ACTA: THE NEW REGULATIONS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ON INTERNET

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.