Topic: COPYRIGHT - on January 26, 2012 at 11:57:00 AM CET
ACTA vs. SOPA: Five Reasons ACTA is Scarier Threat to Internet Freedom
ACTA may be scarier than SOPA, Internet freedom advocates say, and outrage over the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement treaty is growing as it gains international prominence in the wake of the U.S. Congress shelving the Stop Online Piracy Act last week.
Both the ACTA treaty and the SOPA bill are ostensibly aimed at stopping counterfeiting and piracy, but opponents argue that they would have the adverse effects of limiting Internet freedom, quashing innovation and possibly even censoring the Internet.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on January 26, 2012 at 11:42:00 AM CET
Reporters Without Borders: Online freedoms threatened by another step towards treaty’s adoption
The Council of the European Union is about to adopt the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). The agreement will be formally signed by EU governments during a World Trade Organization meeting that is due to take place in Geneva from 15 to 17 December. It will then be up to the European Parliament to adopt or reject it.
Thirteen members of the Sakharov Network of winners of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought appeal today to MEPs to reject the agreement in order to protect freedom of expression and of information.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on January 26, 2012 at 11:36:00 AM CET
Opinion of European Academics on ACTA
Das Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement stellt einen neuen Staatsvertrag über die Durchsetzung geistiger Eigentumsrechte dar, welcher von den führenden Industrienationen seit 2007 verhandelt wurde und schließlich im Dezember 2010 verabschiedet wurde. Der Vertragstext und die intransparente Verhandlungsführung haben zu massiver Kritik seitens internationaler NGOs und des Europäischen Parlaments geführt. Der Lehrstuhl hat eine „Opinion of European Academics on ACTA“ koordiniert und teilweise verfasst, welche die wesentlichen Kritikpunkt aus rechtswissenschaftlicher Sicht zusammenfasst. Die Opinion wurde von über 20 Urheberrechtsprofessoren aus allen Teilen Europas unterzeichnet und an die europäischen Institutionen gesandt. Die europäische Kommission hat auf die Opinion mit einer detaillierten Stellungnahme reagiert. Mittlerweile liegen weitere Studien vor, die sich in den zentralen Punkten auf die Opinion stützen. Im europäischen Parlament beginnt in diesen Wochen die Ausschussarbeit. Der Rechtsausschuss des Bundestages hatte Prof. Metzger am 14.12.2011 als Experten im Rahmen eines erweiterten Berichterstattergesprächs geladen.
iri.uni-hannover.de acta.iri-hannover.de OPINION OF EUROPEAN ACADEMICS ON ANTI-COUNTERFEITING TRADE AGREEMENT [pdf]
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on January 26, 2012 at 11:34:00 AM CET
Sign the global petition: Stop the biggest threat to Internet freedom
Last week, 3 million of us beat back America's attack on our Internet! --- but there is an even bigger threat out there, and our global movement for freedom online is perfectly poised to kill it for good.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on January 26, 2012 at 11:32:00 AM CET
Urging the EU Parliament to reject - Just Say ‘No’ to ACTA
The European Parliament will soon hold a final consent vote on ACTA and may be our only hope to stop this dangerous agreement. A "No" vote will dismantle ACTA and make countries go back to the negotiating table. We've already help bring down SOPA and PIPA, now let's turn the fight to ACTA. Call on the EU Parliament to take a stand and vote “NO” on ACTA!
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on January 26, 2012 at 11:31:00 AM CET
Mitmachen: Stoppt ACTA!
Das ACTA-Abkommen wird nun bald auch von der EU und den einzelnen Mitgliedstaaten ratifiziert. Hierfür muss das Europäische Parlament das Abkommen absegnen oder ablehnen. Daher haben wir jetzt die Chance, alle Europaparlamentarier an ihre Verantwortung zu erinnern, sich für unsere Bürgerrechte und den europäischen Binnenmarkt einzusetzen und “Nein” zu stimmen.
Der Entwicklungsausschuss (DEVE) im EU-Parlament hat einen ersten Stellungnahmeentwurf (pdf) veröffentlicht, der das ACTA befürwortet, viele Fehler enthält und scheinbar nicht versteht, dass der Medikamentenzugang in Entwicklungsländern durch das ACTA behindert wird.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on January 26, 2012 at 11:19:00 AM CET
ACTA Signed by the EU. Let's Defeat it Together!
