Have You Heard of ACTA? You’ll Love It Just Like SOPA!

SOPA has been the talk of the town in the recent weeks, although the noise has died down a bit when the legislation was shot down. But are you aware of another piece of legislation that may affect you in an adverse way?

It is called ACTA, which is short for Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. It is an international agreement with the following entities as participants: ((via Stop Acta))

• The European Union
• The United States
• Canada
• South Korea
• Australia
• Some other countries

ACTA is nothing new, actually. It was proposed in October 2007 ((via EFF)), and the final contents of the treaty was released in 2010. Last year, several countries signed the treaty, which allows other governments to sign until 2013.

So why aren’t we hearing much about ACTA? I guess people are not aware of it and its implications. One reason is that it seems negotiations are being done under a blackout. That is, people are not aware of the details involved in the creation of the act. I honestly need to read more about ACTA, its provisions, and its implications. I did find an image summing up some key points about the treaty, which could be of some use if you are also looking for information. ((via Nerdcore))

What I find most alarming here is the fact that the access to generic drugs might be limited or completely hindered by ACTA. For someone in a developing country, that is very alarming news indeed! Then there is the ever present issue of privacy online.

If you are sitting pretty right now because you think the SOPA battle is over, you might want to take a look at this.