A few things about ACTA and what it and its consequences will mean to you as an individual as well as to you as a part of the Internet
I am sure that we have all heard about ACTA to some extent, whether it’s now, nearing crisis point, or before, going as far as two or three years back, when only a very few people paid any attention or tried protesting.
This is not going to be a dense, heavy post about the technicalities. This is going to be a post of anger and upset, because I realise what ACTA will DO to me and my rights.
All of us are responsible for doing something about it. I’m a casual fandom reblogger typing away at this until 5am because I felt that instead of drooling over my latest fandom crush, I should be a little more concerned for my rights and for my bloody internets, or maybe there wouldn’t BE a bloody online fandom for me to roll around in anymore. ACTA is not a distant threat. This is not at home during the great war, amping up production and keeping up morale. This, for citizens of the internet, is facing the enemy’s rifle’s rapid rattle. Or the stutter of their fucking machine guns as it sweeps the front and prepares to mow us down. As 30 Seconds to Mars knows, This is War.
What ACTA says it is:
- Protection for intellectual property
- For the benefit of rights holders, and “legitimate businesses”
- For sustainable development of world economy
- Combating copyright infringement, piracy, “theft” of intellectual property
What ACTA is
- Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
- Pandering to the outdated economic module the MPAA/RIAA (now calleDd the MAFIAA, guys) and their little (or not so little) Mafia wants the world to run on but has really become steadily more obsolete with the digital age,
- WORLD WIDE, NOT JUST EUROPEAN.
- INCLUDING The US, for those of you getting complacent with our small victory over SOPA.
- A VIOLATION OF OUR BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS in some of its parts.
- Aimed only to benefit a very rich and very powerful minority while infringing upon the rights of every bloody one else.
- SIGNED AND NEGOTIATED IN SECRET, Sometimes by people who were not elected to represent their countries.
- Wrong
- Gonna fuck up our internets.
- Available to read here as a pdf, thanks to being leaked.
What ACTA will mean for the Internet
- Sites shut down. Tumblr, Youtube, Twitter, etc. All these sites that we love and cherish and which foster our creativity and artistic expression and all those unnecessary little lovelies will be easily taken down.
- Sites like MediaFire, Piratebay, etc. Direct downloads or torrents, it doesn’t matter. Gone. Just like Megaupload.
- Covers of Lady Gaga songs and lolcats of a cat’s head photoshopped onto Superman’s body. Gone.
- Fanfiction too, depending on how far they take it. Well, not really. But would you really put it past these people?
- Remember this lovely It Gets Better video? Part of the Google Chrome campaign of “The web is what you make of it”? Well, not anymore it isn’t fuckers.
What ACTA will mean for you as an individual with free thoughts and the right to express them
- Constant monitoring of all information you send and receive on the Internet. Scat, tentacles, watersports, fisting, Rebecca Black, Nyan cat, Nicholas Cage movies, cybersex with your significant other or a not so significant Omegle user. Emotastic blog entries, bad poetry, bad anime fanart. Everything you send and receive, your ISP provider will be required to monitor for any signs of copyright violation, etc. You could get sent to jail and also fined a fucking hefty sum for it if you are caught. And now, you ARE just one bad Justin Bieber cover away from copyright violation
- Also talk about border checks to see what pirated goodies exist on your laptop. Take that shit right out and rattle off a list of all your downloaded You Me at Six albums. Or maybe your old copy of Photoshop before you improved enough to be motivated to buy it. Or your horriblesubs folder. Whatever it is. This clause is not agreed upon by all parties, but the possibility of it is still quite real.
What you can do
- ARGUE against it and take action, which means
- Petitioning to your government
- Raising awareness for what ACTA can do
- Contacting your members of parliament, etc
- Lash out against groups like the MPAA/RIAA/MAFIAA or whatever pretty names they’ve tacked onto themselves. Whatever rich bullies lobbying to suppress our rights.
- RAISE HELL FOR YOUR RIGHTS.
I’m saving that PDF before the
censorship boardgovernment decides it’s not proper viewing material.
(Source: justaways)
