Updated | If European Parliament votes against ACTA the act will be 'dead'

University students hold lively debate on ACTA, a controversial anti-counterfeiting treaty signed by government. MEP Simon Busuttil says act will be "dead" if EP votes against.

8 February 2012, 12:00am
by Jurgen Balzan

3 min read

Anti-ACTA demonstrators will protest against the government's support of ACTA on Saturday.

At a debate organised by the University Student Council (KSU) this afternoon, IT Expert, Lawyer and Lecturer at the University of Malta, Antonio Ghio and Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil aligned themselves with the pro-ACTA camp and Labour MEP Edward Scicluna took a more sceptic approach and declared he would be marching alongside the public protest organised by the Malta Anti-ACTA Group this Saturday in Valletta.

During the debate which was attended by around 100 students, Simon Busuttil rebutted claims by the anti-ACTA camp that the process which led to the drafting of the act was not transparent and democratic. Whilst admitting that the process could have been more open, Busuttil said "There is no secrecy at all and the text is available for all to read and discuss. Today's debate is a sign of transparency and I am ready to listen to civil society about this matter."

Busuttil added that if the anti-ACTA campaigners convince him that he should vote against the act he will have no qualms to do so. However he said that "I will vote for the protection of hundreds of jobs which are currently threatened by counterfeit products." Busuttil added that he "does not owe anything to big businesses but he will vote to ensure that jobs are protected". The MEP said that if the European Parliament will vote against ACTA, the act will be "dead".

On the other hand Labour MEP Edward Scicluna said agreements "should never be signed behind closed doors" and added that it is not yet clear what affect the act will have on the acquis communautaire. Scicluna said that people "should not accept agreements that are the result of underhand dealings of big corporations". He said citizens have ecery right to be suspicious and sceptical and that is why he will join the anti-ACTA protest on Saturday.

Scicluna said big businesses were right in affirming their rights and profits however this should not come "at the expense of interfering with civil liberties." He added that at present national law already covers illegal counterfeit products which infiltrate the market. Scicluna said that he will "never vote for something which intrudes on personal liberties".

Antonio Ghio, who came under fire from anti-ACTA students present at the debate, spent most of the debate defending the act and explaining that ACTA "does not change any existing national laws on piracy and counterfeit products". He argued that many people are confusing ACTA with another legislation, SOPA, which has now been put on the backburner by the US Congress after a huge public outcry against this legislation.

Ghio explained that with ACTA the citizens' online experience will not be altered in any way. "Whoever downloads a file is already infringing national law and ACTA will not change it. It will not turn infringers into criminals but it will strengthen legislation against commercial counterfeit products". Ghio said anti-ACTA campaigns on Facebook and other social networks are misinformed as they were "probably confusing ACTA with SOPA or referring to the original version of ACTA which has been softened and amended by the European Commission".

Other points of contention at the University debate were the language used in the act's text which anti-ACTA activists said was "vague" and the role of the ACTA committee which activists claim will have powers to amend the act, bypassing democratic processes. Busuttil and Ghio refuted these accusations and said that the ACTA committee, which will be comprise all signatory countries, will have no power at all to amend the act.

Jurgen Balzan was a MaltaToday reported from 2011 to 2017.

More from Jurgen Balzan

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"........I am ready to listen to civil society about this matter." - Simon Busutill MEP. Not for one single moment would I believe Simon on this statement he has already signed in its favour when ACTA was secretly being formulated he voted against a motion that limits the powers of ACTA and now he comes to Malta stating that he is ready to listen. Simon you already have made up your mind because you are a Euro YESman and there is no way people in their right mind to believe you will act in the interest of Malta.

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With this subject being of high public interest and coming debate eagerly anticipated, could you please be more specific with your readers and inform us at what time does it commence? This afternoon at university sounds like a joke..

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I am worried that our government signed the agreement without studying or perhaps understanding the full implications. I know very little about the areas of counterfeit products and generic medicines. However I know enough about the area of ICT to be seiously worried. This is not just a legal document but another out of many previous attempts in the last thirty years by the corporate world and governments to control the web,free software and freedom of expression as most of the main international non corporte NGOs in the computer world have higlighted. I am certainly not reassured by the words of Busuttil or Ghio who may be legal experts but are certainly not experts in the implications for the future growth of online knowledge and the web 20 and 3.0. What is worrying is that the European parliament rapporteur resigned and called the whole affair a masquerade. Kader Arif, European parliament's rapporteur for ACTA, resigned from his position on 26 January 2012 denouncing the treaty "in the strongest possible manner" for having "no inclusion of civil society organizations, a lack of transparency from the start of the negotiations, repeated postponing of the signature of the text without an explanation being ever given, [and] exclusion of the EU Parliament's demands that were expressed on several occasions in [the] assembly," concluding with his intent to "send a strong signal and alert the public opinion about this unacceptable situation" and refusal to "take part in this masquerade." These are words which are very worrying and should raise alarm bells and a red flag.

John Mifsud •

The title of this piece (a quote from Simon Busuttil) is not quite correct. Should the EP vote against ACTA, the adoption of the treaty in the EU will be stalled, for the time being, but ACTA will be far from dead. Contrary to the general impression in Malta, ACTA is the baby of the United States, or more precisely, the corporate lobby there, and not of the EU. Should the EU reject it, the US may still go ahead and implement it with some or all of the handful of countries which have signed up other than the EU. Then the EU will come under intense US pressure to introduce it as well by hook or by crook.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16906086 Acta: Europe braced for protests over anti-piracy treaty http://www.stopp-acta.info/english What is ACTA? http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_save_the_internet/?fp ACTA: The new threat to the net

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8Xg_C2YmG0

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ACTA is not really about counterfeit goods, its about domination and control. A police state and total control of the internet, its just like the camera's that are supposed to be there to protect the innocent, when in actual fact most of them are there for spying and counter espionage (not being paranoid, how many crimes are caught on video, apart from those parking fines of course). ACTA will kill freedom on the net. STOP ACTA now and Simin busuttil should read the law properly.