ACTA

http://www.laquadrature.net/acta MAIN POINTS The document suggests that expeditious, extra-judicial take-down of online content, financial lock-down of allegedly infringing websites and even filtering measures of Internet traffic could be considered4 under the guise of cooperation between Internet actors and the copyright industries5. Furthermore, there is a clear will to extend the scope of sanctions through a definition of "commercial scale" that would include any activity which can be said to result in losses of revenues for film and music majors6.

Will the New ACTA Rapporteur Stand For Citizens Freedoms?

Paris, February 7th, 2012 Member of the EU Parliament David Martin, from the Socialist & Democrats group, has been appointed new rapporteur for the AntiCounterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in the International Trade committee (INTA). Unfortunately, his record on protecting freedoms online is worryingly poor and should prompt EU citizens to act against ACTA and ensure that the EU Parliament will defend their rights by rejecting this dangerous agreement.

MEP David Martin and EU Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht. Having kept any concerns he might have had silent, previous rapporteur Kader Arif resigned and made a big show of disavowing ACTA1, while letting the dossier fall into the hands of a colleague potentially closer to the copyright lobbies. After his resignation, several other S&D Members of the EU Parliament (MEPs) who previously took stands against ACTA freaked out and refused the job of rapporteur. The appointment2 of David Martin, a British labour MEP with a poor record3 on defending freedoms on copyright enforcement and ACTA issues, is a worrying sign: the S&D group does not seem to understand that European civil society will judge all political groups on how well they stand for freedoms and the public interest by rejecting ACTA4. David Martin will have to prove that he understands ACTA is an irrecoverable circumvention of democracy, a text whose need was never demonstrated in any way, and which creates grave dangers for online freedoms for the sole benefit of a few special interest groups. Even more, he must show that this understanding does not fall short of the courage to recommend and obtain the rejection of this infamous agreement., said Philippe Aigrain, co-founder of the citizen advocacy group La Quadrature du Net. As a strong movement of European citizens is growing against ACTA, La Quadrature du Net calls on MEPs of all political leanings to demonstrate that they listen to their voices rather than to those of entertainment industry lobbyists. ACTA has been turned into an imprecise mess of a text after civil society fought off its worse provisions. But the true meaning of the final text must be interpreted in light of its overall goal: criminalizing notfor-profit sharing and turning Internet intermediaries into private copyright police and justice. concluded Jrmie Zimmermann, spokesperson for La Quadrature du Net.

Read La Quadrature's fact-sheet on ACTA and act against ACTA!

1. https://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/ACTA_rapporteur_denounces_ACTA_masquer... 2. See the press release of the S&D group, which is confusingly similar to the recent statements of EU Commissioner De Gucht. See http://www.laquadrature.net/en/actacommissioner-de-gucht-lies-to-the-eu... 3. See David Martin's record on: o a November 2010 ACTA resolution: http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/ACTA_resolution_details_by_name? showmep... o the Gallo report on copyright enforcement: http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Enforcement_of_intellectual_property_ri... 4. Mr. Martin should pay full consideration to the case of Arlene McCarthy, rapporteur on the infamous software patents directive, who took ambiguous positions that were soon revealed to hide her support for the monopolization of knowledge and innovation. In the end, the Parliament rejected the directive after a first reading vote where her positions were also defeated.

The EU Commission's Repressive Plans Beyond ACTA

Paris, February 6th, 2012 The EU Commission is relentlessly defending ACTA, the AntiCounterfeiting Trade Agreement, which faces widespread opposition in Europe and beyond. Falsely portraying ACTA as an acceptable agreement, the Commission is paving the way for its ultra-repressive copyright enforcement agenda, as revealed in documents just released. Citizens and their elected representatives across Europe must denounce this dangerous drift of the policy-making process, which is bound to undermine freedoms online and the very architecture of the Internet, and instead require a thorough reform of copyright. Last week, Neelie Kroes (EU Commissioner for the Digital Agenda) and Viviane Reding (EU Commissioner for Justice, Citizenship and Fundamental Rights) have both expressed their support for ACTA, assisting Karel De Gucht, Commissioner for International Trade, in selling this infamous agreement to the EU Parliament. Commissioner De Gucht has been spending a lot of time last week lobbying in the EU Parliament, meeting with various political groups to convince them that the opposition to ACTA is based on misinformation and that Members of the EU Parliament (MEPs) should accept it.

Seeing both Neelie Kroes and Viviane Reding so oblivious to the many criticisms against ACTA is extremely worrying. As La Quadrature points out in a participative document1, the arguments put forward by EU Commissioners in favour of ACTA don't resist scrutiny. More disturbingly, without even waiting for the European Parliament's decision to accept or reject ACTA, Commissioner Michel Barnier, in charge of the Internal Market, is already pushing for new repressive copyright enforcement measures similar to those of the SOPA/PIPA bills in the US. A recently published roadmap document on the revision of the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED2) confirms that the Commission specifically wants to tackle online infringements, using ACTA to implement private censorship mechanisms in European law3. The document suggests that expeditious, extra-judicial take-down of online content, financial lock-down of allegedly infringing websites and even filtering measures of Internet traffic could be considered4 under the guise of cooperation between Internet actors and the copyright industries5. Furthermore, there is a clear will to extend the scope of sanctions through a definition of "commercial scale" that would include any activity which can be said to result in losses of revenues for film and music majors6. "The European Commission is trying to bypass democracy to impose repressive measures that will be made inevitable by ACTA. While Michel Barnier is already working on implementing ACTA's repressive measures in EU law in the IPRED revision, commissioners De Gucht, Kroes and Reding are asking the Parliament to accept ACTA as if it were a harmless trade agreement. The truth is that the Commission is trying to impose the industry's agenda to enforce outdated copyright, patent and trademark policies through tough criminal sanctions and extra-judicial measures." said Jrmie Zimmermann, spokesperson for the citizen advocacy group La Quadrature du Net. "What is needed is not tougher enforcement, but an open-ended debate to positively reform a copyright regime that is increasingly running counter to fundamental rights and innovation. If ratified, ACTA would create new and significant obstacles to reform. EU citizens must continue to urge their elected representatives to reject ACTA. It is the only way to block this repressive arms race and develop a positive framework for creative activity in the digital environment and new cultural practices." declares Philippe Aigrain, co-founder of La Quadrature du Net

Get in touch with Members of the EU parliament and make sure they know what ACTA is really about. Visit our dedicated campaign page.

1. https://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Counter-Arguments_Against_ACTA 2. See our webdossier on IPRED: http://www.laquadrature.net/en/anti-sharingdirective-ipred 3. According to this document, "the relative anonymity of the internet, its crossborder nature and its consumer- and user-friendly services accessible from all around the globe have created an online environment where the infringers cannot be easily identified, digital evidence is hard to preserve, damages from internet sales are difficult to quantify and, after having been discovered, infringers quickly re-appear under a different name". See: http://ec.europa.eu/governance/impact/planned_ia/docs/2011_markt_006_rev... 4. Like ACTA's article 27, IPRED already provides measures to deter further infringement. It seems that the Commission wants to impose ad hoc measures to prevent infringements. During a EU Parliament hearing on trademarks in mid-January, Jean Bergevin, head of unit for IPR enforcement at the EU Commission, pointed out that DNS blocking was being considered as a last resort measure when civil enforcement fails to stop the infringement. 5. Cooperation is a make-up word for extra-judicial measures. ACTA encourages such cooperation to tackle allegedly infringing content online (article 27.4). The roadmap document reads: Complementary measures in soft-law instruments designed at disrupting the business/value chain of counterfeiters and at increasing the cooperation between intellectual property rights holders and intermediaries (e.g. internet service providers, shippers and couriers, payment-service providers etc) could not be excluded. This clearly echoes the provision of SOPA and PIPA. Upon notification by the entertainment industries, search engines as well as payment providers and advertisers would have been prevented from providing services or contracting with targeted websites, without any judicial decision. For a detailed analysis of these provisions, see: http://benkler.org/WikiLeaks_PROTECT-IP_Benkler.pdf See how cooperation has become a buzzword in copyright enforcement policies: http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Cooperation

6. See counter-arguments to the EU Commission's claim that ACTA is only about large-scale counterfeiting: https://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Arguments_Against_ACTA#.22ACTA_does_no...

