I apologize for this document and withdraw it. The research needed for
this post was not done properly and the resulting material should not
have been posted.
The media and internet sources that provided the information that this
post is based on are themselves based on a document that is no longer
available. The document currently available from WikiLeaks.org is
180kb in size but the original document is said to have been 380kb in
size.
All the materials on the internet and in the media make claims of
impending disaster for individuals as a result of the future ACTA
agreement. This agreement is supposedly being discussed in
secret. Searching the government web sites, however, reveals that they
do contain references to these discussions. They clearly state that
the focus of this agreement is not small scale or individual
violations of IPR but rather industrial violations on a large
scale.
The document currently available through WikiLeaks specifically
mentions taking action against counterfeit logos and labels. The
focus of this agreement is said to be fakes (ie: fake Rolex watches,
fake Nike running shoes, that sort of fake.) The E.U. Fact Sheet
(referenced below,) specifically mentions that the agreement is not
intended to focus on trade issues with Chinese manufacturers. The
implication is that some citizens in member countries are ordering
goods from factories and labelling them as name brand without paying
royalties to the brand owner.
While it's true that governments around the world are behaving in a
careless manner with regards to our hard-won rights and freedoms, the
real problem is obviously not governments but rather citizens who are
not participating seriously in the democratic process. We are
constantly forgetting that power flows up - not down. We are not
playing our part in the process of building and maintaining a
successful democracy. That's partly why our politicians don't pay
attention to us - we often don't know what we are talking about.
It is natural to tend to look at everything from a personal
perspective, but the administrative perspective is, obviously, the one
that administrators see. We, therefore, as citizens, should try to
understand that perspective and allow our civil servants to do their
jobs.
From an administrative perspective, you can't have a conversation with
a group of people and expect that everything said by everybody will be
(whatever you want it to be.) Insane proposals will be floated,
irrelevant nonsense will be floated and there will be serious,
lengthy discussions that don't go anywhere in the end.
The final agreement that is both signed and ratified by all parties is
the agreement that we need to focus on - everything else is just a
discussion point; possibly a meaningless and irrelevant discussion
point.
If we are to assist our politicians in these discussions we need to
give them the benefit of the doubt and offer them our assistance -
rather than kicking them because we think they might stumble.
I didn't help with this post and I apologize again for
that.
U.S., Canadian and E.U. information on ACTA:
An announcement from the U.S. Trade Representative is here:
http://www.ustr.gov/Document_Library/Press_Releases/2007/October/Ambassador_Schwab_Announces_US_Will_Seek_New_Trade_Agreement_to_Fight_Fakes.html
A web page devoted to ACTA by the Government of Canada is here:
http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/fo/intellect_property.aspx
The European Union has a Fact Sheet on ACTA available here:
http://ec.europa.eu/trade/issues/sectoral/intell_property/fs231007_en.htm
