[ga] Re: [A2k] In the ACTA poker, repression is exported

["Jeffrey A. Williams" <jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jérémie,

  Thank you for sharing this!

-----Original Message-----
>From: La Quadrature du Net <jz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Sent: Jun 26, 2010 11:21 AM
>To: a2k@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: [A2k] In the ACTA poker, repression is exported
>
>La Quadrature du Net - For immediate release
>
>Permanent link: 
>http://www.laquadrature.net/en/in-the-acta-poker-repression-is-exported
>
>
>In the ACTA poker, repression is exported
>
>
>*** Paris, June 26th 2010 - Spokespersons for La Quadrature du Net and April 
>met the French negotiators of ACTA [1] a few days ahead of the next 
>negotiation round of this anti-counterfeiting agreement. No satisfactory 
>answer was given on crucial questions of interoperability and provisions 
>aiming at transforming the technical intermediaries of the Net in a private 
>copyright police. Do the negotiators of this illegitimate agreement, bound by 
>the negotiation and power game with the United States, really have breathing 
>space to protect our freedoms? ***
>
>The 9 civil servants of various ministries representing France at the European 
>delegation [2] are unanimous: for them, there is nothing dangerous in this 
>agreement, and nothing going beyond the limits of the French and European laws.
>
>While the meeting was intended to reassure, it is actually quite the opposite: 
>according to the negotiators themselves, some provisions, the criminal 
>sanctions, have been identified as going beyond the perimeter of current EU 
>legislation.
>
>Moreover, no satisfactory answer has been provided about key points of the 
>text:
>
> * The negotiators were unable to guarantee that the policies to be 
> implemented by the Internet service providers in order to be exonerated from 
> increased legal liability [3] will have no serious impact on fundamental 
> freedoms. The scenario of technical intermediaries of the Net getting 
> transformed in a private copyright police is therefore confirmed.
>
> * No right to interoperability of "technical protection measures" (DRM). DRM 
> are a barrier to the development and use of Free software (lien en anglais). 
> For users of free software, the only way to get legitimate access to digital 
> works imprisonned in those "digital handcuffs" is the circumvention. Such a 
> solution has not been guaranteed by the French negotiators: users and 
> developers of Free software would thus be, during the transposition of ACTA, 
> subjected to unbearable legal pressure.
>
> * ACTA incorporates a great number of criticized repressive legislations will 
> soon be subject to revision at the European level although their impact 
> studies have still not been made (directives IPRED, EUCD, etc.). The 
> negotiators implicitly confirmed that ACTA would solidify these laws, making 
> them difficult if not impossible to modify later on, while insidiously 
> contributing to export them to countries which do not have their equivalent.
>
>"Confessing being under pressure by the US negotiators, the French 
>representatives have acknowledged their helplessness by confessing to stick to 
>preserving existing repressive laws. The French position clearly aims at 
>continuing obsolete laws and models, while excluding any constructive 
>alternative tending towards the general interest." declares Tangui Morlier, 
>president of April.
>
>"The ACTA negotiators play with repressive legislation attacking our freedoms 
>like others play poker. It is urgent to react and hold them accountable. 
>Otherwise, we would implicitely accept that the future of the Internet is 
>negociated behind closed doors rather than democratically debated." concludes 
>Jérémie Zimmermann, spokesperson of the citizen initiative La Quadrature du 
>Net. 
>
>
>* Références *
>
>1. http://www.laquadrature.net/ACTA
>
>2.  The 9 civil servants represented the Ministries of Culture, Foreign 
>Affairs, Justice and Economy
>
>3. legal liability for the storage or transmission of copyrighted material 
>done by their users in article 2.18
>
>
>** About la Quadrature du Net **
>
>
>La Quadrature du Net is an advocacy group that promotes the rights and 
>freedoms of citizens on the Internet. More specifically, it advocates for the 
>adaptation of French and European legislations to respect the founding 
>principles of the Internet, most notably the free circulation of knowledge. 
>
>In addition to its advocacy work, the group also aims to foster a better 
>understanding of legislative processes among citizens. Through specific and 
>pertinent information and tools, La Quadrature du Net hopes to encourage 
>citizens' participation in the public debate on rights and freedoms in the 
>digital age.
>
>La Quadrature du Net is supported by French, European and international NGOs 
>including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Open Society Institute and 
>Privacy International.
>
>List of supporting organisations : 
>http://www.laquadrature.net/en/they-support-squaring-net-la-quadrature-du-net
>
>
>** Press contact and press room **
>
>Jérémie Zimmermann, jz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, +33 (0)615 940 675
>
>http://www.laquadrature.net/en/press-room
>
>
>
>
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Regards,

Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 300+k members/stakeholders and growing, 
strong!)
"Obedience of the law is the greatest freedom" -
   Abraham Lincoln

"Credit should go with the performance of duty and not with what is very
often the accident of glory" - Theodore Roosevelt

"If the probability be called P; the injury, L; and the burden, B; liability
depends upon whether B is less than L multiplied by
P: i.e., whether B is less than PL."
United States v. Carroll Towing  (159 F.2d 169 [2d Cir. 1947]
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