Liberals and Democrats Announce Rejection of ACTA

enigmax
April 25, 2012
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The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) in the European Parliament have just confirmed that they will reject ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. Leader of the Alliance, Guy Verhofstadt, said that while supporting the protection of intellectual property rights, ALDE believes that ACTA falls short on a number of counts.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a treaty aimed at harmonizing global copyright enforcement, received yet another serious setback today.

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament have just announced that they will reject the controversial treaty.

“Although we unambiguously support the protection of intellectual property rights, we also champion fundamental rights and freedoms. We have serious concerns that ACTA does not strike the right balance,” announced Guy Verhofstadt, ALDE group leader.

Verhofstadt said that ALDE continues to support multilateral IP enforcement efforts, but only those with a transparent, publicly discussed mandate. He added that ALDE shares the legitimate concerns of those who participated in the anti-ACTA protests in recent months.

“Civil society has been extremely vocal in recent months in raising their legitimate concerns on the ACTA agreement which we share. There are too many provisions lacking clarity and certainty as to the way they would be implemented in practice,” Verhofstadt noted.

One of the key problems raised by anti-ACTA activists is the way the treaty has morphed and grown since its inception. From its roots as a mechanism to deal with counterfeit goods, ACTA grew to encompass the unauthorized sharing of digital media online. This means that from targeting strictly criminal enterprises, ACTA now risks sucking in the man in the street. This one-size-fits-all approach is opposed by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats.

“Furthermore, ACTA wrongly bundles together too many different types of IPR enforcement under the same umbrella, treating physical goods and digital services in the same way,” said Verhofstadt. “We believe they should be approached in separate sectoral agreements, and following a comprehensive and democratically debated mandate and impact assessment.”

Yesterday the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) said that ACTA may have unacceptable side effects on fundamental rights of individuals.

“While more international cooperation is needed for the enforcement of intellectual property rights, the means envisaged must not come at the expense of the fundamental rights of individuals,” assistant European data protection supervisor Giovanni Buttarelli said in a statement.

“A right balance between the fight against intellectual property infringements and the rights to privacy and data protection must be respected. It appears that ACTA has not been fully successful in this respect.”

This is a breaking news story and will be updated

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Anyone

how many seats do they have?
- exscape
  
  85. However there appears to be a majority against ACTA at the moment – but make sure to not assume victory at this point! It’s not over until it’s been voted down, and there’s months left to the voting.
  - multiple personality order
    
    +1 TRUE : It aint over yet.
    
    http://www.undcon.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/approved.gif
    - Blabla
      
      hey shouldn’t it say Denied ?
  - Anonymous
    
    Christian Engström (The senior swedish parliament member) says the same. We’ve seen no end of foul moves and grandmasterish bureaucracy-fu deployed in the defense of ACTA so far.
  - ndmushroom
    
    The fact of the matter is this: the EPP (Tories / republicans / christian democrats / general centre-right parties for the eurojargon newbies) will definitely vote for ACTA. They hold 271 of the 754 seats. The only way ACTA will be rejected is if the S&D (Labour / democrats / social democrats / general centre-left parties) votes against it, or the vote of the 190 S&D MEPs is split. I’ve already been to a conference on ACTA co-organized by an ALDE and a S&D MEP, where the stance towards the dreaded agreement was very negative. The S&D president is holding a facebook discussion today @ 14.30 CET (http://t.co/4eFPjZWf), which could be a good indicator to where the S&D is going.
    - ______
      
      your link was broken !
      fixed it..
      
      http://t.co/4eFPjZWf
    - Anonymous
      
      There will be some rebels in EPP, especially in the Eastern European parties. S&D has already come out against ACTA, and will mostly vote against. However, there are some IP-fundies in both S&D and ALDE, and those will also rebel to vote for ACTA. In the symbolic vote on ACTA in Autumn 2010, the pro-ACTA motion won despite being supported by ALDE and the left-wing groups (who together make a majority), because the pro-ACTA faction picked off enough rebels in ALDE and S&D (including the entire UK S&D group).
  - Anonymous
    
    as Albert responded I am blown away that anyone able to earn $8991 in 1 month on the internet. did you see this web site^^^ http://getyouralldesires.blogspot.com
    - Jmorse43508
      
      Bullshit and a Scam.
      
