Act Against ACTA

Everyone who uses the internet should be concerned about ACTA, the so-called Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, currently being negotiated in secret by the United States, Japan, Canada, the European Union, Switzerland, Australia, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea and Singapore. In a lengthy report at the Mises Institute, Gennady Stolyarov explains some of the reasons why:

A clandestine international treaty is currently being negotiated among parties including the United States, Canada, New Zealand, the European Union, Japan, Singapore, and Morocco. It can justly be called the greatest threat of our time to the advancement of human civilization. Considering the magnitude of the other abuses of power pervading the world today, this might seem an exaggeration, but the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) contravenes every principle of civilized society, both in its content and in the nature of the proceedings leading to its creation.

It threatens to undo the accomplishments of the great Internet revolution and to thrust humankind back to a time when individuals had no public voice and no countervailing power against politically privileged mercantilist institutions. ACTA tramples on essential rights that have achieved even mainstream recognition: innocence until one is proven guilty, due process, personal privacy, and fair use of published content. Moreover, because of its designation as a trade agreement, ACTA could be imposed on the people of the United States by the president, without even a vote of Congress. [Emphasis added.]

Read the whole thing. Though ACTA could be "fast-tracked" by the president, there should be little doubt whether a secret international agreement which blatantly curtails fundamental rights, liberties and freedoms would easily gain the support of a majority of Democrats and Republicans in the Congress.