ACTA progression

    ACTA has continued to be a widely debated topic. People have taken to the streets to express their views against the ratification of ACTA for their voice to be heard "...citizens protesting the treaty marched over 4,000 strong into the capital city Sofia in protest, calling on the government not to sign it. Similar demonstrations were also held elsewhere in Europe, most notably in France, Germany and Ireland."¹ Freedom of speech and expression infringement in the Internet, violation of personal privacy, human rights are some of the main reasons as to why ACTA should not be passed. Protests in many European cities have made governments of countries to reconsider their position on ACTA. Some claim that neither the group Anonymous nor the peoples protests have been the reason for their "change of heart", "Prime Minister Tusk announced Tuesday that the government’s U-turn on the ratification of ACTA was not the result of public pressure or demonstrations in the matter."2

   Whether this is true or not is uncertain, but what is certain is that people care and they are not willing to bypass a matter which could have serious consequences in their lives now and in the future. Following on recent news has shown that together we can make a difference, "Bulgaria and the Netherlands join Poland and Germany in refusing to ratify Acta, citing privacy and human rights issues."³ Is this accurate? From what I have read they did not clearly refuse to ratify Acta but have put it on hold "Hopefully Germany goes all the way and refuses to sign ACTA, not just put the agreement on hold"⁴, "Bulgaria will freeze its participation in the controversial ACTA trade agreement...This means that our country will not undertake any actions, including a ratification of the agreement, until the stance of the other EU member states is made clear," the Minister explained."⁵

     What I get from this, reading between the lines, is countries looking for a way out, all in order to maintain stability and power. If one bill or treaty doesn't get passed then try it again under different name and different context but pertaining to the same goal (e.g.  SOPA,PIPA then ACTA). Governments will keep trying to enact a law until they manage "to slip one past you".  Don't get me wrong, I also believe that people's work/ideas should be acknowledged and they should be credited for it, but this is not the way. These new proposal's  set forth by governments and political unions(e.g. European Union) with regards to the protection of intellectual property, personal information and freedom of expression create more confusion in the public, rather than comprehensibility/clarity.

What is the current standing on ACTA?

The Commission has decided to refer the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement to the European Court of Justice, halting for now ratification of ACTA by 22 EU countries. The Commission's moved was welcomed by leading European political parties that fear the international accord would trample rights and freedoms.⁶

The European Commission is going to ask the EU's highest court to assess whether ACTA is incompatible with the EU's fundamental rights - such as freedom of expression and information, protections of personal information and intellectual property.⁶

If ACTA is given a "green light", will countries who refused to ratify it ,by freezing it, become inclined to side with the  decision of the EU's highest courts, as the idiom says: if you can't beat them, join them, or will they follow their own "path"/constitution/laws?

1. http://www.techspot.com/news/47472-bulgaria-and-the-netherlands-withdraw-support-for-acta.html


2. http://www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/90889,PM-Tusk-says-ACTA-suspension-%E2%80%9Cnot-caused-by-external-pressure%E2%80%9D


3.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/feb/15/acta-loses-more-support-europe?newsfeed=true


4. http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/02/10/germany-wont-sign-acta-at-least-not-yet/


5. http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=136640


6. http://www.euractiv.com/infosociety/eu-suspends-acta-ratification-news-511054

Are we Pirates? Do we live in a Pirate world?