      Flagged.
  - Anonymous
    
    what Kyle said I am taken by surprise that a single mom able to get paid $7321 in four weeks on the computer. did you see this web link>>> http://toearnusd.weebly.com
  - Anonymous
    
    what Jose responded I am amazed that a single mom able to earn $9670 in 4 weeks on the computer. have you read this web site>>> http://toearnusd.weebly.com
  - Anonymous
    
    as Bruce implied I didnt even know that anyone can earn $7334 in 4 weeks on the internet. have you seen this web page http://tomakeusd.blogspot.in/
- Anonymous
  
  just as Thelma said I’m taken by surprise that someone able to make $7468 in one month on the internet. have you seen this page … http://makeadesire.blogspot.in/
- Anonymous
  
  as Wendy responded I’m blown away that a single mom can earn $9348 in 1 month on the computer. did you look at this site … http://makeadesire.blogspot.in/
- SS4
  
  foget about ACTA guys , focus on “new ACTA” aka CISPA !
  - Michael
    
    We’re not all American you know
Viciouzex

one and a half. Liberal is quadriplegic
- ThumbsUpThumbsDown
  
  Yeah, but his Civil Rights Brain is at least working for the rest of us!
  - Sashey8
    
    I don’t agree. The civil rights far right and far left are not on our side.
- http://profiles.google.com/zerianis10 Christopher Kidwell
  
  Hardly. Quadriplegic and lacking half a brain as well would well describe most conservatives in the world, who seem to be hellbent on destroying everything out of sheer greed and overarching ‘faith’ in the ‘free market’.
  - Anonymous
    
    Not quite.
    
    If you look at the Pirate Party, for instance, as well as half the people on this forum you will find that most of them are, in fact, conservative.
    
    Don’t believe me? Try imagining who of the normal TF population could be found quoting or applauding, say, Thomas jeffersson’s scathing rebuttal of “intellectual property”, of Benjamin Franklin’s argument against selling your liberties in exchange for a little safety, or, indeed, many passages from that piece of writing starting with “We, The People…”.
    
    You know the one. The US congress regularly uses it as a good substitute for toilet paper.
    
    The current IP-paradigm is upheld not so much by conservatives – because no real conservative would be willing to assume that a song and a dance was literally worth half a million if you shared it with a dozen people.
    
    No, the current paradigm is upheld by immoral opportunists lacking any form of ideology other than a dogmatic belief in the status quo which assumes that a media file is some sort of currency.
  - Sashey8
    
    Both sides are working this together or else more would have been done to stop mr obama from signing outragous bills and money being printed while the middle class is being taxed to death. Why doesn’t someone close the borders? Obama is allowing millions of illegal immigrants into our country. How can he do this when we are in huge financial trouble . He is out of touch with the people. 17 vacations in 3 years when 9 million are out of work. You see19 thousand were hired for an IRS position. Thats a big problem. We the people are not that stupid. People are waking up
NoneOfTheAbove

They only want your vote (and they’ll fuck you later).
Anonymous

One more step in the continuing fall of ACTA within the EU.

My only hope would be that those in other countries, and certainly the United States, do read and understand the very valid criticisms of ACTA as stated above. To ratify ACTA would be a serious mistake so turn back while you still can.
- Anyone
  
  I thought if a single country (or the EU) does not ratify it it is dead even for the ones that do
  - Anonymous
    
    Yes if one or more countries refuse to ratify ACTA then the deal is dead on the EU level. They are however putting it through the democratic vote of the European Parliament which is a step that must be passed before EU-wide ratification can begin.
    