Sharing: Culture and the Economy in the Internet Age By Philippe Aigrain
Paris, February 3rd, 2012 Sharing: Culture and the Economy in the Internet Age is out! Philippe Aigrain, co-founder of La Quadrature du Net, in collaboration with Suzanne Aigrain, describes the creative contribution, a financial model designed to sustain an expanding creative economy in a context where sharing is recognized as a right. To break away from the repressive war on the sharing of culture online, exemplified by the SOPA/PIPA bills in the US or the ACTA agreement on a global scale, Sharing makes a case for the legitimacy and usefulness of non-market sharing between individuals of digital works. Taking stock of recent economic knowledge about the culture economy, it models and describes a financing model (coined as the creative contribution) designed to sustain an expanding creative economy in a context where sharing is recognized as a right. Philosophical, legal, and institutional aspects are also discussed. The creative contribution (a term that Aigrain has been using since 2008) is a flatrate mechanism with original features based on social rights, rewards and remuneration for artists as well as financing of future works, data collection for rewards based on voluntary provision using automated recording on user machines and under their sole control, and more. Sharing is published under a hybrid publishing model with 4 components:

The paper book, available globally, a commercial eBook in Epub format, an open access electronic version,

all under a CC-By-NC-ND license,

and a dedicated live book website at http://www.sharing-thebook.net where you can comment on the book chapters, download source code and datasets, and interactively run models with parameters of your choice.

Useful links:

Book site: http://www.sharing-thebook.net Amsterdam University Press book page: http://www.aup.nl/do.php? a=show_visitor_book&isbn=9789089643858&l=2 Chicago University Press (US distributor) book page: http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/S/bo13742081.html

ACTA: Commissioner De Gucht Lies to the EU Parliament

mercredi 1 fvrier 2012, 11:11:13 | neurone730 Paris, February 1st 2012 The EU Commission Trade Directorate-General is lobbying the EU Parliament, presenting a one-sided and plainly distorted view of ACTA to face the growing citizen opposition. The EU's executive branch, which negotiated ACTA behind citizens' backs, is now shamelessly relaying the copyright industries' lobbying pitch, in yet another sign of its collusion with business interests.

EU Commissioner for International trade, Karel De Gucht, has sent a letter to members of the EU Parliament (MEPs)1. Once again, he downplays the legitimate concerns expressed against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, ACTA. Attached to this letter is a Question & Answer document meant to help MEPs reassure their constituents2. In response, La Quadrature du Net has created a participative document3 to help citizen debunk one after the other the lies of the EU Commission, which keeps denying the evidence that ACTA is a dangerous and illegitimate agreement. The opposition to ACTA is not mere media hype, as Commissioner De Gucht seems to believe. For months, its dangers have been repeatedly stressed by leading legal scholars4, an independent study commissioned by the EU Parliament itself5, winners of the Sakharov Prizes6, the Senate of Mexico7, broadcasters and telecoms trade associations8, global NGOs such as OXFAM9, Doctors Without Border10 or Article 1911, but also some of the EU's main trading partners and many others (see our wiki page compiling the criticism of ACTA12). By pretending that ACTA is inoffensive, Commissioner De Gucht is trying to hide the European Commission's immense responsibility in initiating a negotiation process circumventing democratic arenas. The 18 July 2007 discussion paper submitted in interservice consultation in the European Commission for the negotiating mandate13 included the criminalization of non-for-profit sharing by individuals. This is the truth behind ACTA and European citizens are taking to the streets because they have understood it. , declared Philippe Aigrain, co-founder of the citizen advocacy group La Quadrature du Net. EU Commissioner Karel De Gucht is so close to the global copyright industry's lobbies that he remains blind to the legitimate concerns that have been expressed against ACTA for years. To get ACTA ratified, he is ready to lie to the European Parliament, dismissing all evidence showing that ACTA is actually a threat to free speech online, access to medicine, but also to innovation and competition. Such obscurantism clearly brings into question his ability to work for the EU's public interest and should resonate as a call for the Parliament to reject ACTA. , said Jrmie Zimmermann, spokesperson for La Quadrature du Net.

1. https://www.laquadrature.net/files/Letter_de_Gucht_ACTA.pdf 2. See the document: https://www.laquadrature.net/files/Question_And_Answer_de_Gucht_ACTA.pdf 3. https://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Counter-Arguments_Against_ACTA 4. http://www.iri.uni-hannover.de/acta-1668.html 5. http://www.laquadrature.net/files/INTA%20-%20ACTA%20assessment.pdf 6. http://en.rsf.org/union-europeenne-online-freedoms-threatened-by-15-12-2... 7. http://www.senado.gob.mx/index.php?ver=sp&mn=2&sm=2&id=9376&lg=61 8. http://www.euroispa.org/files/101126_pr_joint_x20industry_x20statement_x... 9. http://www.oxfamfrance.org/L-acces-aux-medicaments-generiques,1273 10. http://www.msfaccess.org/content/secret-treaty-anti-counterfeiting-trade... 11. http://www.article19.org/resources.php/resource/2901/en/european-parliam... 12. http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Against_ACTA 13. The latter includes the repression of: significant willful infringements without motivation for financial gain to such an extent as to prejudicially affect the copyright owner (e.g., internet piracy). See: https://www.laquadrature.net/files/ACTA %20Discussion%20Paper%20July%2018....

Debunking the EU Commission's Lies About ACTA

lundi 30 janvier 2012, 13:21:30 | neurone730 Paris, January 30th, 2012 The EU Commission is engaging in an all-out offensive to portray ACTA as normal trade agreement harmless to fundamental rights or access to knowledge. In several published documents, the Commission's attempts to impose ACTA onto the EU Parliament while silencing legitimate criticism. But these misrepresentations don't resist scrutiny. As EU executive branch (EU Commission plus 22 Member States governments) officially signed ACTA1, the way is now open for its consideration by the European Parliament. Its 754 elected members now have an opportunity, during a process that will last for several months, to either accept or reject ACTA.

Me mbers of the European Parliament (MEPs) are already under great pressure, not only from the copyright industry lobbyists, but also from the European Commission's International Trade directorate2, who negotiated the text in total opacity during 3 years. Citizens must contact the Members of the EU Parliament (MEPs) to denounce the Commission's infuriating lies, and urge them to ensure that the EU's democratic values will be preserved. MEPs must commit to working in their respective committees towards the rejection of ACTA. The EU Commission is plainly lying to the Members of the European Parliament by presenting ACTA as an acceptable agreement. By signing ACTA together with EU Member States, the EU Commission dismissed the legitimate concerns of thousands of citizens across Europe who have been protesting against ACTA in the past few days. Citizens must contact their elected representatives and remind them what ACTA is all about: 10

circumventing democracy and hurting freedoms to protect the outdated business models of rent-seeking industries., said Jrmie Zimmermann, spokesperson for La Quadrature du Net. Download our analysis (in PDF) debunking the EU Commission's lies on ACTA.

