An open letter from Boards.ie to Minister Sean Sherlock

RUCKING FETARD · 29-06-2012 2:58am

briany wrote: »

The way the labels, the studios and publishers are going about this is just so wrong and ill advised. Firstly, it's a ridiculously long process to identify and prosecute infringers open to god knows how much grey area. Most users after getting their first warning letter would go VPN, filter IPs or just rip songs, movies, books from Youtube, video hosting sites and cyberlockers etc. Will they be able to spy on that type of activity?

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/new-media/item/27838-google-clamps-down-on/%22%5DGoogle%20clamps%20down%20on%20YouTube-to-MP3%20conversion%20site

Works in progress for others that you mentioned.

RUCKING FETARD · 29-06-2012 4:20am

http://internetdefenseleague.org/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/05/25/reddit-founder-and-activists-aim-to-build-a-bat-signal-for-the-internet/

briany · 29-06-2012 2:06pm

RUCKING FETARD wrote: »

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/new-media/item/27838-google-clamps-down-on/%22%5DGoogle%20clamps%20down%20on%20YouTube-to-MP3%20conversion%20site

Works in progress for others that you mentioned.

I suppose Google sees it as a good middle ground PR wise to go after a site that allows this, stops the copyright lobby from annoying them too much, but they're well aware as are many computer users that there are many other sites, extensions, stand alone software and temp folder shenanigans that allow you to do the very same thing. The cornerstone of Google's business is pretty much based on the unrestricted flow of information, up to the point of anything that considered taboo, and it's what has helped them get so big and it's what will help them remain big so I'd be surprised to see them move to put a decisive end to pirating practices.

KyussBishop · 04-07-2012 12:12pm

ACTA has died; 478 to 39 votes, with 165 abstentions:
http://falkvinge.net/2012/07/04/victory-acta-suffers-final-humiliating-defeat-in-european-parliament/

Very glad to see the end of that.

hardCopy · 04-07-2012 12:14pm

KyussBishop wrote: »

ACTA has died; 478 to 39 votes, with 165 abstentions:
http://falkvinge.net/2012/07/04/victory-acta-suffers-final-humiliating-defeat-in-european-parliament/

Very glad to see the end of that.

Wow, the system works sometimes

Mr Simpson · 04-07-2012 3:57pm

But is SOPA still there?

RangeR · 04-07-2012 3:58pm

mmcn90 wrote: »

But is SOPA still there?

SOPA is for USA not Europe.

Mr Simpson · 04-07-2012 4:07pm

RangeR wrote: »

mmcn90 wrote: »

But is SOPA still there?

SOPA is for USA not Europe.

Sorry, I'm referring to the Irish Legislation that was introduced.

Scofflaw · 04-07-2012 5:10pm

mmcn90 wrote: »

Sorry, I'm referring to the Irish Legislation that was introduced.

Yes, that's still there.

cordially,
Scofflaw

FreudianSlippers · 04-07-2012 5:42pm

The SI is totally pointless though in light of decisions on the European level. Explained here, ECJ decisions and now the rejection of ACTA show that the minister was overly eager to be seen to do something about copyright infringement that was totally pointless.

ToadVine · 04-07-2012 6:01pm

I'm confused.

How does this EU decision effect what Sean Sherlock did?? Is that now invalid/irrelevant?

KyussBishop · 04-07-2012 6:11pm

^^ ACTA has nothing to do with Sean Sherlock's special injunction, I just posted it here as it's an active thread on the topic of copyright issues.

No Irish MEP's appear to have voted in favour, though these MEP's voted to abstain:
Gay Mitchell
Maired McGuinness
Sean Kelly
Jim Higgins

expectationlost · 04-07-2012 8:16pm

KyussBishop wrote: »

^^ ACTA has nothing to do with Sean Sherlock's special injunction, I just posted it here as it's an active thread on the topic of copyright issues.

