As if ACTA wasn't bad enough, there is also the way it was introduced. For example, this is how it was in Poland. All links, unfortunately, are in Polish - but Google Translate should leave it at least readable.
After the secret negotiations, ACTA was formally passed (in EU) by the Agriculture and Fisheries Council - this is how it stayed undetected so long. The Polish government, of course, was required to make public consultations, which it did -
asking 27 organizations, most of which represent copyright holders and mainstream media. Wait, did I say "most"?
1. Business Software Alliance, Sołtysiński, Kawecki & Szlęzak 2. Federacja Stowarzyszeń Naukowo Technicznych NOT 3. Fundacja Ochrony Twórczości Audiowizualnej 4. Krajowa Izba Producentów Audiowizualnych 5. Polska Izba Informatyki i Telekomunikacji 6. Polska Izba Komunikacji Elektronicznej 7. Polskie Stowarzyszenie Wytwórców Produktów Markowych ProMarka 8. Stowarzyszenie Aktorów Filmowych i Telewizyjnych SAFT 9. Stowarzyszenie Architektów Polskich 10.Stowarzyszenie Artystów Wykonawców Utworów Muzycznych i Słowno-Muzycznych SAWP 11.Stowarzyszenie Autorów i Wydawców "Polska Książka" 12.Stowarzyszenie Autorów ZAiKS 13.Stowarzyszenie Dystrybutorów Programów Telewizyjnych "SYGNAŁ" 14.Stowarzyszenie Filmowców Polskich 15.Stowarzyszenie Ochrony Własności Przemysłowej 16.Stowarzyszenie Polski Rynek Oprogramowania PRO 17.Stowarzyszenie Twórców Ludowych 18.Stowarzyszenie Wydawców REPROPOL 19.Stowarzyszenie Zbiorowego Zarządzania Prawami Autorskimi Twórców Dzieł Naukowych i Technicznych KOPIPOL 20.Telewizja POLSAT S.A. 21.Telewizja Polska S.A. 22.TVN S.A. 23.Związek Artystów Scen Polskich ZASP 24.Związek Artystów Wykonawców STOART 25.Związek Polskich Artystów Fotografików 26.Związek Polskich Artystów Plastyków 27.Związek Producentów Audio Video ZPAV
I meant every single fucking one of them.
Surprisingly, these objective subjects representing the entire society didn't object, so the appropriate resolution was quickly passed by the government just after the elections. Most of the Poles knew about ACTA only last Thursday and this is when the major protests started to show up.
Despite massive protests (and one minor riot), the government is adamant. ACTA was signed by the Polish ambassador today and the Prime Minister refused any possibility of a referendum (which an opposition party proposed)
saying, that "The responsible government must sometimes undertake to make decisions which we know won't be popular.". From the Facebook page of the Prime Ministry
over 7000 comments disappeared because of "profane language and spam" - later Fanpage Trender analysts checked 1/3 of them and found only several dozen such comments.
The mainstream press tries to be more objective, but sometimes fails spectacularly. For example,
in TOK FM radio audition, two publicists claimed that the protesters were manipulated by the "Internet businesses supporting piracy".
There are also hilarious apologies from the politics who supported ACTA before and now are against it. Marek Migalski claims that
he didn't know what were he voting for. He admitted that most of the deputies and eurodeputies usually don't know that, they are too busy with politics. For some reason I can believe him.
So yeah, that's democracy in Europe.
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Topic: Secret copyright treaty leaked. It's not good. (Read 40259 times)