ACTA is worse than SOPA

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12

On its website, the EU Commission pretends that ACTA is not SOPA. This is correct. In some important ways, ACTA is worse than SOPA. ACTA is the global blueprint for repressive laws such as SOPA:

ACTA is the inspiration for SOPA/PIPA in the US. While SOPA may have been put aside for a moment, ACTA is a global agreement negotiated outside of democratic arenas and meant to be imposed globally. Moreover, if SOPA were to be adopted, the US Congress could amend or abrogate it. ACTA will prevent the EU and its Member States as well as other signatories to change their copyright and patent laws, and to fix their broken and brutal enforcement policies to adapt to the new economy of sharing. If ACTA is adopted, it will be possible for the entertainment industry to exert pressure on every Internet actor under threat of criminal sanctions (art.23). Intermediaries will thus be forced to deploy (art.27) automated blocking, filtering of communications and deletion of content online. Such measures will inevitably restrict users' freedoms online. ACTA's call for cooperation between rights-holders and Internet service providers is also advocated by the European Commission as extra-judicial measures and alternative to courts. This means that police (surveillance and collection of evidence) and justice missions (penalties) could be handed out to private actors, bypassing judicial authority and the right to a fair trial. By defending this SOPA-style policy in ACTA, the Commission is paving the way for the copyright industries' enforcement agenda, preventing any true debate on alternative to repression. This fits with the announced revision of the IPRED and eCommerce directives.

See also La Quadrature's analysis of the final text of ACTA's digital chapter.

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Debunking the EU Commission's "fact-sheet" on ACTA

In a document published on its website and circulating in the EU Parliament, the Commission conveys more lies about ACTA. You can download the following analysis in PDF3. 1. ACTA is important for the EU's external competitiveness, growth and jobs as well as to the safety of citizens

ACTA is a direct by-product of the lobbying offensive launched in 2004 by the International Chamber of Commerce, presided by the then CEO of Vivendi-Universal Jean-Ren Fourtou, whose wife acted as EU Parliament rapporteur for the IPR Enforcement Directive (IPRED) adopted the same year. It is one of the worst examples of private interests taking over policy-making. ACTA may have been negotiated like other trade agreements, but it is not just a trade agreement on tariffs. Instead, ACTA generalizes extreme civil sanctions and broadens the scope of criminal sanctions. Binding the EU to such outdated models, and deploying schemes that can be used as anti-competitive weapons will only hamper innovation, competition and growth. Not only in the digital economy, but in many fields which rely on the free sharing of knowledge, from agriculture to healthcare. There was never any impact assessment on the need for such an plurilateral agreement. The Commission never proved that tougher enforcement standards worldwide would actually benefit the EU's public interest, much less the rest of the world's. Instead of imposing ACTA to developing countries, the EU should urgently look at the broader consequences of its current policies (EUCD, IPRED) on innovation, access to culture and fundamental rights, and reform these policies to lay the foundation of a true knowledge-based economy. Contrary to the Commission's claims, transparency on ACTA was only made possible after negotiation documents were leaked by insiders worried of ACTA's consequences. These leaks forced the negotiators to release negotiation texts in the Spring of 2010, more than 3 years after the beginning of the negotiations. The negotiation and implementation of ACTA bypasses legitimate international organizations (WTO, WIPO) where copyright, patent and trademarks policy are discussed. This is all the more unacceptable considering that a growing number of countries understand the importance of reforming these policies by breaking away from blind repression.

2. ACTA is a balanced agreement, providing adequate protection to sectors in need, while safeguarding the rights of citizens and consumers

Safeguards in the text are purely generic and declarative, mostly in the general parts of the agreement, where enforcement provisions, generally vaguely worded, are binding to signatories. For instance, a study by legal professors Kroff and Brown stresses that ACTA overall significantly strengthens enforcement measures (especially criminal law ones), without any of the safeguards and exceptions needed to ensure a balance of interests between right holders and parties. 14

The Commission says ACTA does not go further than the EU acquis, but leading EU legal scholars have made clear that on important points it does: in particular on criminal measures, for which there is no EU acquis, and on border measures and damages. The letter of ACTA may not be contrary to the eCommerce directive, EUCD or IPRED, but strengthens them and prevents EU lawmakers from amending them on crucial points. The overall logic of ACTA's digital chapter paves the way for extra-judicial measures, similar to those of SOPA and PIPA, whereby rights holders and ISPs or financial service providers would cooperate to take measures against alleged infringements that could only amount to censorship mechanisms, bypassing due process and the right to a fair trial. This reading is comforted by the criminal sanctions provided for aiding and abetting infringements (art. 23.4). Such concerns are also accentuated by the EU Commission's IPR strategy and the current overhaul of the IPRED and eCommerce directive.

3. ACTA is about adequately enforcing existing intellectual property rights, but does not create new rights

ACTA modifies the scope of criminal sanctions in EU Member States, ensuring they will be applied for cases of infringement on a commercial scale, defined as direct or indirect economic or commercial advantage (art. 23.1). This term is vague, open to interpretation, and just plainly wrong when it comes to determining the scope of proportionate enforcement, as it does not make any distinction between commercial and non-profit infringement. Widespread social practices, like not-for-profit filesharing between individuals, as well as editing a successful information website or distributing innovative technological tools, could be interpreted as commercial scale. By extending the scope of criminal sanctions for aiding and abetting to such infringement on a commercial scale, ACTA will create legal tools threatening any actor of the Internet. Access, service or hosting providers will therefore suffer from massive legal uncertainty, making them vulnerable to litigation by the entertainment industries. The Presidency of the Council of the EU (representing the 27 Member States governments) had to negotiate ACTA in conjunction with the Commission. The Presidency negotiated the criminal sanction chapter of ACTA, which could not be negotiated by the Commission as criminal law is part of Member States' competencies. This illustrates that there is no EU acquis on criminal sanctions and proves that ACTA does change EU law. Beyond broadening the scope of copyright, patent and trademarks enforcement, ACTA establishes new procedural rules favouring the entertainment industries. These procedures will have a dramatic chilling effect on potential innovators and creators, especially considering ACTA's insane damage provisions (during a trial, right holders will be able to submit their preferred form of damage computation, see art. 9.1). In the future, ACTA's scope could also be easily expanded through the ACTA committee. The latter will have authority to interpret and modify the agreement after it has been ratified, and propose amendments. Such a parallel legislative process, which amounts to signing a blank check to the ACTA negotiators, would create a precedent to durably bypassing parliaments in crucial policy-making, and is unacceptable in a democracy. This alone should justify that ACTA be rejected.

