[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Michael Geist on The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)

There will soon be a big new beast in the IP jungle. And while 
the creature comes with the seemingly innocuous acronym of ACTA, 
cyber activists and copyright mavens fear that it will pave the 
way for a Global 
<http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/11/leaked-acta-internet-provisions-three- 
strikes-and-> DMCA (Digital 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_Act> 
Millennium Copyright Act) that will significantly impact on 
ordinary people's privacy, and erode civil liberties. Moreover, 
they warn, the secrecy surrounding the ACTA negotiations raises 
important questions about representative democracy, and 
demonstrates the extent to which the developed world remains 
determined to dominate and control the developing world. For the 
research community, says University of Ottawa's Michael Geist 
<http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/4829/125>, ACTA will 
make Open Access (OA 
<http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/overview.htm>) even more 
urgent. However, he cautions, if ACTA succeeds in propagating the 
bruising statutory 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statutory_damages> damages rules 
used in US copyright infringement cases it could threaten the 
institutional 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_repository> 
repository movement.

More here: http://ow.ly/1fAnA