ACTA

'Last rites' for ACTA? Europe rejects antipiracy treaty

The European Parliament has voted to overwhelmingly reject the Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement, also known as ACTA, following an all-parliamentary vote today.

The controversial treaty is intended to harmonize anticounterfeit and copyright protection measures across all EU member states and other signing countries, including the United States.

The Parliament logged 478 votes against, and only 39 in favor. There were 146 abstentions.

The vote in the European Parliament means that the signing 22 European member states cannot ratify ACTA into their local sovereign law. However, non-EU countries will still be able to shape laws around the treaty's mandates, although ACTA'… Read more

Europe's copyright bill ACTA on last legs

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, has been rejected by the European Parliament's trade committee, the opinion of which is a major influence on the wider parliament.

INTA supported rapporteur David Martin's rejection of ACTA this morning by 19 votes to 12. Minutes before, the committee also voted 19-12 to ignore European Commission calls to postpone voting until the European Court of Justice has decided on ACTA's legality.

Trade commissioner Karel De Gucht said late last night that he would still ask the Parliament to reconsider ratifying ACTA when the ECJ ruling comes through in a year … Read more

Anonymous takes aim over Europe's SOPA

Online activists Anonymous are targeting the European Parliament and supporters of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which critics say would curtail freedom of expression and encourage surveillance by service providers.

Copyrightalliance.org was inaccessible today after Anonymous set its sights on the Web site for its pro-ACTA stance. Meanwhile, hackers were poking at the sites of the European Parliament and governments in the EU, with plans to dig up information on officials that could be released publicly, a source familiar with Anonymous' plans told CNET.

Anonymous has a history of operations against what the group complains are antipiracy efforts that … Read more

U.K. signs anti-counterfeiting treaty as digital activists protest

The U.K. and 21 other European Union member states have signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, better known as ACTA.

The countries signed the treaty, which aims to harmonize copyright enforcement across much of the world, in Tokyo today. However, the signatures of the EU member states and the EU itself will count for nothing unless the European Parliament gives its approval to ACTA in June, and digital activists have urged citizens to lobby their members of the European Parliament against voting yes.

Poland, which was one of the signatories, saw thousands demonstrate in the streets yesterday, protesting against the … Read more

Kyocera Echo; Sandy Bridge fixed

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

Kyocera sees double

Facebook is replacing Craigslist for prostitute recruitment and matchmaking

Fixed Sandy Bridge chipsets will ship in mid-February

Win $10,000 in this Internet video safety contest

White House proposes new copying rules

Facebook firing case will settle

White House will propose new digital copyright laws

The Obama administration has drafted new proposals to curb Internet piracy and other forms of intellectual property infringement that it says it will send to the U.S. Congress "in the very near future."

It's also applauding a controversial copyright treaty known as the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, saying it will "aid right-holders and the U.S. government to combat infringement" once it enters into effect.

Those disclosures came from a report released today by Victoria Espinel, whom President Obama selected as the first intellectual property enforcement coordinator and was confirmed by the Senate … Read more

Solar hydrogen filling stations to be built in Italy

Hydrogen is considered by many to be the perfect fuel: it emits zero tailpipe emissions and doesn't require an outlet or hours to recharge a battery. But because it's energy intensive, derived from nonrenewable resources, and is expensive to produce and transport, don't expect to find it at the pump anytime soon. Unless you're in Italy.

Acta, a clean energy company in Italy, has developed a commercial system for using solar energy to convert water to hydrogen at a fueling station. It recently signed a framework agreement with filling station forecourt equipment installation company Girelli Bruni … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1258: Plants vs. Lasers (podcast)

Look for Brian Tong's new movement on Facebook: pain-ray-free produce. But the rest of us actually think it's kind of cool that the government pain-ray has been re-tasked to warm freezing plants. Also, the Supreme Court has finally ruled in the Bilski patent case, giving us a relatively non-destructive moderate decision. ACTA is ramping up again, and we make a date to go see "The Social Network."

Google attorney slams ACTA copyright treaty

PALO ALTO, Calif.--An attorney for Google slammed a controversial intellectual property treaty on Friday, saying it has "metastasized" from a proposal to address border security and counterfeit goods to an international legal framework sweeping in copyright and the Internet.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, is "something that has grown in the shadows, Gollum-like," without public scrutiny, Daphne Keller, a senior policy counsel in Mountain View, Calif., said at a conference at Stanford University.

Both the Obama administration and the Bush administration had rejected requests from civil libertarians and technologists for the text of … Read more

ACTA treaty aims to deputize ISPs on copyrights

Internet service providers could become copyright cops encouraged to block access to suspected pirate Web sites, according to a previously secret draft treaty made public on Wednesday.

One section of the proposed digital copyright treaty says that immunity from lawsuits would be granted to Internet providers "disabling access" to pirated material and adopting a policy dealing with unauthorized "transmission of materials protected by copyright." If the ISPs choose not to do so, they could face legal liability.

Both the Obama administration and the Bush administration had rejected requests from civil libertarians and technologists for copies of … Read more