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4. ACTA has a broad coverage, so as to protect all European creators and innovators, through a broad range of means

China, Russia, India and Brazil, countries where most of counterfeiting is produced, are not part of ACTA, and have stated publicly that they will never be. Considering the widespread opposition to ACTA, the agreement has lost all legitimacy on the international stage. Again, the Commission has not even proved the need for new enforcement measures nor that existing TRIPS measures are not enough. The Commission keeps stepping up repression, when in many instances counterfeiting is at its core a market failure due to the inadequacy of IPR holders' business models and contracts. At the same time, no EU Commission initiative exists to take a positive approach on discussing new financing models for the culture economy fit for the digital environment. Geographical indications a key point for Europe's small businesses and cultural heritage are mostly excluded from ACTA. The few references to geographical indications in ACTA will have no or very little effect on third countries' national law.

Get in touch with Members of the EU parliament and make sure they know what ACTA is really about. Visit our our dedicated campaign page. FFII has also drafted a detailed response to another EU Commission document on ACTA called 10 myths about ACTA.

1. http://www.laquadrature.net/en/acta-signed-by-the-eu-lets-defeat-it-toge... 2. DG Trade and its commissioner Karel De Gucht are responsible for ACTA within the EU Commission. 3. http://www.laquadrature.net/files/Debunking_the_EU_Commissions_fact-shee...

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ACTA Signed by the EU. Let's Defeat it Together!

Paris, January 26th 2012 Today in Tokyo, the EU and 22 of its Member States officially signed ACTA1, the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement. The worldwide citizen movement initiated against SOPA and PIPA must now focus on defeating their global counterpart ACTA in the European Parliament.

A few days after the online protests against the anti-sharing bills SOPA and PIPA in the United States, today's signing ceremony of ACTA is the symbol of the circumvention of democracy to impose policies that hurt freedom of communication and innovation worldwide. However, this highly symbolic signature is not the end of the road. Every citizen willing to act to defeat ACTA now has an opportunity to participate in having it rejected. They will be able to weigh in at each of the many steps of the ratification procedure, which will lead to a final vote in the EU Parliament no sooner than June. (See below). In the last few days, we have seen encouraging protests2 by Polish and other EU citizens, who are rightly concerned with the effect of ACTA on freedom of expression, access to medicines, but also access to culture and knowledge. This important movement will further build up. European citizens must reclaim democracy, against the harmful influence of corporate interests over global policy-making3. For each of the coming debates and votes in the EU Parliament's committees before the final vote this summer, citizens must engage with their representatives., said Jrmie Zimmermann, spokesperson for citizen advocacy group La Quadrature du Net.

ACTA procedure in EU Parliament

The International Trade (INTA) Committee of the European Parliament is the main committee working on ACTA. The Legal Affairs (JURI), Development (DEVE), Civil Liberties (LIBE) and the Industry (ITRE) committees will first vote on their opinions after holding exchange of views on draft reports in the coming weeks. Opinions will then be sent to INTA to influence its final report, which will recommend the EU Parliament as a whole to reject or accept ACTA. The final, plenary vote by the EU Parliament on ACTA should be held no sooner than June.

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To act against ACTA, please refer to our dedicated campaign page.

1. http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/economy/i_property/acta1201.html 2. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501366_162-57364609/polish-websites-to-go-da... 3. For an analysis of this global movement, see Yochai Benkler's article: http://techpresident.com/news/21680/seven-lessons-sopapipamegauplaod-and...

ACTA: Letter to the EU Parliament Development Committee

Today, La Quadrature du Net sent a letter to the Members of the Development committee of the European Parliament. All citizens should also call on the committee to carefully consider the many serious issues raised by ACTA, the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement aimed at establishing extremist standards in copyright, patent and trademarks worldwide. La Quadrature has set up a wiki campaign page to help you get in touch with MEPs in the DEVE committee1.

The Development committee (DEVE) of the EU Parliament is starting its work on ACTA by debating its draft opinion report2 on ACTA, presented by its rapporteur Jan Zahradil3, a conservative, euro-skeptic representative from the Czech Republic. The DEVE committee will meet around 4:30 pm today to discuss ACTA4. To underline the crucial issues raised by ACTA, La Quadrature du Net has sent a letter to the members of the DEVE committee. La Quadrature stresses in particular how ACTA was from the beginning of the negotiations meant as an agreement to be imposed on developing countries. The letter also points to the human rights concerns regarding the impact of ACTA on access to medecines and free speech online. Finally, the letter insists on ACTA's lack of democratic legitimacy. Every citizen can contribute to defeat ACTA by contacting members of the EU Parliament (MEPs) and informing them of this illegtimate agreeement's dangers and the need to reject it.

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La Quadrature's letter to DEVE committee

To: Members of the DEVE committee Subject: Exchange of views on ACTA : Crucial issues need to be considered Dear Member of the Development Committee, Today, you will hold a first exchange of views on the draft opinion report presented by Mr. Jan Zahradil on ACTA. We write to you to express grave concerns regarding the substance of this draft report. Many crucial issues raised by ACTA are completely overlooked. In particular, the fact that its negotiators purposefully chose to bypass international forums, such as WTO and WIPO. Last year, leaked US diplomatic cables showed that from the beginning, ACTA was designed to be imposed on developing countries, while excluding them of the negotiation process.[1] This all the more shocking that many NGOs such as Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders and Health Action International have shown that ACTA would have negative consequences on the legitimate trade of generic medicines.[2] Moreover, several advocacy groups also stress that ACTA's digital chapter will export to developing countries several civil and criminal measures to fight the sharing of online culture. ACTA would provide the legal justification for measures such as those proposed in the extremist copyright bills discussed by the US Congress (known as PIPA and SOPA). Though these US bills have been shelved after huge online protests, ACTA would pave the way for similar extra-judicial measures undermining freedom of speech online and innovation in the digital economy. It would have dramatic consequences, especially in countries that don't have the same fundamental rights protections as the EU. [3] Finally, ACTA has absolutely no democratic legitimacy. Indeed, it was drafted by a small group of unelected officials in charge of promoting the interests of rights holders in their respective countries not by legitimate democratic representatives. And now, Members of the European Parliament are asked to approve these new criminal sanctions without the possibility to amend them. If ACTA were to be ratified in Europe, it would undermine the very democratic values on which the Union was founded. As protectors of the public interest, we trust that you will fully consider these important issues, and amend the draft report to that effect. Sincerely, La Quadrature du Net. 1. http://www.laquadrature.net/en/wikileaks-cables-offer-new-insight-on-the... 2. http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Against_ACTA 3. http://www.laquadrature.net/en/node/4104/

1. https://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/How_to_act_against_ACTA:_DEVE 2. When finalized, this opinion will complement the main report in the International trade (INTA) committee, which will be presented in plenary along with the yes/no 19

vote, in the next months. See the draft opinion report: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-%2f%2fEP%2f%2fNONS... 3. https://memopol.lqdn.fr/europe/parliament/deputy/JanZahradil/ 4. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do? type=COMPARL&reference=DEV...

