BleepingComputer.com: "ACTA"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement

1.The agreement aims to establish an international legal framework for targeting counterfeit goods, generic medicines and copyright infringement on the Internet.

2.Would create a new governing body outside existing forums.

Sounds pretty disturbing to me. Kinda like that "One-world government" thing that people like to dismiss as a bizarre conspiracy that can never happen.

How about the actual text?
http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/economy/i_property/pdfs/acta1105_en.pdf

Way better to read it for one's self than trust that wikipedia properly summarized the content.

Fair enough. But the main issue I have with it is that it basically tells the participating country what it is required to have its government do to implicate this agreement. And it does this without any say by the people of the nations that are participating in it.

"Each Party shall ensure that enforcement procedures are available under its law....."

I also dont see any mention of due process. If you spot that please point that out to me.

Also, "Article 9: Damages" is already part of copyright law here. An international agreement isnt even necessary to ensure that it is enforced in a civil court.

"Due process? We don't need no stinking due process!"

Let us take a look at this barrel of laughs. Here is the first joke, known affectionately as "Article 12, Section 2:

Each Party shall provide that its judicial authorities have the authority to adopt provisional measures inaudita altera parte where appropriate, in particular where any delay is likely to cause irreparable harm to the right holder, or where there is a demonstrable risk of evidence being destroyed. In proceedings conducted inaudita altera parte, each Party shall provide its judicial authorities with the authority to act expeditiously on requests for provisional measures and to make a decision without undue delay.

Inaudita altera parte AKA ex parte means that an accuser goes before a Judge and says "We heard a rumor that some people might have a suspicion that there is an outside chance that elmongo2 could possibly have downloaded a song that we have the rights to". And you? You are never told that someone has charged you with a crime, nor are you given any opportunity to defend yourself.

And what happens next? From Article 25:

1. With respect to the offences specified in paragraphs 1, 2, 3, and 4 of Article 23 (Criminal Offences) for which a Party provides criminal procedures and penalties, that Party shall provide that its competent authorities have the authority to order the seizure of suspected counterfeit trademark goods or pirated copyright goods, any related materials and implements used in the commission of the alleged offence, documentary evidence relevant to the alleged offence, and the assets derived from, or obtained directly or indirectly through, the alleged infringing activity.

"...related materials and implements" means that they take your computer, and if you want it back you have to grovel before a Judge and prove that you didn't pirate anything.

Ahh, the Fifth Amendment. ("No person...shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law...) We hardly knew ye...

This post has been edited by Bezukhov: 29 January 2012 - 08:55 PM

Looking at this from that perspective, it sounds eerily similar to the Patriot Act, which flat-out violates the US Constitution.