When I checked Twitter this morning I was overwhelmed with all the messages about ACTA protests around Europe today. Especially since most of these countries are experiencing record snow fall this year, it makes you wonder what in the world could bring out thousands in Berlin, Amsterdam, and London just to name a few major cities. So, without further ado, what is ACTA?
ACTA stands for the "Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement" and is an international trade agreement between the US, EU, Japan, Canada, Australia, Mexico and several other countries. The intention of the agreement is to help crack down on international copyright infringement and counterfeited goods. We've all seen counterfeit designer hand bags and illegal "generic" versions of medicine (the primary target of this agreement), but while this agreement hopes to taper if not end that, it would also have wide-reaching effects on the Internet as well.
If this sounds at all familiar, you might be remembering the recent protests about SOPA/PIPA. ACTA will have all the things bad about those, some even worse things, and put them on an international scale. (Click here for a refresher on SOPA/PIPA) It would additionally hold your Internet service provider (ISP) responsible for your actions on the Internet as it pertains to copyright infringement. Critics of the agreement make the point that if this becomes the case it will encourage ISPs to watch what you do on the Internet ala "Big Brother".
It would also make it extremely difficult to give things away for free on the Internet anymore. If someone makes something, let's say a web browser like the one you're using to read this right now, and they try to give it away for free on the Internet, their ISP will be forbidden from hosting it (hosting means letting it reside on a website they have) because it could access copyrighted material. Yes, if you make something that can see, touch, show or in any way access anything copyrighted, you cannot give it away for free!
The biggest problems people have with ACTA though, is that politicians are circumventing the normal due process of their countries in signing and supporting this without any voting input of their people, and that the details of ACTA are being kept secret from the people, being discussed and written in secret closed-door meetings. (No, really. They're secret, and they do not let in any press or lobbyists that are against this agreement.) This is seen as a major threat to Democracy everywhere, and has angered and outraged not only the Internet community, but anyone who cares about politics being of the people for the people, not of the corporations for the corporations.
Practical Tip of the Day:
I guess this isn't so much a tip as it is a "heads up". The Internet activist group Anonymous is planning it's own version of a protest today, so many government and large media company websites will likely be brought down today for large swaths of time. The group tends to use a version of a DDoS attack, and sometimes recruits new attackers by posting and sharing a link that is generally shortened as a "pastebin" address. So, if you do not wish to participate in cyber-attacks on government websites (which can get you jail time) I recommend avoiding any website links that start with "pastebin".
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