After SOPA/PIPA in the US, ACTA Makes Its Way to the EU Parliament
lundi 23 janvier 2012, 09:23:14 | neurone314 Paris, January 23rd, 2012 After the huge online protests against the extremist SOPA and PIPA copyright bills discussed in the United States, the EU Parliament starts working on their global counterpart: ACTA, the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement. Citizens across Europe must push back against this illegitimate agreement bound to undermine free speech online, access to knowledge and innovation worldwide. Tomorrow, the EU Parliament development committee (DEVE) will hold its first debate on its draft opinion report1 on ACTA, presented by its rapporteur Jan Zahradil2, a conservative, euro-skeptic representative from the Czech Republic. This disastrous draft opinion report is deceptive and tries to justify extremist repressive measures to protect the outdated regime of copyright, patents and trademarks3. More worrying still, the draft report completely overlooks the widespread criticism against ACTA4, coming not only from NGOs defending access to medicines, such as OXFAM or Health Action International, but also from the EU's main trading partners. It is extremely surprising that the draft report does not question the need for ACTA and does not criticize the way in which it was negotiated. Does the committee consider normal for nonelected civil-servants close to industry lobbyists to negotiate out of any form of democratic scrutiny? Or for emerging and developing countries to be totally excluded from the process? The draft DEVE opinion report must be amended to reflect the crucial problems raised by ACTA. Even the study commissioned by the EU Parliament itself recognized that ACTA cannot be accepted as it stands5. Pushed by the same extremist lobbies as PIPA and SOPA in the United States, ACTA is a global initiative aimed at protecting rent-seeking industries who dominate the world economy. The draft opinion report presented by Mr. Zahradil in DEVE committee overlooks all the crucial issues of ACTA: its lack of democratic legitimacy, the outdated vision of international trade it tries to promote, the impact it will have on access to medicines in developing countries, but also on online free speech and innovation worldwide. Starting with the development committee, Members of the EU Parliament must take on these various issues, and reject this infamous agreement once and for all. Citizens must take action to make sure that the EU Parliament gets the word., said Jrmie Zimmermann, spokesperson for La Quadrature du Net.

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Learn more and act against ACTA

Read our analysis of ACTA's digital chapter. Get a sense of the worldwide opposition to ACTA. To be informed about the ACTA campaign in the European Parliament, send a blank email to NOtoACTA-subscribe@laquadrature.net to subscribe to our list.

For how to act against ACTA, right now, please refer to our dedicated campaign page.

You can add this video to your website, just copy/paste the following HTML snippet : <iframe src="http://mediakit.laquadrature.net/embed/716?size=medium" style="width: 650px; height: 500px; border: 0; overflow: hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe>

You can also see share this video on YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=citzRjwksQ and Dailymotion : http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlz8g0_say-no-to-acta_news

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ACTA procedure in EU Parliament

The International Trade (INTA) Committee of the European Parliament is the main committee working on ACTA. The Legal Affairs (JURI), Development (DEVE), Civil Liberties (LIBE) and the Industry (ITRE) committees will first vote on their opinions after holding exchange of views on draft reports. Opinions will then be sent to INTA to influence its final report, which will recommend the EU Parliament as whole to reject or accept ACTA.

See ACTA's procedure file: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/file.jsp?id=5924982.

1. When finalized, this opinion will complement the main report in the International trade (INTA) committee, which will be presented in plenary along with the yes/no vote, in the next months. See the draft opinion report: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-%2f%2fEP%2f%2fNONS... 2. https://memopol.lqdn.fr/europe/parliament/deputy/JanZahradil/ 3. http://www.laquadrature.net/en/acta-an-outdated-agreement-that-must-be-r... 4. See a summary of all these criticisms: http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Against_ACTA 5. http://www.laquadrature.net/en/european-parliament-study-confirms-acta-m...

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More than Half of the EU with Restrictions to Net access. What will Neelie Kroes Do?
vendredi 20 janvier 2012, 13:48:04 | neurone314 Paris, January 20th, 2012 La Quadrature du Net sent EU regulators evidence from the platform Respect My Net that in more than 14 EU Member States, telecoms operators engage in illegitimate restrictions of their customers' Internet access. Such evidence shows that EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes' laisser-faire approach on Net neutrality amounts to allowing operators to blatantly violate their users' freedom of communication. Now is the time for the EU Commission to start working on stringent measures to enforce Net neutrality all across Europe. Based on the reports submitted by citizens on the RespectMyNet platform1, La Quadrature du Net answered the Body of EU telecoms regulators' questionnaire regarding violations of Net neutrality in Europe. These reports only give a partial account of the situation, since many countries are not yet represented on RespectMyNet and more data-gathering needs to be done to provide a comprehensive and accurate picture. As of today, RespectMyNet includes 144 confirmed reports of breaches to Net neutrality, spread among 44 operators in more than 14 Member States who engage in violating their users' freedom of communication by blocking or throttling specific content, applications or services available on the Internet2. Download our submission to BEREC here3 as well as our accompanying note here4 . Citizens can participate in this effort to protect Net neutrality by sending their own response to the BEREC questionnaire5. Thanks to RespectMyNet, citizens act as the watchdogs of Internet access providers. Collected data leaves Commissioner Neelie Kroes with no choice but to acknowledge that freedom of expression, privacy, innovation and competition are all being hampered by operators' practices. With such evidence on the table, If Neelie Kroes still refuses to propose legislative action on Net neutrality, we'll know for sure that she is working for telecoms operators, and not for citizens' general interest. Citizens must continue to report and confirm cases to RespecMyNet., said Jrmie Zimmermann, spokesperson for the citizen advocacy group La Quadrature du Net. Here are La Quadrature du Net's proposals to safeguard Net neutrality :

Lawmakers need to adopt a legal definition of the Internet that is based on the neutrality principle, in order to ensure the sustainability of its technical architecture. The neutrality principle must apply to all Internet networks, regardless of access mode (landline or wireless). Exceptions to this principle in case of unforeseen congestion of security threat over the network must be carefully crafted and overseen. Infringements to Net neutrality carried out by operators must be subject to dissuasive sanctions.

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The balance between co-existing so-called "managed services" and the Internet on communications networks must be sustainable, in order to protect the quality of Internet access. The use of packet inspection technologies must be regulated in order to protect the privacy of electronic communications and their integrity.

To see more of La Quadrature's proposals, visit www.lqdn.fr/en/proposals

1. http://respectmynet.eu/ 2. 14 countries have confirmed reports, and taken together they account for the majority of the EU population. 3. https://laquadrature.net/files/LQDN-20120120-ec_berec_tm_questionnaire.x... 4. https://laquadrature.net/files/LQDN-20120120-Response_to_BEREC_Questionn... 5. http://www.laquadrature.net/en/tell-the-eu-regulator-about-your-internet...

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MegaUpload: Copyright Industry At War Against Monsters of its Own Making

vendredi 20 janvier 2012, 09:05:50 | neurone730 Paris, January 20th 2012 The takedown1 of MegaUpload from the Internet shows a global attempt to control and censor the Internet, as illustrated by PIPA2 in the US, and the ACTA3 agreement worldwide. Conducted outside of the US territory and without even a court ruling, this case makes clear how disproportionate and violent is the war waged in the name of an obsolete copyright regime. The huge profits made by the editors of MegaUpload through the centralizing of copyrighted works are barely defensible. MegaUpload is a direct by-product of the war conducted against peer-to-peer non-market sharing between individuals. After promoting legislation that boosted centralized sharing sites, the same lobbies now declare a war against them. The FBI's takedown of MegaUpload from the Internet is useful in many regards. It shows everybody how blindly violent the US are in enforcing extremist copyright laws across the world. This case also gives a glimpse of what could become the norm if PIPA or ACTA were to be adopted. Furthermore, the censorship of MegaUpload also shows how fragile and easily controllable centralized services are. It resonates as a vibrant call for the use of decentralized peer-to-peer protocols for non-profit sharing between individuals. We must urgently reform such a diseased copyright regime that has become harmful to the very architecture of a Free Internet., said Jrmie Zimmermann, spokesperson for La Quadrature du Net. The true solution is to recognize a well-circumscribed right to non-market sharing between individuals and to put in place new financing schemes for a cultural economy compatible with this sharing. It will ensure the fair remuneration of artists and authors and safeguard the rights of the public to share in culture as expressed in article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights4. declared Philippe Aigrain, co-founder of La Quadrature du Net.