No Irish MEP's appear to have voted in favour, though these MEP's voted to abstain:
Gay Mitchell
Maired McGuinness
Sean Kelly
Jim Higgins

but they voted to delay the vote, which is what the acta people wanted

KyussBishop · 04-07-2012 10:21pm

expectationlost wrote: »

but they voted to delay the vote, which is what the acta people wanted

You mean the people who abstained voted to delay it? I'm not certain what you meant?

RUCKING FETARD · 04-07-2012 11:20pm

The Declaration of Internet Freedom: how the net’s minutemen plan to protect the future

Amended Japanese copyright law to make illegal downloads a criminal offense

RUCKING FETARD · 05-07-2012 1:27am

Happy Independence Day: SOPA’s Cousin ACTA Fails To Make The Vote In Europe, But Is This Really The End?

Karel De Gucht, the EU commissioner with responsibility for the treaty, said that he would push ACTA through the courts even if it didn’t pass by a vote today:

“If you decide for a negative vote before the European Court rules, let me tell you that the Commission will nonetheless continue to pursue the current procedure before the Court, as we are entitled to do. A negative vote will not stop the proceedings before the Court of Justice,” he said in a speech.

:rolleyes:

briany · 05-07-2012 2:13am

Nice to see that ACTA has been defeated but does it's defeat prevent future legislation along the same lines, though maybe more attractively packaged and/or deceptively worded, from being passed?

KyussBishop · 05-07-2012 2:19am

No, unfortunately it will not prevent similar legislation; it's going to be a kind of "war of attrition" from here on in, with lesser variants of new copyright law trying to implement the same measures as ACTA (and worse), except piece by piece.

Just look at the UK's recent Internet censorship laws, to see what the upcoming template for Ireland is; that and worse is to come.

The defeat of ACTA however, shows that there is at least some sense within the EU parliament, of the dangerous nature of these laws, and gives hope that these lesser increments of damaging copyright law can be successfully combated (at the EU level) in the future.

Nothing in the future is going to be as clear cut and as 'easily' defeated as ACTA/SOPA though; it will be a slow erosion of Internet rights/principals.

Scofflaw · 05-07-2012 2:51am

RUCKING FETARD wrote: »

Happy Independence Day: SOPA’s Cousin ACTA Fails To Make The Vote In Europe, But Is This Really The End?

Karel De Gucht, the EU commissioner with responsibility for the treaty, said that he would push ACTA through the courts even if it didn’t pass by a vote today:

“If you decide for a negative vote before the European Court rules, let me tell you that the Commission will nonetheless continue to pursue the current procedure before the Court, as we are entitled to do. A negative vote will not stop the proceedings before the Court of Justice,” he said in a speech.

:rolleyes:

That's badly phrased - the Commission cannot "push ACTA through the courts". All the CJEU can do is to clarify whether ACTA does, or does not, infringe on any basic European rights. If the latter, then the CJEU has the honour of putting the final nail in ACTA's coffin - if the former, the Commission gains nothing but that clarification, which they will presumably use to assuage the doubts of some MEPs if they decide to propose ACTA ratification again.

cordially,
Scofflaw

Scofflaw · 05-07-2012 2:53am

KyussBishop wrote: »

No, unfortunately it will not prevent similar legislation; it's going to be a kind of "war of attrition" from here on in, with lesser variants of new copyright law trying to implement the same measures as ACTA (and worse), except piece by piece.

Just look at the UK's recent Internet censorship laws, to see what the upcoming template for Ireland is; that and worse is to come.

The defeat of ACTA however, shows that there is at least some sense within the EU parliament, of the dangerous nature of these laws, and gives hope that these lesser increments of damaging copyright law can be successfully combated (at the EU level) in the future.

Nothing in the future is going to be as clear cut and as 'easily' defeated as ACTA/SOPA though; it will be a slow erosion of Internet rights/principals.