    Even if it fails on the EU level individual countries can ratify ACTA on their own but at the current time an EP rejection would make that very unlikely.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002639684444 Ryan Smith

What does liberal/democrat translate to in US politics?
- Anyone
  
  Liberals, more or less
  not sure what the US liberals stand for, since they are so rarely covered.
  - Desu75
    
    Problem is the US liberals can never agree what to stand for. Thus your post is more accurate than you realize. Many liberal groups in the US are opposed to the views of the other groups. Take gays for example, they are despised by many liberal groups such as the blacks and Latino groups.
    - Anonymous
      
      That and the common confusion between “liberal” and “commie” which dates back to the McCarthy era where anyone objecting against government abuses was conveniently assigned the same bin as the “red peril”…
- Guest
  
  Basically, what you don’t have.
  
  http://www.politicalcompass.org/uselection2012
  - Anonymous
    
    Libertarian != Liberal.
    
    However, they do overlap almost 100% on social issues such as civil rights.
    
    A Liberal focuses mainly on individual freedoms. He doesn’t really care whether this freedom comes under rightist or leftist views of economics.
    
    A libertarian could be said to be the fiscal-conservative branch of the liberals, focusing extensively on small government, and more focus on individual property rights.
    
    Or so I’ve understood. If there’s a political scientist on these forums with a better description…
    - Jon7272
      
      except here in australia were the liberals are the tories or republicans who want the rich to get richer and the poor can go to hell
    - Desu75
      
      Libertarians were the second biggest party in my State of Texas and still the “second party” in many areas. The biggest difference between them and the Conservatives are Libertarians are not fans of symbolism as much. Symbolism is a huge part of politics. Going to the Moon is symbolism. Being the world’s Superpower is symbolism. Death penalty is symbolism. Pro-life is symbolism. Maintaining a huge military is also largely symbolism (although Conservatives will defend to death that it’s for domestic protection). That’s why Ron Paul, running as a Republican, is critical of the War on Terror. A Conservative would never touch the shortcoming of the War on Terror with a ten-foot pole. Other than that, they are fairly similar.
      
      They don’t quite agree on social issues at all, that would be a Populist.
    - Legba
      
      Actually, a libertarian in modern interpretation is a classical liberal with a twist, the most important being the belief in the Non-agression Principle and self-ownership. The non-agression principle is the core belief that any use of force against another individual, for any reason, is wrong, unless it is used in self defense. The libertarian concept of individual liberty is based on the idea of self ownership, in the sense that everyone owns their body and their life (and by extension their labor and fruits of their labor), and that nobody has a greater right to these things then yourself.
      
      These concepts, which seem kinda intuitive and obvious to most, are in fact NOT the philosophical norm in modern society, and therefore raise a huge number of complex philosophical questions and discussions about what the proper role of government should be and how free markets should work (and if what we have now can be called a free market at all).
      
      In short, being a libertarian is a philosophical position first, economic second and political third. Libertarian ideas aren’t new, many of them are simply classical liberal ideas, but they are fresh in the sense that they’ve long been disregarded in favor of more socialistic ideas in most countries. In fact, one could say that most western countries today, including the US are far more socialist than liberal and have been for a very long time. The current sad state of affairs is a direct consequence of many of those crypto-socialist ideas, for example the idea that debt doesn’t matter, that wealth comes out of the printing press, that the state can be all things to all people and not mutate into a tyrannical overbearing oligopoly in the process, etc.
      
      I’m sure many people reading this don’t approve of libertarianism, but I wonder if that’s simply from being unaware of what libertarianism actually is.
- Youdontneedtoknowwhoiam
  
  The opposite of the other crappy flavor of politico, the republican. please note this does NOT mean that the dems are any less crappy…both parties reek, it’s just two different stenches…
- Guest
  
  “What does liberal/democrat translate to in US politics?”
  