1. See http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/January/12-crm-074.html 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROTECT_IP_Ac 3. http://www.laquadrature.net/en/acta 4. http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml#a27

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SOPA = PIPA = ACTA = Censorship!

mercredi 18 janvier 2012, 10:22:20 | neurone730 Paris, January 18th, 2012 - La Quadrature du Net's website has gone dark today in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT-IP Act (PIPA) discussed in the US Congress1, as well as the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), currently debated in the European Parliament2. These initiatives amount to a global attempt to censor the Internet in the name of copyright. They will inevitably lead to policies that deeply undermine freedom of speech, privacy, innovation and competition online3. As citizens, we must urge our elected representatives to oppose these illegitimate and dangerous laws. More about SOPA (Wikipedia), PIPA (Wikipedia), and ACTA (video).

1. https://www.laquadrature.net/en/stop-us-online-censorship-before-acta-br..." 2. https://www.laquadrature.net/en/acta 3. https://www.laquadrature.net/en/acta-updated-analysis-of-the-final-versi...

Tell the EU regulator about your Internet restrictions!

mardi 17 janvier 2012, 13:31:04 | neurone730 Paris, January 17th, 2012 The Net neutrality debate is coming to a turning point in Europe. As the EU Commission and the European body of telecommunications regulators finalise their study on the Internet access restrictions imposed by Internet service providers, every citizen has an opportunity to report their operator's bad behaviour. And to it make clear that the EU must adopt a strong regulation to protect Net neutrality. The Body of European telecoms regulators (BEREC) is holding a questionnaire1 on the Internet access restrictions imposed by telecom operators. Originally intended only for operators, the questionnaire is now open to all stakeholders (NGOs, individual citizens, etc.). We need to show that Internet access restrictions are common and widespread all over Europe, so as to push the EU to adopt a positive legislation to protect freedom of communication. Visit our wiki campaign page to learn more about how to draft your own answer to the Net neutrality questionnaire2. To that aim, you can use the data concerning your operator from the reporting platform RespectMyNet.eu3. Deadline is January 20th, but answers sent after that date will most probably be accepted. Last year, EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes promised more stringent measures to protect Net neutrality if BEREC finds that it is under threat, and a few weeks ago, the EU Parliament called on her to depart from her failed wait-and-see approach. By answering the Commission and BEREC's questionnaire, citizens will make it impossible for Mrs. Kroes to ignore any further that there is a huge problem today with operators restricting our freedoms online. The more answers, the more pressure on Mrs. Kroes to propose

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strong legislative action to preserve Net Neutrality. Everybody has a chance to participate in this effort to protect the open Internet., declared Jrmie Zimmermann, co-founder and spokesperson for La Quadrature du Net. You can also help by further reporting and confirming cases on the RespectMyNet.eu platform.

1. http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/ecomm/current-topics/inde... 2. https://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/BEREC_questionnaire_campaign 3. http://respectmynet.eu/

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EU Commission Paves the Way for Privatized Net Censorship

jeudi 12 janvier 2012, 17:23:11 | neurone314 Paris, January 12th, 2012 In a milestone strategy document on Internet policy, the EU Commission is getting ready to propose new repressive policies. With the upcoming consent vote on the anti-counterfeiting agreement ACTA and the revision of the Intellectual Property Rights Directive (IPRED), the controversial censorship schemes currently discussed in the United States will soon arrive in Europe. On Wednesday, the EU Commission released a communication on the digital single market covering most EU policies related to the Digital Agenda1. As this document suggests, the Commission is working on combating illegal gambling websites, which could take the form of censorship measures such as those implemented in France and other Member States2. Hypocritically, and probably to please the banking industry, the Commission does not even consider attacking illegal businesses' financial streams, which would be an effective way to tackle them. Instead, the Commission paves the way to censorship measures at the core of the network. In the area of Copyright, the EU Commission sticks to the dangerous notion of illegal content, which doesn't mean anything by itself, except that the network will be programmed for enforcement. It is also pushing for extra-judicial cooperation between Internet actors, payment providers and entertainment industries, mirroring the very controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), currently discussed in the US Congress3. In line with ACTA and SOPA in the US, the Commission wants to impose privatized censorship schemes4 where companies (ISPs, payment processors) would directly cooperate with the entertainment industry to censor their services. The EU executive is apparently ready to please a few industries by putting the Internet under control. Citizens must remain watchful and oppose any policy that pays no respect to the right to a fair trial or freedom of expression., said Jrmie Zimmermann, spokesperson of the citizen advocacy group La Quadrature du Net.

1. See http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/e-commerce/communication_2012_en.htm 2. See the consultation on online gambling held last summer: http://www.laquadrature.net/en/respond-to-the-eu-commissions-consultatio... 3. See page 13 of the communication: Cooperation between stakeholders, in particular internet providers, rights-holders and payment services, in the European Union and the US, may also help to combat illegal content. 4. Upon notification by the entertainment industries, search engines as well as payment providers and advertisers would also be prevented from providing services or contracting with targeted websites, without any judicial decision. As pointed out by law scholar Yochai Benkler, SOPA and PIPA would amount to legalizing the type of censorship techniques used by the US against WikiLeaks, transposing into the civilian domain measures that used to be reserved to counter-terrorism. See: http://benkler.org/WikiLeaks_PROTECT-IP_Benkler.pdf

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Notice & Action: EU Commission Must Put Freedom of Expression First

mercredi 11 janvier 2012, 12:15:33 | neurone314 Paris, January 11th, 2012 Following a consultation held in late 2010, the European Commission just announced an action plan on the role of Internet actors in the policing of online content1. One key issue is that of notice and takedown measures, which are today implemented in total opacity at the expense of users' freedom of communication. As the global war on sharing rages, this announcement underlines the pressing need for citizen involvement in this crucial debate to better protect our freedoms online. The 2000 directive on online services (also called e-Commerce directive) sets a legal framework for most online activities2. Thanks to the liability exemptions provided to Internet actors such as access providers and service providers such as hosting platforms, the directive created a special legal framework distinct from the one regulating media and interpersonal means of communications, thereby protecting freedom of communications and promoting innovation and growth in the online sector. However, in the last ten years, vested interests, and the entertainment industries in particular, have lobbied lawmakers and brought legal action to force Internet actors to police their networks. Policy-makers, among which the EU Commission, have been quite responsive to such demands and have pushed for greater cooperation between online actors, law enforcement and other stake-holders to implement extra-judicial censorship of online content3. As a result, many online services now resort to censorship mechanisms and to abusive takedown of content4 that blatantly violate users' freedom to express themselves online. The EU Commission's announcement shows the urgency to shed some light on the harmful practices of many Internet actors who have been forced into policing online content. Citizens' rights are often victim of privatised censorship online at the expense of the right to a fair trial. As the EU Parliament has stressed on a number of occasions, any restriction imposed on fundamental rights online must be subject to a prior decision by a judge5. But in the face of many policy proposals seeking to increase the role of Internet actors in policing online content, such as ACTA, one can fear that many lobbies will wage an all-out offensive against freedom of communication online. Citizens must closely follow the discussions on this directive and get ready to defend their rights., said Jrmie Zimmermann, co-founder and spokesperson of advocacy group La Quadrature du Net.