The word "piracy" since the old days has been used to refer to " robbery or illegal violence at sea. "1 The term has been continued to be used even to this day, with similar meaning but attributed to a different context.  Virtual piracy or also known as Internet piracy is an ongoing and fast expanding trend, with  the incredible growth that is clearly visible in the information technology sector, and a concern for personal information and  intellectual property. For most of us the term "piracy" in these days is associated with 

"the unauthorized reproduction or use of a copyrighted book,recording, television program, patented invention,trademarked product, etc."1

The Business Software Alliance(BSA) trade group, which is an anti-software piracy group, with collaboration from the International Data Corporation produces every year a software piracy study in attempt to estimate the amount of copyright infringement of software in different countries. Although there have been several criticisms on the way the study data has been gathered and some of the assumptions made which could "get a first year student of statistics into trouble."2, many of the politicians or governmental organizations rely and quote these statistics as facts to support their arguments "The results of the study have already been quoted by an MEP from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE)"3

Here you may find BSA's latest study published on May 2011:   2010 Piracy Study

A table from the study showing the piracy rates:

So what is Canada's current standing in the world of software piracy?

Contrary to most opinions, Canada is not a "pirate haven" at all. In a recent survey entitled Global Survey of PC User Attitudes 2010-2011 performed by BSA with "the survey’s list of 32 countries, with what BSA referred to as “regular pirates,” Canada ranked 29th... the BSA pegged Canada’s overall software piracy rate at 29 per cent of all PC users."4   

"...the BSA, whose members include major software vendors such as Microsoft Corp., Adobe Systems Inc., and Symantec Corp., said nearly 47 per cent of computer users globally “acquire software by illegal means most or all of the time.”4

Here is a graph illustrating this:

People who obtained their software through illegal means always or most of the time where refereed to as "regular pirates".

Some of the piracy that is committed comes from the vagueness and the complicated licensing of software products “Many of these users are unaware that they are participating in illegal practices such as downloading programs from peer-to-peer networks or buying a single program and installing it on multiple machines over the allowed number of installations,”.4 In my opinion educating the user and having clearer and concise licensing schemes from software companies could potentially reduce piracy around the globe. 

1. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/piracy
2. http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/it-at-work/2005/06/24/lies-damn-lies-and-statistics-39205464/
3. http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/it-strategy/2005/06/24/bsa-figures-do-not-add-up-39205463/
4. http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/news.asp?id=64215

SOPA, PIPA and the sequel ACTA!

Privacy is a huge concern in the world we live in and it should not be taken lightly. Technology has grown to such proportions that information goes viral faster than it ever has. Controlling  or restricting the flow of information is extremely difficult if not impossible and it raises the question to what extent is it an option,where does one draw the line, without conflicting with privacy and freedom of speech. An example of this is the two bills put forth by the U.S. Congress,I am talking about SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Personal Information Protection Act), which undoubtedly provoked the public to express their pessimistic view with regards to the bills. You may ask what is so wrong about protecting  personal information or stopping piracy act? Yes, on the surface it all sounds good, but if the government is allowed the power to freely and easily enforce its power it would
undoubtedly be liable to infringe on freedom of speech as swell as the tamper with innovative ideas. As the saying goes "with power comes great responsibility".  I do believe that there will be positive aspects but history has shown us that power can lead to catastrophic circumstances. The government would potentially use it to satisfy their goals by silencing any opposition that is in their way. Next time you visit this blog it may be no longer here. A few lines above I used the words "freely" and "easily", this is in relation to the reaction time of "dealing" with a website. As we have recently seen Megaupload, a site renowned around the world for file sharing, has been "taken down" by the U.S. government. I researched around and found that the investigation  against Megaupload began in 2010, at the latest. http://nikcub.appspot.com/posts/how-megaupload-was-investigated-and-indicted
This is two years before they were officially shut down, however this time will become greatly reduced if the bills are passed. Due to the large number of protests of web sites and communities around the globe the U.S. congress has halted the bills (http://business.financialpost.com/2012/01/20/u-s-congress-pulls-sopa-legislation/). Is this the end, are the bills "dead"?

ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) is another hot topic at the moment, not too far of from SOPA and PIPA, which yet remains to come to a conclusion.  A number of countries have signed ACTA. Numerous groups have stood up against ACTA and its vague and unclear definition, and are untouched by the reassurance of ACTA that it will not hinder freedom of speech. What happens now? Where do we go from here?