Sure - unfortunately, even a final and complete defeat of ACTA at the European level wouldn't in any way prevent a variety of national legislation from eroding internet freedoms. And we've already seen how successful popular protest is at combating Irish government legislation on the subject...

cordially,
Scofflaw

RUCKING FETARD · 05-07-2012 2:55am

For first time ever, US seeking international limits on copyright

Amended Japanese copyright law to make illegal downloads a criminal offense

RUCKING FETARD · 05-07-2012 3:07am

EU Rules You Can Resell Downloaded Games

EU rejects Oracle secondhand software licence grab

View · 05-07-2012 12:09pm

Just a note of caution here.

The EP vote means that ACTA was rejected at the First Reading of the bill.

The Council will independently have its own First Reading of it and - imo - is likely to be more sympathetic to it (given the member states approved the Commission agreeing the terms of ACTA).

It then goes back to the EP for a Second Reading where the EP can either: a) reject (and kill) the agreement or b) more likely imo, the EP and the Council hammer out a compromise - probably largely based on the ECJ ruling - which seek to address some or all of the Civil Liberty issues that prompted the EP's vote yesterday.

There still remains a possibility that the ECJ ruling might prove completely fatal to the agreement but more likely we are looking at a "New improved" version of the agreement at some future date.

06-07-2012 9:25am

This is a press release from Minister Sherlock. It looks like the pressure is finally making him see sense.

Statement from Minister Sherlock on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

5 July 2012

Following uncertainty that has arisen from an article published today [Thursday], the Minister for Research and Innovation, Mr. Sean Sherlock T.D., wishes to make it known that the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), has not been ratified by Ireland.

The decision to arrange for the signature of the Agreement was approved by Government at a Government meeting on the 13th December 2011. Ireland along with 21 other EU Member States signed the Agreement in Tokyo on the 26th January 2012. However, contrary to recent reports, Ireland has not ratified ACTA into domestic law.

The Minister said “I look forward to continuing to work with the Commission, other Member States and our international partners, in endeavouring to find workable solutions, to protect Intellectual Property at international level and within the framework of international law.”

ENDS

expectationlost · 06-07-2012 7:52pm

1865 wrote: »

This is a press release from Minister Sherlock. It looks like the pressure is finally making him see sense.

Statement from Minister Sherlock on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

5 July 2012

Following uncertainty that has arisen from an article published today [Thursday], the Minister for Research and Innovation, Mr. Sean Sherlock T.D., wishes to make it known that the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), has not been ratified by Ireland.

The decision to arrange for the signature of the Agreement was approved by Government at a Government meeting on the 13th December 2011. Ireland along with 21 other EU Member States signed the Agreement in Tokyo on the 26th January 2012. However, contrary to recent reports, Ireland has not ratified ACTA into domestic law.

The Minister said “I look forward to continuing to work with the Commission, other Member States and our international partners, in endeavouring to find workable solutions, to protect Intellectual Property at international level and within the framework of international law.”

ENDS

sherlock was going round tweetting, "i didn't sign acta fact."

he continues to miss the point, its within his brief, therefore he responsible for what either he or the government has done.

RUCKING FETARD · 09-07-2012 1:28am

Op-ed: MPAA/RIAA lose big as US backs copyright "limitations"

First bit is very badly worded/hard to understand.

KyussBishop · 09-07-2012 2:47pm

View wrote: »

Just a note of caution here.

The EP vote means that ACTA was rejected at the First Reading of the bill.

The Council will independently have its own First Reading of it and - imo - is likely to be more sympathetic to it (given the member states approved the Commission agreeing the terms of ACTA).

It then goes back to the EP for a Second Reading where the EP can either: a) reject (and kill) the agreement or b) more likely imo, the EP and the Council hammer out a compromise - probably largely based on the ECJ ruling - which seek to address some or all of the Civil Liberty issues that prompted the EP's vote yesterday.

There still remains a possibility that the ECJ ruling might prove completely fatal to the agreement but more likely we are looking at a "New improved" version of the agreement at some future date.