La Quadrature's proposals on notice and action

In late 2010, in our response6 to the EU Commission's questionnaire on the online services directive, we stressed that:

In the absence of court order, providers should be obliged to give their customers a reasonable time to respond (so-called notice-and-notice regime). While waiting for the answer, content should not be be removed.

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In case of counter-notice on the part of the customer, the provider should notify the third-party who sent the initial take-down request that the customer is challenging their claim, and propose that the case be referred to a court. EU law should also provide sanctions for abusive notice and take-down demands as well as for wrongful take-downs on the part of the provider. Lastly, providers should give their users clear information on their notice and takedown procedures. 1. See action 12 in the Commission's communication on the digital single market : http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/e-commerce/communication_2012_en.htm 2. See our webdossier on the online services directive: http://www.laquadrature.net/en/online_services_directive 3. See EDRi's study on self-regulation and censorship: http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number9.2/self-regulation-study-edri 4. This summer, the illegal censorship in Germany of Nina Paley's multi-awarded movie Sita Sings the Blues by YouTube showed once again how corporate enforcement of an obsolete copyright regime harms culture and freedom of expression. See http://www.laquadrature.net/en/like-nina-fight-privatized-censorshipof-... 5. http://www.laquadrature.net/en/an-evolution-of-amendment-138 6. http://www.laquadrature.net/en/la-quadrature-answers-eu-consultation-on-...

Infographic Remix: ACTA, Lethal Weapon Against your Rights!

mardi 20 dcembre 2011, 05:09:02 | pi The fantastic folks from DerechoALeer.org designed this wonderful mash-up between two videos from La Quadrature: RoboCopyright ACTA (for the graphics) and NO to ACTA (for the text)! Thanks so much Juan! The clearest, superb, high-impact infographics is provided along with its editable SVG sources for Free-as-in-speech software (and probably others): Inkscape. Share it with Datalove! <3 Attachment Size acta-eu-950.png 121.82 KB acta-eu-950_0.png

EU Council Supports Net Neutrality. Let's Make it the Law!

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jeudi 15 dcembre 2011, 12:51:18 | neurone730 Paris, December 15th, 2011 EU Member States just adopted conclusions on Net neutrality1. In this document, the EU Council stresses the importance of preserving the openness of the Internet by keeping it free of restrictions imposed by telecom operators2. Unfortunately, the document falls short of saying that this principle should be made into law. After the EU Parliament's call on the EU Commission to swiftly assess the need for regulation on Net neutrality3, it's now Member States who stress the importance of this founding principle for freedom of communication, privacy, as well as innovation in the digital economy., said Jrmie Zimmermann, co-founder and spokesperson for La Quadrature du Net. Unfortunately, probably once again under pressure of incumbent operators, the Council fails to match words with deeds by requiring legislative action to protect network neutrality. The ongoing laisser-faire championed by Commissioner Kroes, based only on transparency and competition, is no longer tenable. As the citizen reporting platform RespectMyNet.eu suggests4, Net neutrality is already under the threat of telecom operators who illegitimately interfere with their users' communications, and we're reaching a point of no-return.", concluded Zimmermann.

1. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/en/trans/1... 2. The conclusions stress: o The need to preserve the open and neutral character of the Internet and consider net neutrality as a policy objective (...)." o "The importance of addressing the issues of discrimination and degradation of service that may arise from certain traffic management practices (inter alia blocking, hindering and restrictive connection and interconnection policies) (..) The Council calls on the EU Commission to monitor, jointly with BEREC, the issue of traffic management to allow for a smooth flow of proportional, necessary and transparent traffic management practices that do not affect net neutrality. It also welcomes "The Commission's intention to assess the need, based on BEREC's investigations, for more stringent measures and to publish additional guidance on net neutrality if necessary".

3. http://www.laquadrature.net/en/eu-parliament-massively-commits-to-net-ne... 4. http://respectmynet.eu/

ACTA Adopted By EU Governments, Now in EU Parliament's Hands

mercredi 14 dcembre 2011, 15:10:56 | neurone314

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Paris, December 14th 2011 EU Member States represented by the Council of the EU adopt today the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which aims at imposing new criminal sanctions and privatized online censorship in the name of copyright. The text will now be sent to the European Parliament, which has a chance to oppose it. Citizens must act to ensure their freedoms online are protected by having ACTA finally rejected. Update: The EU Council eventually adopted the instrument leading to the signature of ACTA on December 16th, 2011.

After the adoption of the legal instrument allowing its signature by the EU Council this afternoon1, ACTA is now headed towards the EU Parliament, which will accept or reject it in the next months, after elaborating its report2. For EU members states and the Commission, who along with the US and Japan have pushed for ACTA3, ACTA aims to impose measures that they know would be unacceptable if properly debated in democratic arenas. Member States will thus force privatized online censorship in the guise of cooperation4 between the entertainment industry and Internet actors5. This transformation of internet actors into a private copyright police and justice will be made possible under the threat of new, harsh criminal sanctions6. The ratification process in the Parliament is already characterized by the absence of transparency. The EU Parliament has refused to publish its legal services' full opinion on ACTA, saying that it would seriously interfere with the complex ratification process7. Citizens now have a major role to play in making sure Members of the European Parliament face their responsibilities by rejecting this dangerous text. Our governments are bypassing democratic processes to impose draconian repressive measures. They know that such measures would be very difficult to obtain through regular legislative process, so they have them imposed through the back door. By privatizing online censorship in the name of copyright, ACTA would have a dreadful impact on our freedoms online, but also on innovation and growth for Internet companies. The European Parliament is our last chance to reject ACTA. We, as citizens, must act now., said Jrmie Zimmermann, spokesperson for La Quadrature du Net. For how to act against ACTA, right now, please refer to our dedicated campaign page.

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You can add this video to your website, just copy/paste the following HTML snippet :
<iframe src="http://mediakit.laquadrature.net/embed/716?size=medium" style="width: 650px; height: 500px; border: 0; overflow: hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe>

You can also see share this video on YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=citzRjwksQ and Dailymotion : http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlz8g0_say-no-to-acta_news

1. See the EU Council agenda for today: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/EN/foraff/... The Council is expected to adopt a decision authorising the signing of an anticounterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA) between the EU and Australia, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States. 2. The International Trade (INTA) Committee of the European Parliament is the main committee working on ACTA. The Legal Affairs (JURI) and Development (DEVE) committees, as well as the Civil Liberties (LIBE), Industry (ITRE) committees will first vote on their opinions. The latter will be sent to INTA to influence its final report. See ACTA's procedure file: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/file.jsp?id=5924982 3. See the history of ACTA, as told by the US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks: http://www.laquadrature.net/en/wikileaks-cables-offer-new-insight-onthe... 4. In its article 27.3, ACTA calls for cooperation between rights-holders and Internet service providers. The very same mechanisms are called by the European Commission extra-judicial measures and alternative to courts. See: http://www.laquadrature.net/en/acta-updated-analysis-of-the-final-versio... 5. Internet intermediaries such as access, service or hosting providers. 6. See La Quadrature du Net's analysis of Article 23.4 on criminal sanctions: It is intolerable that criminal sanctions are included in a trade agreement. Such measures should only be debated in democratic arenas. Moreover, the limit between aiding infringements and linking to or indexing information is extremely blurry. Again, see: http://www.laquadrature.net/en/acta-updated-analysis-of-the-final-version According to ACTA, criminal sanctions must be provided for commercial scale infringements. But the notion of commercial scale is excessively broad in scope, including indirect advantage. Again,see: http://www.laquadrature.net/en/acta-updatedanalysis-of-the-final-versio... 7. See the following FFII article: http://acta.ffii.org/?p=904 "according to the EU Parliament: Important trading partners of the EU, such as the United States, Canada, Japan, Korea and Switzerland are contracting parties to the ACTA agreement. Disclosure of the parts of the legal opinion under consideration dealing with questions 1, 2 and 3 would seriously interfere with the complex ratification procedures of the ACTA agreement and the EUs relations with the other contracting parties, as it might prejudice the ratification procedures by these countries."

