Another secret copyright agreement

wes

Beyond ACTA: next secret copyright agreement negotiated this week—in Hollywood

I find it unbelievable that this is happening again. Another copy right agreement happening in complete secrecy, that is apparently worse than ACTA.

IMHO, regardless of your position on copyright, surely everyone should be against secrecy like this. The whole thing is making a mockery of democracy, and the reason for the secrecy is that people won't put up with the further eroision of fair use rights with media, and further potential limitation on free speech.

KyussBishop

Indeed; this is happening all over the world at the moment, it is the content industry in the US pushing these extreme copyright laws in the US, spending huge amounts of money lobbying (and outright bribing, check Chriss Dodd) the US government, giving them not just access to politics in the US but access to US foreign policy.

From there, the US can force disproportionate 'treaties' upon other countries (just look at any implementation of an extradition treaty with US to see how disproportionate things are); I don't know the details of it, as I've not researched it enough yet, but if countries refuse to co-operate, the US can dole out punishment in one form or another.

Some examples would be US threats against EU countries concerning revelation of information about extraordinary rendition, recent leaked private criticism against Poland for the ACTA opposition, and frequent meddling from the US when it comes to anything regarding copyright law.

There is a severe encroachment on sovereignty and lack of pushing back against that, and it's an issue throughout Europe and all over the world; something I need to look at in more detail though, because I'm only getting the brief gist of all this, from reading up on ACTA and other international copyright treaties like TPP, FTAA and other 'acronyms'.


I don't know what can be done about it either tbh, we have seen in the last few days the disdain our own government has towards the populous regarding the upcoming copyright laws, plain dishonesty (and outright lies) in their assurances regarding the Irish SOPA and ACTA etc., and deciding they are going to ignore the massive petition and constructive efforts by Stephen Donnolly and those communicating with him, to introduce a more protective version of this law.

I've gotten involved with a group trying to organize opposition to all these laws, and have been trying to contact many people with some influence to organize more wide-scale opposition, but it is hard tbh; the opposition to the IrishSOPA stuff has died down now and they are about to go through with anyway, and then what?

Next up is ACTA, and while people are skeptical of it passing through the EU parliament, I am far less skeptical of that considering the wide-scale secret negotiations and international political co-operation on it; there needs to be a much bigger, and far more importantly much more widespread co-operation in order to mount an effective opposition.

Right now there is just not enough, and imo, with Sherlock and the others working on this current law just telling people to fúck off and that they are going to pass it anyway, if it comes to member states negotiating on ACTA, I think it will be the same again.

Anyway, I could go on; end rant

KyussBishop

Here actually, is a good article outlining the broader issue of US influence I was talking about:
http://falkvinge.net/2011/09/05/cable-reveals-extent-of-lapdoggery-from-swedish-govt-on-copyright-monopoly/

KyussBishop

Reading up on this has stoked my curiosity somewhat, and I've been using www.cablegatesearch.net to see what kind of influence the US media industry has tried to press on Ireland before in the past.

Highly recommend people read through what follows here, as I've found some very interesting stuff.

I found this:

To combat burgeoning DVD piracy and to strengthen penalties, Justice Minister Michael McDowell on May 5 unveiled a Government inter-departmental working group to liaise with the entertainment industry. Representatives of U.S. studios wish to give the working group a chance to act against IPR violations before deciding whether to make a "Special 301" submission for Ireland.

Same again:

He added that whereas the MPA had considered making a Special 301 submission on Ireland due to increasing DVD piracy, the MPA now wished to give the Working Group a chance to act against IPR violations (a view that MPA Europe representatives repeated to emboff at the May 5 seminar)

And this (interesting in potential to bias judges):

(SBU) In light of DVD piracy trends, Post intends to consider Irish judges as potential candidates for future IPR training courses of the sort offered in reftel.

http://www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=06DUBLIN621&q=copyright


What is a 'Special 301' submission? It is basically a 'blacklist' operated by US trade ambassadors, which is used to put pressure on and threaten foreign countries, if they don't adjust their copyright laws to suit US interests.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_301_Report

So back then in that instance, Ireland setup a working group to look into adjusted our antipiracy/copyright laws under pressure of the US government, with the threat hanging over the government of being put on that blacklist.

Some select quotes from the wiki pages relating to this:
"If the USTR concludes that a trade agreement is being breached, "retaliation actions" may be taken under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974"

More information on 'retaliation actions':
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_301

"Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974, authorizes the President to take all appropriate action, including retaliation, to obtain the removal of any act, policy, or practice of a foreign government that violates an international trade agreement or is unjustified, unreasonable, or discriminatory, and that burdens or restricts U.S. commerce."

"Section 301 cases can be self-initiated by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) or as the result of a petition filed by a firm or industry group."
^^ Instant content industry access to US foreign policy.

"If USTR initiates a Section 301 investigation, it must seek to negotiate a settlement with the foreign country in the form of compensation or elimination of the trade barrier."

"Unilateral trade sanctions under section 301 were imposed on December 20, 2001 on the Ukraine by imposing a prohibitive tariff on metals, footwear and other imports because the USTR concluded that the country had failed to enact legislation to enforce copyright in relation to music Compact Discs (CDs) and the export of these CDs."


Back to first Wikipedia page:
"According to Andres Guadamuz from the University of Edinburgh the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) representing the US media industry were urging the United States government to consider countries like Indonesia, Brazil and India to be put on the Special 301 Watchlist in early 2010. The IIPA requested them to be put on the Watchlist because they mandated or suggested the use of open source software."


The more I read about all of this, the more the sheer scale and arrogance of it all amazes me; this is how the US treats foreign countries, including their 'allies' and friends.


Some fun stuff from the cables:
"Minister McDowell's May 5 announcement, in fact, came at an entertainment industry seminar hosted by the Anti-Piracy Steering Committee, which decorated the venue with posters depicting children watching DVDs with men in hooded, terrorist garb."

Citizen_Kane

If only the good people of Ireland knew and understood. Problem is that the mainstream media will not bring this to headline attention. By the time a whole generation is 'new media' savvy, we may have already lost the internet freedom battle.