The ACTA – Beyond Net Neutrality

As I write this, delegates from the Switzerland, Japan, Australia, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Mexico, Jordan, Morocco, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Canada and the European Union have gathered in Seoul under the watchful eyes of their leader from the United States. Dressed in a blood-red gown, he leads them through dark hallways chanting the ancient Latin prayer of offering to the MPAA as his followers flagellate themselves with the burning tips of a firewire cable.

But this is not a committee dedicated to the study of S&M; nor is it some harmless group of Opus Dei celebrants. These men and women have gathered in secret for a far more sinister purpose; out of sheer contempt for freedom of speech and national sovereignty, as well as a piously black hatred for mankind, they have gathered to discuss the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.

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Don’t let the name fool you; the ACTA has very little to do with actual counterfeiting. There are some provisions for creating international standards there, but the main thrust of the document is expanding copyright laws.

“So what’s so bad about copyright laws?” my mother asked me, “After all, you’re a writer – isn’t that good for you?” It might have been, if it were still the 1800s, or if not for the birth of an extremely evil man at the beginning of the 20th century. Of course, I’m talking about Walt Disney.

This monster created very little original content, preferring to steal it from his staff or borrow it from the expired copyrights of previous creative geniuses. It took a court order before he credited his co-creators of the original works they produced, and when singer/songwriter Peggy Lee sued and won the right to royalties on VHS sales of Lady and the Tramp, the company elected not to release it until after her death. Meanwhile, once they hit the mainstream, they sent out lobbyists to government to extend the length of copyright from 50 years, to 75, to 200; though many of their movies were modern derivative works of nineteenth century culture, it’ll be another century, at least, before modern artists are allowed to build on what they did.

The MPAA, the RIAA, the music industry, and Hollywood are just the latest players in a long line of corporate assholes who buy off politicians so they can control and profit from culture; first it was the radio stealing music, then it was people buying video cassettes, inviting their buddies to view them illegally, and then it was area-codes programmed into DVDs; every step of the way they’ve fought progress due to a myopic top-down view of the world, throwing out opportunities for growth and profit in favour of maintaining the status quo, however poisoned and sickly it might be.

But up till now, it’s only culture that they’ve been shitting on; the Internet, however, is too fast, too free, and too connected for them to cope. Those bastards still think it’s made out of tubes, and by the time they’ve figured out how to monetize mp3s, people are already screaming about DRM. No, there’s no accommodation this time – they need to shut the fucker down.

So welcome to the future, people – Telus lied, it won’t be friendly. In fact, they’ll be first on the list of guys acting like assholes because of a bureaucratic gun to the back of the head. The new provisions the ACTA is hoping to implement are meant to do away with due process, and turn citizen against citizen. ISPs will have no more ‘safe harbour’ treatments, they will now be held accountable for any laws their customers might be breaking; it’ll be on them to monitor your usage, and no warrant will be required for the government to see what you’ve been up to. Accusations are to be assumed true until proven otherwise, and Fair Use policy will be thrown out the window. Cops will have the right to search your computer for pirated media, and charge you criminally – let me repeat that, criminally – if they find anything. User-generated content sites such as this blogspot will become impractical, as Google is forced to hire lawyers to monitor everything that is typed here.

If this policy takes effect, Microsoft is going to have to release a new gadget – a pair of red, beady eyes that sit in the upper right hand corner of the monitor, reminding you of the fact that Big Brother is watching you through the screen you’re looking at right now. Every bit and byte of your behaviour will be monitored, and if there’s even an inkling that you’re up to something naughty, any right against unreasonable search and seizure will go out the window. After all, it’s just the Internet, right? Freedom of Speech is only something that you have in the real world.

But don’t worry, though, they’ll keep YouTube online. As long as the monkeys are watching that, you won’t notice anything else that’s going on.

Links:
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/ACTA_trade_agreement_negotiation_lacks_transparency
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/4510/125/
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/03/secret-copyright-tre.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement