Call for protest against government’s ACTA support

Facebook users are calling for a protest next Friday, 3 February in Valletta, against the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement which the Maltese government signed this week as part of 22-state EU bloc.

The international agreement, devised by the United States and Japan and negotiated in secret with major industries, seeks to create an unelected international body to enforce intellectual property rights: most controversially by forcing internet service providers to police online content and impose criminal sanctions on copyright infringers.

Another serious aspect is to reinforce the international patent regime (TRIPS) for medicines, and stop pharmaceutical firms from creating generic drugs - genuine copies of medicinal - once the patents of the original medicines expire.

Over 500 users on the 'Malta is against ACTA' Facebook were surprised to find out Thursday that the Maltese government had signed the treaty, without even announcing it officially.

The EU Council adopted the instrument leading to the signature of ACTA on 16 December, 2011.

A spokesperson for Fair Competition and Consumer Minister Jason Azzopardi did not get back to MaltaToday with comments justifying Malta's support of ACTA, and whether the Maltese parliament will be asked to ratify the agreement.

Additionally, the results of the European Parliament's vote on a resolution against ACTA are now being circulated on Facebook, revealing Nationalist MEPs Simon Busuttil and David Casa voted with the pro-ACTA bloc led by their political group, the European People's Party.

MEPs have not voted yet on the agreement, and might not tackle the issue until their June session.

The day of the signing in Tokyo of ACTA, the European parliament website came under cyber attack, although hackers failed to penetrate the assembly's internal network.

While the European Commission claims ACTA will not restrict freedom of the internet, advocacy groups like La Quadrature say ACTA makes internet service providers criminally liable if they cannot censor online communications. "It is a major threat to freedom of expression online and creates legal uncertainty for Internet companies. In the name of trademarks and patents, it would also hamper access to generic medicines in poor countries," the group says on its website.

But there is a clear global consensus that ACTA is pitting advocacy groups and NGOs such as Oxfam, against the private interest of major industry and governments, and forming a new battleground over internet freedom and pharmaceutical patents.

The freedom of expression advocacy group Article 19 describes ACTA as "fundamentally flawed from a freedom of expression and information perspective", which if enacted will endanger the free flow of information on the internet.

Humanitarian aid NGO Oxfam warned in a statement to MEPs that ACTA gives power to customs officials to seize generic medicines, which are cheaper copies of industry drugs whose patents have expired.

In an opinion, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), which is an independent institution in charge of protecting citizens' privacy and personal data, criticised the secrecy of the negotiations, and expressed concern over the internet filtering measures, which the EDPS says would violate citizens' fundamental rights as guaranteed by European law.

However while online backlash to ACTA was swift and assured, not everyone in the local field is against the agreement. Chris Gruppetta, publishing director at Merlin Publishers, believes that such a law is long overdue, and simply a commonsensical response to rampant online piracy.

"Just because we all do it (and I'm not claiming to be a download virgin) doesn't make it right. It still is stealing. There are laws against it - all countries have copyright legislation. But enforcement is zero. What ACTA is attempting to do is to give teeth to enforcement. Of course there are parts of ACTA that I don't agree with, and a campaign to constructively propose amendments would have been much more useful than all the all-out hysteria currently dominating the online world," Gruppetta said.

"I have a "challenge" for creatives who disagree with ACTA: if they're so in favour of sharing, why don't they renounce to their copyrights and make their music/art/writings copyright-free and put them in the public domain? That way no-one would be breaking any law and everyone would be able to "share" their work freely," Gruppetta added.