To date, President Obama has kept the specifics of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) under wraps because of “national security” concerns. But someone leaked the text of the document, which points to a online future where sites like YouTube, Flickr and Blogger can’t exist.
The sixth round of negotiations over the treaty are being held in Seoul, South Korea, through today.
Some of the treaty’s specific provisions include:
- Internet service providers will be required to actively police copyrights on user-generated material, and they’ll be held responsible for copyrighted material found on their servers.
- If an ISP discovers a copyright infringer, they’ll be required to cut off that user’s Internet access or face liability. This provision currently includes no way for a user to contest the action. According to some online reports, ISPs alone will determine what constitutes offending behavior. Users will get three strikes before facing any consequences.
- According to the new treaty, the whole world will have to follow the United States’ lead in how to enforce copyright. Meaning that users will be able to tell someone they’re violating their copyright, and that person will have to take down the material in question.
- The new treaty also includes stronger language banning the practice of breaking digital-rights management (DRM) software.
“It will be impossible to run a service like Flickr or YouTube or Blogger, since hiring enough lawyers to ensure that the mountain of material uploaded every second isn't infringing will exceed any hope of profitability,” said Cory Doctorow of BoingBoing.net.
But David Kravets of Wired.com’s Threat Level website, which offers commentary on Internet privacy issues, said that the authenticity of the document had yet to be confirmed, but at the same time, he suggested that Obama administration has been secretly supporting the treaty’s provisions all along.
“Obama hasn’t asked Congress to implement a three-strike policy, which could anger consumers and watchdog groups,” Kravets said. “But if the administration gets three strikes written into ACTA, and the United States signs and ratifies the treaty, Congress would be obliged to change the [Digital Millenium Copyright Act] to comply with it, while the administration throws its hands in the air and says, ‘It wasn’t our idea! It’s that damn treaty.’”
Kravets later added, “It seems the executive branch would rather negotiate with other nations, instead of its own elected officials, about the future of a free and open Internet.”