Freedom Online: Stop the Double-Speak!

vendredi 9 dcembre 2011, 15:22:23 | neurone730

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Paris, December 9th, 2011 The Netherlands are convening a high-profile conference to discuss freedoms online. As the United States and Europe pose as defenders of freedom online, La Quadrature recalls that their Internet policy is going in the other direction by supporting censorship, through the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA) and other initiatives. Mrs. Clinton and Mrs. Kroes pretend to ignore that freedoms online are at threat everywhere in the world, not only in authoritarian regimes but also in democracies like India, EU countries or the US. While in her speech US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promoted a borderless Internet, she also stressed that copyright infringements are tantamount to cybercrime, using the same abusive rhetoric as proponents of the censorship schemes currently discussed in the US Congress1. Whether through the ACTA agreement2, the G8 conclusions3, or the EU copyright strategy4, many initiatives seek to hand out police and justice missions to Internet companies and the automated machines they program. The impact on freedom of expression online is huge, and the potential for abuse inevitable. said Jrmie Zimmermann, spokesperson of the citizen advocacy group La Quadrature du Net. Commissioner Neelie Kroes's call on the surveillance and censorship industry to commit to fundamental rights through self-regulation cannot succeed in alleviating the export of these technologies, which are developed with the help of Western governments themselves5. Moving beyond double speak, our governments need to go from words to deeds by rejecting ACTA and other censorship schemes and preserving the Internet's universality through legal protection of Net neutrality. We want acts to protect citizens freedoms instead of encouraging automated privatized online censorship under the disguise of selfregulation. concluded Zimmermann.

1. In particular through the PIPA and SOPA bills. See: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/12/blacklist-bills-ripe-abuse. 2. http://www.laquadrature.net/en/ACTA 3. http://www.laquadrature.net/en/frances-g8-focuses-on-control-and-restric... 4. http://www.laquadrature.net/en/eu-commission-sticks-to-flawed-copyright-... 5. France, for instance, has invested several dozens of millions in companies developing surveillance and censorship technologies. See: http://www.intelligenceonline.fr/intelligence-economique/2011/09/29/le-f... (in French)

Internet censorship against streaming in France?

jeudi 1 dcembre 2011, 15:30:25 | neurone730 Paris, December 1st, 2011 Several French trade associations representing producers, publishers and video distributors are filing a case/injunction against Internet Service Providers and several online platforms, requesting access be censored to several websites offering audiovisual works streaming.1. Resorting to censorship to fight streaming websites is a repressive slippery slope, both disproportionate and extremely worrying for fundamental freedoms. This injunction is not surprising, after Nicolas Sarkozy's repeated declarations2 relaying the film and music industry's lobbies' demands. Such measures intend to turn Internet censorship into an 34

acceptable tool for enforcing copyright, eventually leading to generalising its use. Collateral damage for freedom of speech and the privacy of personal communications would be terrible. There are other ways to go after intermediaries who profit from the distribution of cultural works, but before anything else we must recognise the legitimacy and usefulness of not-for-profit sharing between individuals, the repression of which has led to the sharp increase in streaming websites' revenues. says Jrmie Zimmermann, cofounder and spokesperson of citizen advocacy group La Quadrature du Net.

1. See the following article in Le Monde, in French: http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2011/12/01/vaste-plainte-dema... 2. During his 2010 greetings to the cultural world, Nicolas Sarkozy already considered that We must [] quickly experiment filtering schemes which aim to automatically de-pollute networks and servers of all sources of piracy. See also French Intellectual Property Code article L336-2, created by the HADOPI law, which authorises a judge to order filtering measures, on which is based the lawsuit.

RespectMyNet: Internet Restrictions on the Table of EU Regulators

mercredi 30 novembre 2011, 11:21:39 | neurone314 Paris, November 30th, 2011 La Quadrature du Net met with European body of telecommunications regulators, BEREC, which is currently listing Internet access restrictions imposed by telecoms operators across the EU, as requested by the EU Commission. Thanks to the RespectMyNet.eu platform and thanks to the participation of citizens from all over Europe in unveiling these harmful practices, BEREC cannot ignore any longer the widespread access restrictions which undermine freedom of communication, privacy, as well as competition and innovation online. By further contributing to RespectMyNet, citizens can help increase pressure on the Commission to legislate on Net neutrality.

Last Spring, EU Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes said that it was urgent to wait on Net neutrality1 and asked the Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications (BEREC2) to conduct a fact-finding exercise regarding ongoing access restrictions imposed by Internet Service Providers across the EU. A few days ago, the EU Parliament increased the pressure on BEREC and the Commission to act, by adopting a resolution calling on them to protect Net neutrality and to assess the need for further regulation once BEREC concludes its study3. Thus, BEREC's ongoing work on Internet access restrictions which is expected to be released in February 2012 will be crucial for the future of Net neutrality. If the study shows widespread violations of Net neutrality, the Commission will have no other choice but to 35

propose EU-wide regulation to enforce this founding principle of the Internet. On the contrary, lack of sound evidence regarding ongoing restrictions will favour telecoms operators, like AT&T and others, who for the past two years have relentlessly lobbied against any measure to protect rights and freedoms online and the digital economy4. La Quadrature du Net met with BEREC last week to make it clear that the evidence on the RespectMyNet.eu platform5 already provides BEREC with an input they cannot overlook. Representatives from BEREC confirmed they would use the reports from the citizen platform as useful input for their study. Still, as BEREC will soon be concluding its research on Internet access restrictions and discriminatory practices, citizens across Europe must continue to take part in this debate by reporting and confirming Net neutrality violations on RespectMyNet.eu. Whether it is throttling of certain protocols, port blocking or even application blocking, Internet access restrictions reported on RespectMyNet.eu already show the need for regulatory intervention to make operators respect Net neutrality. BEREC cannot but recognise these widespread access restrictions imposed by telecoms operators. But there is still work to be done to get the situation's full picture. By helping BEREC list restrictions through RespectMyNet, citizens will help break away with Commissioner Neelie Kroes' failed wait-and-see approach. Everybody can help shape the debate by testing their landline or wireless Internet connections and adding and confirming reports. Neelie Kroes won't be able to ignore much longer the need for resolute legislative action., said Jrmie Zimmermann, spokesperson of the citizen advocacy group La Quadrature du Net.

1. http://www.laquadrature.net/en/net-neutrality-the-european-commission-gi... 2. http://erg.eu.int/about/index_en.htm 3. http://www.laquadrature.net/en/eu-parliament-massively-commits-to-net-ne... 4. See this New York Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/technology/08iht-neutral.1.20669185.ht... 5. Visit http://respectmynet.eu/

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