Seems that even before ACTA was in sights for defeat, it was already taped onto the end of another copyright treaty:
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6580/135/

You're right to sound a note of caution there; not just a potential 'compromise' revival of ACTA itself, but the same provisions being slipped into other international treaties.

Is there a list of treaties under negotiation by the EU anyplace, or are treaties such as this often kept completely secret? It's an awful abuse of the treaty process.

KyussBishop · 09-07-2012 3:02pm

ACTA Lives: How the EU & Canada Are Using CETA as Backdoor Mechanism To Revive ACTA

Last week, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to reject ACTA, striking a major blow to the hopes of supporters who envisioned a landmark agreement that would set a new standard for intellectual property rights enforcement. The European Commission, which negotiates trade deals such as ACTA on behalf of the European Union, has vowed to revive the badly damaged agreement. Its most high-profile move has been to ask the European Court of Justice to rule on ACTA's compatibility with fundamental European freedoms with the hope that a favourable ruling could allow the European Parliament to reconsider the issue.

While the court referral has attracted the lion share of attention, my weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) reports that there is an alternate secret strategy in which Canada plays a key role. According to recently leaked documents, the EU plans to use the Canada - EU Trade Agreement (CETA), which is nearing its final stages of negotiation, as a backdoor mechanism to implement the ACTA provisions.

The CETA IP chapter has already attracted attention due to EU pharmaceutical patent demands that could add billions to provincial health care costs, but the bigger story may be that the same chapter features a near word-for-word replica of ACTA. According to the leaked document, dated February 2012, Canada and the EU have already agreed to incorporate many of the ACTA enforcement provisions into CETA, including the rules on general obligations on enforcement, preserving evidence, damages, injunctions, and border measure rules. One of these provisions even specifically references ACTA.

...

http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6580/135/

RUCKING FETARD · 11-07-2012 2:43am

SOPA sponsor Rep. Lamar Smith unveils new intellectual property bill

Once part of SOPA, Rep. Lamar Smith's "Intellectual Property Attache Act" seeks to further spread U.S. copyright protections around the world.

U.S. Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), notorious on the Web for authoring the widely despised Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), unveiled a new bill this week that seeks to further spread U.S. intellectual property regulations around the world.

Entitled the “Intellectual Property Attache Act” (IPAA), the bill would move the IP attache program, which is currently part of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), to the Commerce Department. IPAA would also expand the IP attache program by making it a full agency, as well as creating a new position, the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property.

IPAA was originally a part of SOPA, under Section 205, but was sidelined along with the rest of SOPA after the contentious anti-piracy bill was all but killed following mass online protests against the legislation.

Formally established in 2006, the USPTO’s Overseas Intellectual Property Rights Attache program has one mission: “to promote high standards of IP protection and enforcement internationally for the benefit of U.S. economic and political interests abroad,” according to the official description. In other words, IP attaches are U.S. government “diplomats” who push for other countries to adopt similar intellectual property protections as those in the U.S., and make sure other countries aren’t establishing policies that allow for the infringement of U.S. copyrights. Or, as IPAA describes it, IP attaches would work “to advance the intellectual property rights of United States persons and their licensees…”

TechDirt’s Mike Masnick, a strong and outspoken opponent of U.S. intellectual property regulation, sees IPAA and the IP attache program in general as nothing more than the U.S. government forcing the will of Hollywood on the rest of the world. IP attaches, say Masnick, are effectively “Hollywood’s global police force.”

“[IP attaches] do not have the best interests of the public or the country in mind,” writes Masnick. “Their job is solely to push the copyright maximalist views of the legacy entertainment industry around the globe, and position it as the will of the U.S. government.”

Masnick also takes issue with the fact that IPAA was basically a “secret” from the public, and is being fast-tracked through the House, with the House Judiciary Committee set to hold a markup on the bill today. (At the time of this writing, the committee had not yet covered IPAA.)

