Back in 2007, many countries have
been meeting to discuss a proposal of Treatment called the Anti-Counterfeiting
Treatment (A.C.T.A.), in order to enforcement new regulations of intellectual
property on Internet.
Japan, United States, European
Community and Switzerland started these negotiations, in the recent years
countries such as Mexico, Singapore, Jordan, New Zealand, Australia, Canada,
United Arab Emirates, Republic of Korea and Jordan jointed to the discussions
of this Treatment.
First of all, I have to say
that Intellectual Property is protected by several local or regional
treatments, but since the Trade Related Issues of Intellectual Property was
signed in 1994, the regulation went globally for a better understood and
similar protection process for all parties that signed the treaty.
This new regulation tries to enforcement
the global Intellectual Property of all the information that we could find on
the Internet. But this new dispositions have started to generate polemic cause
the local authorities must change their laws and treaties, in order to follow
the new regulations of ACTA, which they are: to prosecute any illegal information
that anybody could obtained without the permission of the author or the holder
of a distinctive sign.
For an example, if you tape a
party with your friends and then you upload it on YouTube, but the music that
appears backwards is a song of your favorite artist of the moment. You could
infringe the new regulations, because you don’t have the authorization of the
author to reproduce that song and less to share it, and one of the consequences will be to cut off your
YouTube account and more terrible if you linked with your social networks
because the sanction will be for all your accounts.
I can imagine what you’re
thinking now, maybe if this strict treaty enters in force soon, my Blog or any
other could be shut down for any little copyright problems. Obviously I’m a pro
intellectual property protection person, because I know that the author or any holder
of a mark or patent, made their inventions or books for work or passion but
this cost a lot of money, time and hard-work, so the State recognized it,
giving the exclusive right to exploit their inventions so anybody can’t copy or
steel their ideas for a while.
Understanding this idea, I
know that all artists, authors, compositors, holders, anybody who has any right
try to find in law or treaties a protection for their work. But these new
intellectual property policies are against any other upper rights, because ACTA
could permit to any supply Internet Company to supervise all receipt, sent and
forwarded information we make. I know we need new regulations on intellectual property
rights but, Could these rights be over human rights? I think, they couldn’t.
Imagine that these companies have
cameras in our houses; it will be like a Big Brother show, isn’t it? It’s the
same thing; they could supervise our information in our IP directions.
So anyone could be a thief
like the cheeky person who sell pirate DVD’s, CD’s, clothes or perfumes on the
street. Ok, I agree if they’re searching people who download pirate movies or
music but how can this people know I buy the original record and I put on a
video and I uploaded on YouTube, I was protected since I bought the CD; but
with this new regulations they will not find out how you obtained the song,
movie, picture etc… If they think you probably copy or steel they shut down any
of your accounts.
I think this ACTA is too extremely
protectionist that it could be infringing so many and more important rights.
The polemic doesn’t start
there, in the United States they’re starting to approve a new Act called
S.O.P.A. (Stop Online Piracy Act), with the same regulations of the ACTA. The
huge impact that it could bring to our lives, that the most important Internet
Companies as Facebook, Google, Twitter, Wikipedia, LikedIn, PayPal and more
will closed their pages in order to protest against this new regulations on
this 23th of January. I agree with them because these acts could destroy the
simple object of Internet: the exchange of ideas.
I think we must protest
against these Acts because this could bring so much harmful consequences to
consumers on the Internet. Ok we need to protect intellectual property rights
but not with this extremely strict Acts.
I hope you understand the
impact of these new regulations and how can they modify our digital lives.