  Extreme rightwing corporate servant pretending to be liberal.
- Anonymous
  
  Centre/Leftish Democrats, mostly. But even many European centre-right politicians would probably be Democrats in the US. It’s only at the fringe (e.g. ECR) that you start getting to territory occupied by the Republicans.
  - Desu75
    
    My hypothesis is that Europeans being pretty conservative all around goes without saying and so it’s not a left/right issue. America doesn’t have a consistent or long cultural trend and her people are definitely not homogeneous as much as some blond in the suburbs might like to think. “Traditional America” is bullshit because every few decades in America is quite different unless you live on a farm in the middle of nowhere.
    
    If America was more homogeneous, conservativism probably wouldn’t be anything special.
    - Anonymous
      
      But there is a strong socialist left-wing tendency in most of Europe that does not exist in the US. The political consensus in the US is one of free markets. Supporting free markets with social responsibility is about as left-wing as it is possible to be in the US, but it puts one firmly in the centre ground in Europe.
    - Desu75
      
      Socialism can be about as conservative as you can get if you think about it. A more homogeneous society that shares deep ethnic ties is far more likely to use government to facilitate social institutions. My take on Europe is that people grow up in far more rigid societies with stronger expectations (largely why the education is better) because they feel more a part of something. That’s the beauty of ethnic countries. Socialism is a very viable option for such countries while still maintaining traditional ways of life.
- Kropotkin
  
  They are neo-liberal as in pro-free markets, but some of them defend European themes like public health care. They tend to stress the responsabilities and rights of individuals as the centre of society, but within the European tradition. F.e. they would not allow all people to buy guns, because that would be bad for the other individuals.
  
  It varies heavy by country though Guy Verhofstad is from Belgium and in relation with the other liberals in Europe he is more to the left.
  
  And as for the Democrat part, almost all European Parties call themselfs democrat, that has nothing to do with the American Democrats. ;)
  
  But average Americans would probably just call them socialists. ^^
  - Desu75
    
    US parties aren’t really about issues, they are about getting the vote that the Republicans don’t get and vice versa. Republican voters aren’t big fans of poor black mothers of 10 babies on welfare, so naturally the Dems are there to ensure she gets her deposit on her ebt card every month so they can get her vote. As for the party itself, they’re all dirty rich politicians.
Anonymous

Cue all the retarded Americans who think Liberals are worse than Communists.
- Guest
  
  Cue all the retarded people everywhere who think the U.S.S.R. was actually communist.
  - Lethn
    
    Don’t even get me started on people thinking China are communist.
    - Anonymous
      
      Concur. China’s been a bureaucratic plutocracy for the last 4000 years or so. The only change the “communist” party did was replacing the figurehead sock puppet.
    - Desu75
      
      Hey! Leave Pluto out of this.
  - Anonymous
    
    Cue retarded people who completely misrepresent someone else’s words to make an irrelevant argument.
Pingback: Liberals and Democrats Announce Rejection of ACTA | We R Pirates
Desu75

What? Hollywood doesn’t control the Democrats over there? They need to spend more money.
- Anyone
  
  wrong democrats
  also, wrong country
  - Desu75
    
    herp derp.
Anonymous

my concern is the next thing that the USA entertainment industries, via the USTR, try to push through because anyone that thinks this is the end is very much mistaken! for every Bill or Law that is rejected, there are at least 3 others sitting in the wings waiting to be introduced. these bastards will not stop until they get what they want. they are not interested in what the people lose, be it free speech, cheap medicines or fair trials, as long as they get their movies and music protected, without it costing them anything, the entertainment industries wont be happy! TPP is next in line and so far Chile is the only country that has had the balls to tell the USA to, basically, fuck off! good on them but many more are needed to say the same thing. if the usual threats come, then the USA needs to be told to ‘go it alone’. they need the world more than the world needs them!
- YARIGHT
  
  the thing is the economy is so bad over there they need people to spend less on stupid movies and more on other parts of the economy and they cant economically otherwise survive. THUS hollystupid can’t do any more then it has ….without destroying and FOR REAL collapsing the world economy….
http://www.facebook.com/people/Don-Dilly/1624894683 Don Dilly

The ALDE eu group is a start but according to wikipediaonly accounts for around 10% of the EU parliament seats.

