What Is ACTA?

What Is ACTA?

What is ACTA? ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) is an international treaty that gives countries the ability to stop copyright infringement and other forms of intellectual property theft. What was the international's purpose? To give them a legal  international framework to that different countries can work with one another cooperatively. (full text in pdf form here)

The Europeans are upset because they feel that the countries negotiated this agreement without consulting the citizens of Europe.

And in the US? Surprisingly this piece of information seemed to have gone unnoticed by the media. Did Obama sign it? Yes. In the US, his signing of the agreement is considered an "executive agreement" and not a "treaty". With an executive agreement he can bypass the Congress. However, Senator Ron Wyden (D) has questioned the constitutionality of the agreement. He so stated:

“It may be possible for the U.S. to implement ACTA or any other trade agreement, once validly entered, without legislation if the agreement requires no change in U.S. law,” wrote Wyden in October of last year. “But regardless of whether the agreement requires changes in U.S. law, the executive branch lacks constitutional authority to enter a binding international agreement covering issues delegated by the Constitution to Congress’ authority, absent congressional approval.”


What Powers does ACTA Give Copyright Holders?
ACTA gives copyright holders the power to:

1. Request personal information on infringers from ISPs (Need a warrant)
2. Pursue people suspected of circumventing copyright protection or DRM technologies.
3. Seize goods at their borders if they suspected the offenders has infringing content.

Granted, there is some language in the agreement that protects legitimate online commerce and free speech. But is it enough, or can it impact free speech and innovation on the Internet?