Duke’s Note: Yup. It’s out again. Catch it while you can. Mr Doctorow calls it “bad.” I’ll go a step further and call it f@#king stupid. Here are a couple highlights.

From Boing Boing:

- That the whole world must adopt US-style “notice-and-takedown” rules that require ISPs to remove any material that is accused — again, without evidence or trial — of infringing copyright. This has proved a disaster in the US and other countries, where it provides an easy means of censoring material, just by accusing it of infringing copyright.

- Mandatory prohibitions on breaking DRM, even if doing so for a lawful purpose (e.g., to make a work available to disabled people; for archival preservation; because you own the copyrighted work that is locked up with DRM).

It gets worse. ISPs will have a mandate that includes policing internet traffic themselves and cut off the service of anyone accused of infringement.

Let’s forget for a minute that it’s s gross invasion of privacy with a total disregard for due process (a dying institution anyway). It’s also going to drive the cost of providing internet service up.

That and it’ll make sites with user-generated content nearly impossible to run; this legislation puts the burden of policing on them too.

It’s smart politics though. Policing makes the deep-pocketed copyright whores happy (you know who you are), and shifting the job of policing onto MySpace and YouTube doesn’t cost the beleaguered US government a mint (they’re getting tired of handing mints out I’m sure).

Read more at: Boing Boing

See also: The ACTA Internet Chapter: Putting the Pieces Together
and WTO’s Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights

Update:

ACTA Internet Chapter info

Technorati Tags: Boing Boing, Copyright, cory doctorow, legislation, secret

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