You are not going to believe what you are about to read. Negotiations on the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement start today in Seoul and some of the details of the treaty are starting to leak.
This treaty is Hollywood’s dream come true. Countries that sign the treaty would require each country to have DMCA type provisions that include some pretty incredible language.
It would require Internet users be barred from the Internet in a universal 3 strikes rule. It would require that ISP’s Police their users for copyright violations and to include user-generated content. It would include worldwide rules preventing DRM circumvention. ISP’s would have to adopt US style take-down notices.
This is not a trade agreement it is a gift to the entertainment industry. One things for sure it was a industry hack that wrote these provisions. It is not surprising they want to stifle user-generated content and regain control of the vast media distribution system they once controlled but have pilfered.
The folks over at Boing Boing and EFF use much stronger language than I do but this secret treaty is not good for the signing countries citizens and the overall freedom of speech which we have on the Internet today.
An Article at PCWorld sums it up nicely “ISPs around the world will be forced to snoop on their subscribers and cut them off if they are found to have shared copyright-protected music on the Internet, under an international agreement being promoted by the U.S.”
This does not bode well. I honestly don’t see the ISPs making a lot of effort to police their traffic. I mean, realistically, how can they?