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[SalmonGod]

One thing to note:  There have been pushes now and then for an Internet Bill of Rights.  There are several various drafts out there.  The idea has been around for almost 15 years.  If it were ever an idea to take seriously, now would be the time.  It wouldn't be a final answer to the problem, but it would be an extra line of defense.  Instead of clawing directly at the heart of the internet, there would be an outer shell they'd have to chip away first, the same way they're doing with those rights that we wrote for ourselves in meatspace.

Hmm. Would it actually be possible to have the internet be legally considered a nation?

It's always been a personal fantasy of mine, but I think that's pretty far fetched.  More likely, the internet community could put together a massive campaign advocating a set of rights in U.S. or international law (a treaty counter to ACTA sort of) applying specifically to online behavior and content.  Still far-fetched, but I imagine the legal execution would be identical to ACTA or SOPA, with the content of the law being the ideological polar opposite.

[Powder Miner]

Allowing you to do things on the internet but not in real life? ...uhh...

[SalmonGod]

Allowing you to do things on the internet but not in real life? ...uhh...

No, not exactly.  This would be something to address issues that are mainly or exclusively relevant to the internet.  Go read one of the many drafts that have been proposed to get a better idea.

[Powder Miner]

Oh, that makes a lot more sense.

[Theoboldi]

So ACTA is being passed today. I really am pretty afraid right now. I really want to do something about it, but it's really too late now. I only heard about this 3 days ago, and now it's already finished. I have no idea what to really say about the whole thing, it makes me completly spechless. I really hope things won't turn out to be as bad as I think they will, but I'm not optimistic about it. ACTA really sounds like the end of internet privacy.

The most annoying thing is that I have no idea what to do about the whole thing. I already signed a petition to stop it and told my friends, but I don't know what else to do. None of these things seem like they have a chance at actually doing anything, but I don't know what else to do.

[Montague]

Well, ACTA can be enforced to varied degrees and can be modifed and certain provisions can be repealed, it's open ended in it's intent. Specificly, it's Section 4 ''"Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement in the Digital Environment" of the treaty is really the nasty part for our purposes, the rest of it otherwise just focuses on counterfeit material goods.

So if it does turn out badly, the government and parties to the treaty can be pressured to amend or end it.

A problem might be that individual internet service providers might voluntarily act in accordance with the provisions, even if later repealed, simply to avoid litigation and legal trouble down the road. Historically this type of thing has happened with other repealed or unenforced laws.

But yeah, looks like it's too late to stop it now, just might have to wait and see how it develops and if it really lives up to the hype one way or another.

[Tarran]

Posting on this thread to see how this develops. Honestly, I can't think of anything to say. This is just plain evil. I mean, I didn't even know about ACTA until recently.

[JoshuaFH]

I'm surprised it's not illegal to keep these things secret so the public has little time to respond.

Like, really, that's bullshit to just keep it secret and pass it at the last second when it catches everyone by surprise.

[scriver]

I'm surprised it's not illegal to keep these things secret so the public has little time to respond.

Like, really, that's bullshit to just keep it secret and pass it at the last second when it catches everyone by surprise.

What were you saying, mr Dent? I couldn't hear ju under the sound of the bulldozer engines.

Posting on this thread to see how this develops. Honestly, I can't think of anything to say. This is just plain evil. I mean, I didn't even know about ACTA until recently.

Also this. I'm worried.

[Gatleos]

I don't want to have to tell my kids someday about the good old days of the "Old Internet" before it was gutted and turned into a pipeline for corporate propaganda.
 

[Shades]

I'm surprised it's not illegal to keep these things secret so the public has little time to respond.

Actually it is illegal for a number of reasons, not least the refusal to respond to many freedom of information requests in a number of countries.
That won't actually stop it being enforced into law though.

[Shook]

.v.

At this rate we'll have an apocalypse in 2012 at the hands of the US congress. If they start shutting down sites like Youtube and Dropbox, and/or my internet gets cut off for no apparent reason, i will buy a new connection from a new ISP with my meager student pay and systematically accuse every single goddamn site belonging to the US government that uses the word "shook" for copyright infringement. Maybe that'll convince a few people of just how dumb that treaty is, because if followed by the letter then that should require them to be cut off from their ISP and have the sites shut down instantly and permanently. Sadly, the government doesn't work like that. I'm not american (i'm tempted to say "thank god" but i'm neither religious or that big an ass to the decent people who live there, they're the ones having to deal with living so close to a monster), but dammit, is this what the "american dream" is supposed to be all about, or did that dream just turn into a horrible nightmare? Because that's what it seems like to me.

Apologies for useless ranting, but i am gravely offended by the sudden and compulsive need of the government to violate the internet like this. It is, arguably, the current magnum opus of mankind (sure the moonlanding was great, but the internet contains the moon several times over with global accessibility), and now they're actively trying to ruin it for the entire goddamn world. It'd be like covering two-thirds of Mona Lisa with black paint because it's now illegal to have those two-thirds depicted. It saddens me that (with huge probability) nobody responsible for it will read this, though. Hope y'all can bear with me for getting upset like this, i don't usually rant about something without thinking it to be incredibly stupid.

[Montague]

More then likely, this new internet regulation isn't going to be as terrible as it's being made out to be.

People will find work-arounds to get what they want.

[FearfulJesuit]

It will have to be repealed eventually, if only because people are going to lose jobs because of this and no politician wants to look like the guy who signed a job-killing treaty.

[Nilocy]

More then likely, this new internet regulation isn't going to be as terrible as it's being made out to be.

People will find work-arounds to get what they want.

Wait what, its basically turning your ISPs into copyright police.