• Lead MEP rapporteur for ACTA quits, denouncing it as a “masquerade”
    38 replies, posted
[quote]French MEP Kader Arif yesterday quit his role as lead Rapporteur for ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) for the European Parliament, denouncing the agreement as a “masquerade”. The resignation coincides with the signing of ACTA by diplomats representing the European Commission in Tokyo. ARTICLE 19 commends this symbolic move and calls upon all members of the European Parliament to stand up for democracy and safeguard freedom of expression online. “MEP Kader Arif’s resignation exposes the true extent of the democratic scandal enveloping ACTA” said Dr Agnès Callamard, ARTICLE 19 Executive Director. “ACTA is a dangerous agreement for freedom of expression that was brokered in secret. We must urge all MEPs to refuse to sacrifice freedom of expression on the altar of intellectual property.” The European Commission signed ACTA yesterday, moving one step closer to ratification of the controversial international instrument. As rapporteur, Kader Arif was in the process of leading the EU International Trade Committee’s (INTA) scrutiny of ACTA. Members of the European Parliament are due to vote on ACTA in June. Protests against limits on free expression in the name of protecting intellectual property are quickly gaining momentum. Thousands of people demonstrated in Poland yesterday following news that the Polish government had signed ACTA. On 18 January thousands of websites – including article19.org – went black to protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a bill before the American Senate that would have had a dire effect on freedom of expression online. ACTA poses a much greater threat to free expression than SOPA or PIPA. It criminalises everyday and harmless forms of internet use. It envisages a world in which internet companies are compelled to spy on users’ online activity. It allows intellectual property corporations to recoup astronomic civil damages sums, chilling cultural sharing. ARTICLE 19 has repeatedly voiced its concern that the drafting of ACTA was anti-democratic, having been negotiated in secret with industry representatives and excluding civil society. ARTICLE 19 urges all individuals who value Internet freedom to call upon their representatives in the European Parliament to reject ACTA, and to sign the Avaaz international petition for the defeat of this dangerous international agreement. [/quote] I think that's even more proof of what is about to come up. Sign the Petition here: [url]http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_save_the_internet_spread/?ccGFpcb[/url] (Actually over 574.000 signs - I did.) Source: [url=http://www.article19.org/resources.php/resource/2939/en/european-union:-lead-mep-rapporteur-for-acta-quits,-denouncing-it-as-a-%201Cmasquerade%201D]Click Here[/url]
Good. Hopefully this small victory against ACTA will be the first of many more to come.
It's pretty amazing to watch your name scroll down a list of almost 600,000 people who came together in just under 48 hours so far to oppose something that affects us all as a global community connected by the Internet.
Signed the petition.
Why do governments want to beat up the internet lately?
Petition up to 675k, i signed it
[QUOTE=Jetblack357;34420678]Why do governments want to beat up the internet lately?[/QUOTE] freespeech.
[QUOTE=Jetblack357;34420678]Why do governments want to beat up the internet lately?[/QUOTE] Because a lot of really rich corrupt cunts pay a lot of money to a lot of politicians to get their way.
Dayum, this petition will reach target by saturday night!
[QUOTE=AugustBurnsRed;34420913]Because a lot of really rich corrupt cunts pay a lot of money to a lot of politicians to get their way.[/QUOTE] they're not corrupt it's called [h2]LOBBYING![/h2]
678k know
[QUOTE=Jetblack357;34420678]Why do governments want to beat up the internet lately?[/QUOTE] Because internet is full of nothing but child porn and copyright infringement.
[QUOTE=little.sparrow;34420927]Dayum, this petition will reach target by saturday night![/QUOTE] Not even probably by morning
100k signatures in the past 5 hours. That's impressive.
Tee hee...some guy from Germany called Adolf Hitler signed it. I giggled a little...I better get some sleep
Signed, within 10 seconds my name had gone.
Well, the target number is rapidly approaching. Lets just hope that it actually gets paid attention.
[QUOTE=Trainbike;34421729]Well, the target number is rapidly approaching. Lets just hope that it actually gets paid attention.[/QUOTE] It reached its previous target (500k) quite quickly. I think this has only been up a day, or at least known about for a day.
Signed; this petition better get the attention it deserves. Holy shit, not 2 minutes after I signed, the total number of signatures is nearing 700k.
Signed. I wonder how much longer it will be before it reaches 750,000.
Signed it. Hopefully it helps.
you can fuck right off of my internets.
Petition signed. Fuck that list is just getting bigger and bigger. Go internet go!
I signed this petition, fuck anyone who wants to restrict the internet. Let them try!
There's a signature every seconds almost, it's fucking amazing.
People who are against this [B]really really[/B] need to look past the internet. ACTA would allow drug companies to make generic versions of their patented drugs illegal entirely, and allow people to patent seeds. If people realise this could fuck up a lot of stuff even more people will be against it.
Its up to 12 fucking million holy shit
[QUOTE=Zenreon117;34425193]Its up to 12 fucking million holy shit[/QUOTE] 712,276 have signed. Help us get to 750,000 Are we signing different petitions? Oh, 12 million is the total number of people who have signed any petition on their site.
[QUOTE=toaster468;34420743]freespeech.[/QUOTE] This is foolish and amounts to a conspiracy theory. It's all about copyright, and they're going about it wrong, but they have no ridiculously nefarious motives like that.
That petition is nearly at 750k signatures, Nice work!
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