So, should the average Internet user worry about IPAA? That depends on how broken you believe U.S. intellectual property protections are. If you oppose expanding the interests of U.S. copyright holders, then you should probably oppose IPAA. If, however, you are more trusting of the current system, then IPAA probably won’t rub you the wrong way. We must also add that one of the co-sponsors of IPAA is Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), who fiercely opposed SOPA and just this week became the first congressman to sign the Declaration of Internet Freedom, a petition that seeks to further the goal of an open Web.

Regardless, you can be sure that this is one bill we’ll be keeping our eyes on. Stay tuned.

Scofflaw · 11-07-2012 6:03pm

KyussBishop wrote: »

While the court referral has attracted the lion share of attention, my weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) reports that there is an alternate secret strategy in which Canada plays a key role. According to recently leaked documents, the EU plans to use the Canada - EU Trade Agreement (CETA), which is nearing its final stages of negotiation, as a backdoor mechanism to implement the ACTA provisions.

http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6580/135/

That's more than a little overblown - the inclusion of the same rules in CETA pre-dates ACTA's downward path by a few years, with negotiations on it having started in 2009. It's not, therefore, any kind of secret plan to get round ACTA's difficulties, it's bureaucratic consistency.

KyussBishop wrote:

Is there a list of treaties under negotiation by the EU anyplace, or are treaties such as this often kept completely secret? It's an awful abuse of the treaty process.

The answer, alas, seems to be 'neither'. Negotiation of treaties and agreements is well flagged in advance through press releases, and progress reports are generally also on the europa website and available to the press. So, if, for example, you go and look at the Canada page in the Trade section of europa (http://ec.europa.eu/trade/creating-opportunities/bilateral-relations/countries/canada/) you'll find the following:

The EU is in negotiations for a comprehensive economic and trade agreement with Canada. The last round of negotiations took place in Ottawa in October 2011. The aim is to conclude the negotiations in 2012.

...

The first round of CETA negotiations took place from 19 to 23 October 2009 in Ottawa, and was considered by both sides to have been very productive. Good progress was made in most areas towards reaching a consolidated common text. Both negotiating partners continue to aim at a very advanced agreement, exceeding in its level of ambition any trade and economic agreement negotiated either by the EU or by Canada to date.

A second round of CETA negotiations took place in Brussels in January 2010, a third round in Ottawa from 19 to 23 April, a fourth round in Brussels from 12 to 16 July, a fifth round in Ottawa from 18 to 22 October 2010, a sixth round in Brussels from 17 to 21 January 2011, a seventh round in Ottawa from 11 to 15 April, an eighth round in Brussels from 11 to 15 July and a ninth round in Ottawa from 17 to 21 October 2011. Thereafter, negotiators have met in smaller working sessions focusing on a limited number of outstanding issues. The aim is to conclude the negotiations in 2012.

During the negotiation process, a sustainability impact assessment was carried out by the EU.

And virtually all the relevant documents are available, such as the original impact assessment. Impact assessments are one way of spotting agreements - for example, the various recently or currently negotiated trade agreements, which are most likely to have IP impacts, can be found here: http://ec.europa.eu/trade/analysis/sustainability-impact-assessments/assessments/

But that's for trade agreements - on the other hand, a single comprehensive list of all the various agreements the EU is involved in negotiating seems not to exist. Considering the nature of bureaucracy, that's unsurprising - to each bureau its own affairs, usually, and the different sorts of agreement will be the responsibility of different DGs.

In rather typical europa style, there is also a separate impacts assessment section which covers policy impact assessments - and while that's comprehensive across policy areas, it doesn't appear to cover external agreements.

Looking at ACTA specifically, the Commission has rather obviously felt stung by accusations of keeping people in the dark, and has put out a brief on the "Transparency of ACTA negotiations" here. As with most such issues, the information has been publicly available for some time - the text of ACTA has been available for over 18 months, for example - but it's virtually a full-time job following the course of any given set of negotiations, and our press is hardly going to devote sufficient column inches to the subject to make that worthwhile for them.

cordially,
Scofflaw

An open letter from Boards.ie to Minister Sean Sherlock

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