What would be of greater interest would be an article detailing the overal makeup of the parliament and all groups published stance on ACTA to give a better unstanding of where we are.
- Anyone
  
  the greens and of course the pirates are also against it
  - Anonymous
    
    So are S&D (socialists) and the far-left GUE/NGL group. The centre-right EPP and right-wing ECR groups will probably mostly vote for it. As for the Eurosceptics and far-right, f*** knows.
- Anonymous
  
  However, being the centrist group, they hold the balance of power.
Anonymous

I do hope ACTA is shut down.Many of us in the USA hate our Government and hate anything MAFIAA.I am one of those people and your Brother is our struggles.
Fuck the MPAA,RIAA, and all their little Stooges.Fuck those Artists who sign with the MAFIAA.And Fuck my Corrupted “Corporations are People ” Government.
You and I may win this battle but the War is far from over.expect an ACTA #2 soon as these assholes will never stop.
- The guy
  
  As a fellow citizen of USA, I approve of your comment.
- Anonymous
  
  Concur. We’ll be on these barricades for quite a few years longer. After which the battle will be won for just about the next generation to have to fight it again.
- Timo
  
  If the problems get out of hand (revolts and stuff) and you guys need a hand from the europeans to kick they’re butts (MAFIAA and stupid people that make stupid laws) , leave a message on the interwebs and we’ll fly there asap.
xFyrios J

This gives hope but just give it a few months for the mafiaa to go scrambling and pay off the politicians and then the law will be back and as strong as ever.
KillRiaa

Fuck the US Government and fuck the entertainment cartels. They can go die in a ditch.
Jeremy CHunt

And the good news for the UK is that Jeremy C*nt, *cough* I mean Jeremy Hunt,
the culture secretary that championed ACTA here is likely to be sacked
for corruption in an unrelated matter. I’m sure that has no bearing on
the fact that he helped push through the signing of ACTA in the UK. No
correlation at all. Completely different issue, and just because he looks
like he was bent and corrupt when it came to other major topics, I’m
sure that has ABSOLUTELY no relevance to how ACTA was pushed through
here. Much.
- Anon
  
  When a government minister is sacked/resigns on charges of corruption or wrong doing everything they worked on while holding their positions should be examined.
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Jason

o/
- Giwe
  
  freeze
what about TPP

Quote “Verhofstadt said that ALDE continues to support multilateral IP
enforcement efforts, but only those with a transparent, publicly
discussed mandate”

Well they better start rejecting the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) because that is being talk about behind closed doors and is not transparent.
- Anonymous
  
  The EU is not party to the TPP (it’s nowhere near the Pacific!)
Diarrhea Splatters

Fuck the copyright cops. Those clown dicks need to go.
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Andrew Lee

O_O
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Anonymous

Jon7272: The Liberal Party of Australia doesn’t belong to Liberal International like most of the ALDE parties do; the “Liberal” is just a name in this case. And correct me if I’m wrong but I thought that Australians clearly distinguish what they call “small-l liberalism” from the politics of the “Liberal” Party.
Mwhahaha

What kind of voting block do they constitute?

Good going tho, you Allied Liberals and Democrats!
Pingback: Demócratas y Liberales anuncian rechazo del ACTA | Tecnocápsulas
Sashey8

That bill was almost as bad as the anti terrorist bill signed by king obama on Dec. 31st. REALLY!?!?Taking Americans out of their homes, tortured and killed like they do in China. I dont think so. I think there was a lot more behind why this bill was rejected than just democrats and liberals saying our freedoms were infringed on. As if they care.
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_CEY2XQNQHJD6QBSYKGYYQYDCKQ S
  
  Do you have to study to be so ignorant, or does it come naturally?
Pingback: Liberals and Democrats Announce Rejection of ACTA | Emmashare
https://paydayloantoday.com/ short term loan

when it came to other major topics, I’m
sure that has ABSOLUTELY no relevance to how ACTA was pushed through
here. Much.

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