ACTA – A new SOPA…or Worse?

Whereas the world celebrates the withdrawal of SOPA and PIPA for an unlimited period of time, there has appeared a brand new hazzard on the way, which can possibly have much more negative consequences, than the former one – ACTA.

ACTA (full title:The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) may be easily considered a potentially dangerous document, which, in fact, presupposes attacks on human rights, even though it has been initially created in a seemingly democratic country (the US).

Naturally, as “the road to hell is always paved with good deeds”, the declared purpose of ACTA is more, than noble. Namely, the authors of the mentioned document plan to stop the spread of illegal and pirate content around the world.

Undoubtedly, the aim of ACTA is by all means positive, but the offered methods to achieve this aim are scarier, than one can imagine. In particular, the Customs officers have received the right to check one’s digital storing devices (including laptops, mobile phones, music players, or flash drives) for illegal or pirate content, with a further right to detain the device and forbid the person from visiting the country.

In this respect, it doesn’t matter, if you store password-protected info, you’ll be asked to unlock all your files, and otherwise your visit in the country will be forbidden either. Is it a bad dream? Unfortunately, it’s not.

The thing is that 22 countries, including EU members, the USA, Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Marocco, Mexico and Switzeland have already declared their desire to ratify ACTA, and if they do, the human right for confidentiality of personal data will vanish forever.

I have been truly taken aback, having read about the document for the first time, mainly because there’s yet no social reaction against the violations it makes legal. On the other hand, the answer, here, is obvious – there’s no media coverage of the news that the document is almost in action for now.

Of course, having started surfing the Web, I managed to find ACTA official site and the relative Wikipedia page, but I wonder if I would ever find out about its existence, if I hadn’t happened to encounter some brief facts about it a few days before.

In a whole, what is absolutely irritating with all these SOPA, and, now, ACTA documents, is that the authorities don’t see the line between a desire to fight Internet piracy and the brutal violation of all basic human rughts.

The thing is that, it has become pretty clear already, that any respectful site can’t but implement strict house rules to maintain its reputation. Much because of that, even the large file storage services, like 4shared or even MediaFire have already established the detailed and harsh Terms of Use, which all sites’ visitors are obliged to follow.

So why all the fuss, dear officers? I’m sure that such documents as ACTA won’t only help stop the distribution of piracy content, but will also make the whole society furious. Do you need it, after all?

Stay cool. And attentive

Andy