February 15, 2012

European Commission discusses tactical, partial retreat on ACTA

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Europäische Kommission erwägt taktischen Teilrückzug aus ACTA | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_10.3_Europaeische_Kommission_erwaegt_taktischen_Teilrueckzug_aus_ACTA?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20120221] At the meeting of the heads of cabinet of the European Commission on Monday of this week, Commissioner De Gucht’s representative announced that a referral of ACTA to the Court of Justice of the European Union is currently being […]

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October 19, 2011

The latest developments on ACTA in the European Parliament

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Europäisches Parlament: Aktueller Stand bei ACTA | www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_9.20_Europaeisches_Parlament_Aktueller_Stand_bei_ACTA?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20111028] After long, opaque and undemocratic negotiations, the Anti-Counterfeiting Agreement (ACTA) is making its first steps into the European Parliament. The long process of the ratification of ACTA, which will need to overcome the hurdles created by votes in all 27 […]

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February 1, 2012

ACTA "uprising" in Poland

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [ACTA-“Aufstand” in Polen | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_10.2_ACTA_Aufstand_in_Polen] Polish youth apparently decided to break the stereotypes about the nation’s passiveness and lack of interest in Internet politics. As soon as the Polish government announced that ACTA would be signed on 26 January, we became witnesses of an amazing movement. Hundreds of […]

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May 23, 2012

From talk to action – EP Committees to vote on ACTA next week

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Den Worten müssen Taten folgen – Kommende ACTA-Abstimmungen im EP | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_10.10_Den_Worten_muessen_Taten_folgen?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20120523] After months of machinations, delays and politics, it appears that there is no more scope for delay and all four of the Committees giving Opinions on ACTA will finally vote next week. This will be a […]

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June 13, 2012

Why taking copyright out of ACTA is not the solution

Getting rid of the copyright’s aspect in ACTA as Mrs Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (German Federal minister of justice) suggested would fail to solve ACTA’s inherent problems. The following is a non-exhaustive list of issues that will not be solved by political sleight of hand. A fair balance between protecting intellectual property rights and preserving fundamental rights would […]

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November 10, 2011 · Blogs

Why you should care about ACTA

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a plurilateral agreement which proposes international standards for enforcement of intellectual property rights. The Agreement, negotiated by a handful of countries1 in coordination with certain parts of industry, is controversial in both process and substance. If ratified, it will have major implications for freedom of expression, access to culture […]

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June 9, 2012

Numbers at ACTA demonstrations exceed expectations

After all of the announcements of ACTA’s death, one would wonder why anybody would have felt the need to turn up to the anti-ACTA demonstrations today. In April, the European Parliamentarian in charge of the ACTA dossier said that ACTA was dead.[1] In May, the European Commissioner for the Information Society, Neelie Kroes, said that […]

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June 27, 2012 · Blogs

Marielle Gallo MEP condemns the “soft-terrorism” of the anti-ACTA campaign

This interview was translated and republished with the kind permission of PCinpact. We have added our comments on some of the misinformation in Ms Gallo’s statements. See notes 1-6 at the end of the article. Marielle Gallo, who is a member of the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament in Brussels, proposed a draft […]

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March 13, 2013 · Blogs

Total transparency on ACTA and TAFTA documents

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [ACTA und TAFTA: Absolute Transparenz ist gefragt | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_11.5_ACTA_und_TAFTA_Absolute_Transparenz_ist_gefragt?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20130319] In a letter sent to the president of the European Parliament, Linus Nordberg, a Swedish advocate, developer for Tor and representative of the EDRi-member Association for Digital Liberties from Sweden (Föreningen för digitala fri- och rättigheter – DFRI) asks […]

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October 5, 2011

ENDitorial: Countries start signing ACTA, preparatory docs still secret

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [ENDitorial: Partner unterzeichnen ACTA, zahlreiche Dokumente noch immer geheim | http://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_9.19_ENDitorial_Partner_unterzeichnen_ACTA_zahlreiche_Dokumente_noch_immer_geheim?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20111011] Last weekend, some of the EU’s ACTA “partners” started the process of acceding to the Agreement (US, Canada, Singapore, Australia, South Korea, Japan and Morocco). Due to the controversial nature of the Agreement, this is happening in […]

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June 10, 2012

Is ACTA the best thing ever to happen to the European Union?

For decades, committed pro-European politicians and academics have wished for a number of ingredients that would be necessary for the credibility of the European institutional framework. They wanted an effective, representative and democratic European Parliament. They wanted a European Parliament that was not just theoretically an equal player in the institutional framework in Brussels, but […]

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March 25, 2009

European Parliament wants more transparency on ACTA

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Europäisches Parlament fordert mehr Transparenz bei ACTA | http://www.unwatched.org/node/1347] The European Parliament has included in the Draft Regulation regarding public access to the European Parliament, Council and Commission documents a reference asking for more transparency in the current negotiations on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) A recital in […]

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