Now that the SOPA fever has died down.. Let me remind everyone that there is another more dire bill coming up in the European Union and this is the one to watch. This bill will not only destroy the web, but also the individual, you and me. It is called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). The supposed reason behind ACTA is similar to SOPA, to protect intellectual property. It was first drafted in 2008 and has gained many signatures including from Singapore on 1 October 2011.
Now this is what ACTA does:
1) forces Internet Service Providers (ISPs) such as Singnet and Starhub to scan and track every single data packet to and from every internet user.
2) any counterfeiting of copyrighted materials detected will allow the ISPs to deny internet service to the user
3) furthermore, the ISP is required to inform the publisher of said copyrighted material, who will then decide if the user will be charged in court
You may think you're safe but wait.. ACTA gives permission to all ISPs to monitor every single user. Everyone will be under constant surveillance. There is no more privacy, every single website you visit, facebook posts, tweet, youtube video, etc etc, will be under scrutiny. ACTA grants so much power that even if you were to buy a single MP3 song online and transfer over email or MSN to a friend, BOTH you and your friend will be prosecuted.
Some examples that will get you prosecuted under ACTA:
1) Sharing copyrighted material online, through MSN, Skype, Dropbox, etc.
2) Uploading copyrighted music, videos or homemade videos with copyrighted music on video sites like YouTube, Facebook video, etc
3) Quoting a line out of a copyrighted song, novel, newspaper article, etc.
NO ONE IS SAFE
If you had thought SOPA is bad, ACTA is worse. SOPA only has the power to shut down websites that are suspected of copyright infringements. ACTA attacks websites AS WELL AS goes straight to the individual, removes privacy and freedom of speech by constant surveillance. Like SOPA, ACTA also allows censorship of audio, video and text. Governments that signed ACTA can leverage its power to censor anything it desires such as politics. This results in the individual losing their civil rights. Any offenders can be prosecuted. What this means that in future elections such as the General Elections 2016, government critical tweets, facebook and blog posts can be censored.
This is just a very quick summary of what ACTA is about, there are many more underlying regulations that will be enforced. It also does not help that further discussions on the bill are kept secret. Bills such as SOPA and ACTA are favourable to governments since it can be used as a weapon. SOPA may have been denied after last week but ACTA has gained momentum and quietly.. As of now, countries such as Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and the United States have already signed the bill. The bill will be negotiated after 31 March 2013 by the European Union. If the bill should pass, get ready to be very afraid.
PS: We can't do anything since Singapore has already signed it. We just have to wait till next year to find out the future of our online privacy and civil rights. In the meantime, all we can do is keep each other informed.
Now this is what ACTA does:
1) forces Internet Service Providers (ISPs) such as Singnet and Starhub to scan and track every single data packet to and from every internet user.
2) any counterfeiting of copyrighted materials detected will allow the ISPs to deny internet service to the user
3) furthermore, the ISP is required to inform the publisher of said copyrighted material, who will then decide if the user will be charged in court
You may think you're safe but wait.. ACTA gives permission to all ISPs to monitor every single user. Everyone will be under constant surveillance. There is no more privacy, every single website you visit, facebook posts, tweet, youtube video, etc etc, will be under scrutiny. ACTA grants so much power that even if you were to buy a single MP3 song online and transfer over email or MSN to a friend, BOTH you and your friend will be prosecuted.
Some examples that will get you prosecuted under ACTA:
1) Sharing copyrighted material online, through MSN, Skype, Dropbox, etc.
2) Uploading copyrighted music, videos or homemade videos with copyrighted music on video sites like YouTube, Facebook video, etc
3) Quoting a line out of a copyrighted song, novel, newspaper article, etc.
NO ONE IS SAFE
If you had thought SOPA is bad, ACTA is worse. SOPA only has the power to shut down websites that are suspected of copyright infringements. ACTA attacks websites AS WELL AS goes straight to the individual, removes privacy and freedom of speech by constant surveillance. Like SOPA, ACTA also allows censorship of audio, video and text. Governments that signed ACTA can leverage its power to censor anything it desires such as politics. This results in the individual losing their civil rights. Any offenders can be prosecuted. What this means that in future elections such as the General Elections 2016, government critical tweets, facebook and blog posts can be censored.
This is just a very quick summary of what ACTA is about, there are many more underlying regulations that will be enforced. It also does not help that further discussions on the bill are kept secret. Bills such as SOPA and ACTA are favourable to governments since it can be used as a weapon. SOPA may have been denied after last week but ACTA has gained momentum and quietly.. As of now, countries such as Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and the United States have already signed the bill. The bill will be negotiated after 31 March 2013 by the European Union. If the bill should pass, get ready to be very afraid.
PS: We can't do anything since Singapore has already signed it. We just have to wait till next year to find out the future of our online privacy and civil rights. In the meantime, all we can do is keep each other informed.
