Everything you want to know about the scary, secret copyright treaty

Here's a 20-minute, must-see lecture on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement -- the secret copyright treaty currently being negotiated, which stands to fatally wound all user-generated content sites from mailing lists to YouTube; which stands to criminalize kids for noncommercial file-sharing; which stands to put your internet connection in jeopardy if anyone in your house is accused of infringement, and much, much more.

The ACTA Threat: My Talk on Everything You Need To Know About ACTA, But Didn't Know To Ask

Previously:

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: Action • Copyfight • International • politics

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Anonymous

Thank you for trying to stay on top of this and keeping the rest of us informed.
Anonymous

The first time they take some rich guys iPod, then everybody gets sued, then it goes to the Supreme Court.
This will never work unless every where in the World is a Police State. We still have a Constitution in the United States no matter how much they are trying to water it down. Also, there are Constitutions in other countries that are very similar to the US and many things being discussed here are against those written rights.
the_headless_rabbit

Michael Geist re-tweated a post by @jamie_love earlier today. I think it sums up the situation nicely:

Population of countries negotiating ACTA: 1,178,504,491.
Members of public with access to text: 42

what can the 1.1 billion who do not want this do to stop those 42 who do?
Anonymous

This looks very bad. Thank you for posting a concise informative lecture on ACTA Cory.
jerwin

I don’t think he explains “De minimus” very well.
MasterSauce

Oh man. What a steaming pile of poo.
Glad my vote for “Transparency in Government” wasn’t wasted or useless. Maybe the White House’s angle is that this isn’t government, this is higher than government. IP and copyright are more important than an informed public.

Honest question: How can they flip this into a question of National Security? In what way exactly?

I think we need Ms. Maddow to fly in and pick this topic up on her show.
Anonymous

Nothing to do but keep raising awareness and watch.
Anonymous

border guards responsible for scanning laptops and ipods for copyright violations? awesome
Anonymous

A possible answer to how national security can be invoked: perhaps because it’s really corporate security. Just as with investment banks, the corporate interests pushing this stuff have thoroughly infiltrated the government.
Andrew Katz

@the_headless_rabbit

Bill Patry is one of the 42 (senior copyright counsel for Google). If he’s consistent with the thesis he sets out in his recent book (Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars, reviewed hereabouts) then he should be a force for good. I’m assuming he will be – even if his personal views aren’t 100% aligned with his employers, they must be reasonably close, at least in the context of these negotiations.