Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

[jan21]

Hi, Long-time lurker and new member here. I was just browsing the net and came across the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Co...rade_Agreement

Now what are your opinions about this? Do you think its right or does it infrige on people's privacy? What sort of impact do you think this will have on people around the world?

[Kiljan Arslan]

Against it. As I am any international agreement that if enacted would have teeth.

[Zuwxiv]

I'm a computer-owning teenager with an intellectual property lawyer as a father. This is a fun issue for me

I really don't like the idea of border agents looking through my porn - er, files - every time I want to travel. But more so, I disagree with most "anti-counterfeiting" laws in the first place, on several grounds.


First, I think that the digital age has ushered in a new type of anonymity - which seems to be feared by many people. But it is the purest form of democracy I know, and is a pinnacle of modern technology. Unfortunately, there also is a level of knowledge required - some people know how to do all sorts of things, other people have very little knowledge of what technology offers.

This results in laws being passed regarding computer and internet privacy that would never be passed if they were pertaining to property rights, or normal privacy. Where I got my MP3 files is really none of the government's business, and the rights they have to look into my actions on a computer - email, web history, etc - are scary when applied to non-technical things.

If border agents have the right to know what websites I've been to - do they have the right to know every store I've bought something at? Every friend's house I've visited? Should I just staple a GPS unit to my back and let them download it's logs? Because that's the equivalent of some of the things they're allowed to do on computers.

Slippery slope arguments aside, I think piracy helps the music industry. This is a completely different topic, but much of the downfall of CD sales recently has to do with places like iTunes - which let you just buy the two songs you want. Result: Happier customers, worse sales. The vast majority of things downloaded are things that you wouldn't have bought normally, so no money is lost through piracy for many actions.

On the whole though, these secret agreements seem to be results of the cancer-ridden RIAA pulling the strings of old politicians who by and large do not understand everything that's going on.

Just as an example: How the hell would they know if the music on my iPod is legit? If I rip it to my computer it is a digital copy; by very definition it is exactly identical to any similarly ripped and encoded version. And technically speaking, the RIAA has stated that putting a song on your iPod or computer from the CD is illegal, and forget any movies. DVD ripping = copyright infringement as far as the RIAA is concerned.

Antiquated laws from antiquated people. They can hear the death bell ringing of their old system of distribution.

[FirstManOnTheMoon]

Against it

[Erik]

I'm strongly against this, and not just because I'm a vivid internet pirate myself.

The way I see it, there is a conflict of interests between the record/movie industry and the general public.
The general public wants to keep their privacy.
And the record/movie industry want to make more $$$.

Now, why would our government pick the side of one industry over the general public?
If they have trouble dealing with piracy it's THEIR PROBLEM, not mine or my governments so why should we go out of our way to help them?
No other industry would ever dream of getting such a special treatment.