus to go and do anything of the sort. Nor do I think it’s ok for someone to come along and look down on me because of that.

I vote. I take time off from my job and join the small embarrassed gathering that was supposed to be some sort of protest against violence or whatever at my local city hall. I volunteer for campaigns in my area. Jst bcs thnk lttr wrtng cmpgn s stpd dsn’t mn wnt th trrrsts t wn.

I thought I was the one being insulted, or was I wrong about that too?
sonipitts

Consider my reps (and Rep Berman) suitably, and ever so respectfully, hairy-eyeballed on this issue.

Oh, Internet hairy eyeball – is there anything you can’t do?
bys55

Just ignore all of them and don’t buy their stuff. They’ve insisted on digitalizing everything, sold us the burners, the computers and the technology to copy and now want to arrest you for using it. It will be difficult to construct a law that arrests you for ignoring them. Digitalize your middle finger and offer it up as your opinion!
Takuan

make me pretty?