26 Jun, 2008: ICANN Board Approves Censorship Policy for Domain Names Based on Morality: 2 Board Members Speak Against It
Today in Paris the ICANN Board passed the GNSO's controversial recommendations to censor top level domains based on notions of "morality and public order", and broadly defined "community" wishes. However, 2 ICANN board members, law professors Wendy Seltzer (on behalf of the At-Large Internet Users) and Susan Crawford, made very powerful and compelling statements to protect free expression on ...

16 Jun, 2008: New Zealand to be “Consulted” on Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Industry Standard)
The New Zealand public will be consulted on the controversial international Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), details of which were leaked on the whistleblower website wikileaks.org. ... Culture and Heritage Minister Judith Tizard has requested submissions on the still tentative ACTA proposal with a deadline of July 14. At that time, international government agencies will only be at their second meeting ...

9 Jun, 2008: Digital Copyright: it’s all wrong. Draft ACTA Treaty Proposes Draconian Measures (Sydney Morning Herald)
"The ACTA draft is a scary document. If a treaty based on its provisions were adopted, it would enable any border guard, in any treaty country, to check any electronic device for any content that they suspect infringes copyright laws. They need no proof, only suspicion. They would be able to seize any device - laptop, iPod, DVD recorder, ...

6 Jun, 2008: Der Zoll hört mit (dradio.de)
EU-Kommission debattiert vertraulich über Anti-Piraterie-Abkommen. Vertreter aus 13 Nationen haben in Genf am Montag und Dienstag dieser Woche über ein internationales Abkommen zur Abwehr von Urheberrechtsverletzungen diskutiert. Nichtregierungsorganisationen warnen, dass unter Ausschluss kritischer Vertreter der Entwicklungsländer Fakten geschaffen werden sollen. Im Bereich von Computer und Medien würden vor allem die Interessen der großen Medienkonzerne und nicht die der ...

5 Jun, 2008: Speculation Persists On ACTA As First Official Meeting Concludes (IP-Watch)
European Parliament Study Draws Some Critical Conclusions on ACTA... Dordi agrees with NGOs like Knowledge Ecology International and IP Justice with regard to a certain “vagueness” in definitions and forum shopping. It was unclear from the use of the terms ‘counterfeit’ and ‘piracy’ what the new treaty would actually cover, he wrote.

4 Jun, 2008: ACTA and the Threat to Credible Global Governance (Aaron Shaw)
"I’ve recently heard through a grapevine that ACTA negotiants have reportedly signed non-disclosure agreements as a condition of their participation in this week’s secret closed-door meeting in Geneva. This is an amazing and frightening step backwards in the history of global governance. It also epitomizes the ACTA negotiants’ dismissive attitude towards the importance of credible, transparent trade policy-making in ...

3 Jun, 2008: William Patry: An ACTA Call to Arms: No More Secret Govt.
Last week I posted about the proposed Ant-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). The issue is getting coverage in the blogosphere, but none in the mainstream press at least in the U.S., which is regrettable, since the issues raised are of great public interest. Since my last blog, I have received information from Geneva and national capitals that requires updating the blog, and ...

3 Jun, 2008: The Counterfeit Treaty (Huffington Post)
Today in Geneva Switzerland, at an undisclosed location, the US government, the European Commission, Japan and a handful of other countries will meet in a secret negotiation on a new treaty. The working name is the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), a name that masks the much broader subject matter, and one that was deliberately chosen to intimate and discourage ...

2 Jun, 2008: US Supreme Court Hands Big Win to Free Speech Advocates in the IP World
[Major League Baseball v. CBC Distribution] By Allonn E. Levy, Esq. "An obvious “win” for Free Speech advocates and “netizens” concerned with ensuring open access to information on the Internet, the case also helps the burgeoning field of Internet information consolidators who help consumers collect information and process it. Expect to see the case cited frequently in the ...

31 May, 2008: Congress tries to get Israel off of US intellectual property blacklist (Jerusalem Post)
"The USTR said Israel is judged by different standards than others in its watch list tier which don't have as advanced economies. "Our expectations of those countries may not be as high as they are for Israel," said an official in the USTR, speaking on background. "We look at Israel relative to its very high level of development." ...

30 May, 2008: Acting Against ACTA by Professor Alan Story
“If it is a sin for the poor to steal from the rich, it must be a much bigger sin for the rich to steal from the poor. Don’t rich countries pirate poor countries’ best scientists, engineers, doctors, nurses and programmers? When global corporations come to operate in the Philippines, don’t they pirate the best people from local firms? If ...

30 May, 2008: Will Proposed Treaty Make Border Agents Copyright Cops? (Computerworld)
An Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) under quiet negotiation by several countries including the U.S and Canada is raising concern in some quarters after a leaked document, purportedly offering more details on the nascent agreement, was posted on the Internet. The document, titled "Discussion Paper on a Possible Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement" (download PDF), was posted last week by the Wikileaks ...

30 May, 2008: Embattled ACTA Negotiations Next Week In Geneva; US Sees Signing This Year (IP-Watch)
Formal negotiations on an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) are expected to commence next week in Geneva, according to a European Commission official, even as a leaked United States trade office paper is drawing criticism of the proposed pact. The publication of a US Trade Representative’s office discussion paper on ACTA leaked last week on Wikileaks has spurred criticism of the ...

28 May, 2008: Former Canadian Conservative Party Member Admits Anti-Counterfeiting Treaty is Disgraceful and Vows to Fight Against It (Ottawa Citizen)
"As a former worker and member of a Riding Board of Directors for the Conservative Party, I feel have to apologize to all Canadians. The new secret copyright deal clearly shows that this government does not care about personal privacy or about Canadians' right to debate and input their own laws. Instead they have cheerily given in to ...

28 May, 2008: Let’s stand up to Big Brother (Vancouver Province)
The government is secretly negotiating a global pact on copyright infringement that could force Internet service providers to hand over customer information without a court order. Called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, it could well prove a nightmare for ordinary Canadians -- turning border and other security guards into copyright cops who check laptops, iPods and even cellphones ...