Today in Tokyo, the EU and 22 of its Member States officially signed ACTA1, the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement. The worldwide citizen movement initiated against SOPA and PIPA must now focus on defeating their global counterpart ACTA in the European Parliament.
A few days after the online protests against the anti-sharing bills SOPA and PIPA in the United States, today's signing ceremony of ACTA is the symbol of the circumvention of democracy to impose policies that hurt freedom of communication and innovation worldwide. However, this highly symbolic signature is not the end of the road.
Every citizen willing to act to defeat ACTA now has an opportunity to participate in having it rejected. They will be able to weigh in at each of the many steps of the procedure, which will lead to a final vote in the EU Parliament no sooner than June.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on January 26, 2012 at 11:09:00 AM CET
Signing Ceremony of the EU for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)
The ceremony for the European Union (EU) and its Member States to sign the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) was held on January 26 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
(1) Representatives from the European Union (EU) and 22 Member States, attended the ceremony and signed the Agreement. The Member States which did not sign the Agreement are expected to do so on the completion of respective domestic procedures.
EU and its Member States that signed the Agreement at this ceremony are: the EU, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on January 26, 2012 at 11:00:00 AM CET
ACTA explained
ACTA is one more offensive against the sharing of culture on the Internet. ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) is an agreement secretly negotiated by a small "club" of like-minded countries (39 countries, including the 27 of the European Union, the United States, Japan, etc). Negotiated instead of being democratically debated, ACTA bypasses parliaments and international organizations to dictate a repressive logic dictated by the entertainment industries.
ACTA would impose new criminal sanctions forcing Internet actors to monitor and censor online communications. It is thus a major threat to freedom of expression online and creates legal uncertainty for Internet companies. In the name of trademarks and patents, it would also hamper access to generic medicines in poor countries.
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Topic: War and Peace - on January 26, 2012 at 10:14:00 AM CET
Pressefreiheit weltweit
Österreich liegt auf Platz fünf - Platz eins belegen Finnland und Norwegen - Schlusslichter sind Turkmenistan, Nordkorea und Eritrea
Reporter ohne Grenzen stuft Ägypten im jüngsten Pressefreiheitsranking gleich um 39 Plätze schlechter ein als im Vorjahr. Schärfere Notstandsgesetze und unverhältnismäßige Gewalt gegen Journalisten führt die Pressefreiheitorganisation als Gründe an. Platz eins belegen Finnland und Norwegen. Syrien, wo Zensur, Überwachung und willkürliche Gewalt die Arbeit von Journalisten nahezu unmöglich machen, fiel auf Platz 176. Schlusslichter des Rankings sind Turkmenistan, Nordkorea und Eritrea. Die USA fielen um 27 Positionen auf Platz 47 ab, weil die Polizei die Berichterstattung über die Occupy-Proteste laut RSF-Bericht behindert habe.
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Topic: War and Peace - on January 26, 2012 at 10:12:00 AM CET
Reporters Without Borders international press freedom index
“This year’s index sees many changes in the rankings, changes that reflect a year that was incredibly rich in developments, especially in the Arab world,” Reporters Without Borders said today as it released its 10th annual press freedom index. “Many media paid dearly for their coverage of democratic aspirations or opposition movements. Control of news and information continued to tempt governments and to be a question of survival for totalitarian and repressive regimes. The past year also highlighted the leading role played by netizens in producing and disseminating news.
“Crackdown was the word of the year in 2011. Never has freedom of information been so closely associated with democracy. Never have journalists, through their reporting, vexed the enemies of freedom so much. Never have acts of censorship and physical attacks on journalists seemed so numerous. The equation is simple: the absence or suppression of civil liberties leads necessarily to the suppression of media freedom. Dictatorships fear and ban information, especially when it may undermine them.
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Topic: PHOTO - on January 26, 2012 at 10:03:00 AM CET
Insane English copyright ruling creates ownership in the idea of a photo's composition
In a bizarre ruling, an English court has ruled that in favor of a commercial poster company that argued that a photo that showed a similar (but different) scene taken by a different person in a different place nevertheless infringed the copyright of a poster. What the judge ruled was that photographing a scene that is "substantially similar" to a scene someone else has already photographed infringes the first shooter's copyright.
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