EFF Alert: Tell Congress: ACTA is a SHAM!

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Tell Your Lawmakers: "Anti-Counterfeiting" Treaty Is a Sham
> https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=451


The U.S. Trade Representative has spent the past two years working
with other developed nations on a secret agreement allegedly designed
to reduce the flow of fake physical goods across borders. However, the
Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is really a ruse that gives
the entertainment industry its wishlist of Internet copyright
regulations and enforcement power.

Just look at some of the "anti-counterfeiting" measures included in
ACTA. ACTA would set up a global framework that could:

    * Require Internet service providers (ISPs) to disconnect 
      individuals accused (not convicted) of repeated copyright 
      infringement;

    * Require ISPs to hand over their subscribers’ identities to 
      copyright owners without any due process or judicial 
      oversight;

    * Require ISPs to make potentially expensive modifications 
      to their networks in an effort to prevent copyright 
      infringement;

    * Prohibit the U.S. Congress from reforming the Digital 
      Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which makes it a crime to 
      defeat copy protection even when making a copy is 
      perfectly legal;

    * Require all countries to implement DMCA-like laws for 
      their own populations, without the benefit of fair use or 
      other legal exceptions that provide a modicum of 
      protection for speech;

    * Threaten potential innovators with outrageous financial 
      penalties for copyright infringement; and

    * Criminalize even non-commercial uses of copyrighted 
      materials.

Sounds a lot like a copyright law, not an "anti-counterfeiting"
agreement, doesn't it?

ACTA is being negotiated by a handful of countries behind closed doors
and is on track to be finished by the end of this year. Despite its
potentially far-reaching impact for consumers and the future of the
open Internet, the U.S. Trade Representative has claimed that it can
shut out Congressional oversight by treating ACTA as a "sole executive
agreement" under the President's executive power, rather than a
treaty.

We can't sit back and let this fake "anti-counterfeiting" agreement
become law! If your congressional representative is on one of the
committees below that has oversight over the U.S. Trade
Representative, tell your lawmaker not to be fooled by this chicanery
and demand that ACTA be limited to addressing international
counterfeiting.

Senate Finance Committee

   * Max Baucus, Montana
   * Jay Rockefeller, West Virginia
   * Kent Conrad, North Dakota
   * Jeff Bingaman, New Mexico
   * John Kerry, Massachusetts
   * Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas
   * Ron Wyden, Oregon
   * Charles Schumer, New York
   * Debbie Stabenow, Michigan
   * Maria Cantwell, Washington
   * Bill Nelson, Florida
   * Robert Menendez, New Jersey
   * Thomas Carper, Delaware
   * Chuck Grassley, Iowa
   * Orrin Hatch, Utah
   * Olympia Snowe, Maine
   * Jon Kyl, Arizona
   * Jim Bunning, Kentucky
   * Mike Crapo, Idaho
   * Pat Roberts, Kansas
   * John Ensign, Nevada
   * Mike Enzi, Wyoming
   * John Cornyn, Texas

House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee

   * John S. Tanner, 8th Tennessee
   * Sander M. Levin, 12th Michigan
   * Chris Van Hollen, 8th Maryland
   * Jim McDermott, 7th Washington
   * Richard E. Neal, 2nd Massachusetts
   * Lloyd Doggett, 25th Texas
   * Earl Pomeroy, 1st North Dakota
   * Bob Etheridge, 2nd North Carolina
   * Linda T. Sanchez, 39th California
   * Kevin Brady, 8th Texas
   * Geoff Davis, 4th Kentucky
   * Dave G. Reichert, 8th Washington
   * Wally Herger, 2nd California
   * Devin Nunes, 21st California

Recipients

   * Targeted recipients based on your address





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