Post Syndicated from Bradley M. Kuhn original http://ebb.org/bkuhn/blog/2011/02/15/acta.html

In the USA, the deadline for comments on ACTA
is today (Tuesday 15 February 2011) at 17:00 US/Eastern.
It’s absolutely imperative that every USA citizen submit a comment on
this. The Free
Software Foundation has details on how to do so.

ACTA is a dangerous international agreement that would establish
additional criminal penalties, promulgate DMCA/EUCD-like legislation
around the world, and otherwise extend copyright law into places it
should not go. Copyright law is already much stronger than
anyone needs.

On a meta-point, it’s extremely important that USA citizens participate
in comment processes like this. The reason that things like ACTA can
happen in the USA is because most of the citizens don’t pay attention.
By way of hyperbolic fantasy, imagine if every citizen of the
USA wrote a letter today to Mr. McCoy about ACTA. It’d be a news story
on all the major news networks tonight, and would probably be in the
headlines in print/online news stories tomorrow. Our whole country
would suddenly be debating whether or not we should have criminal
penalties for copying TV shows, and whether breaking a DVD’s DRM should
be illegal.

Obviously, that fantasy won’t happen, but getting from where we are to
that wonderful fantasy is actually linear; each person who
writes to Mr. McCoy today makes a difference! Please take 15 minutes
out of your day today and do so. It’s the least you can do on this
issue.

The Free
Software Foundation has a sample letter you can use if you don’t
have time to write your own. I wrote my own, giving some of my unique
perspective, which I include below.

The automated
system on regulations.gov assigned this comment below the tracking
number of 80bef9a1 (cool, it’s in hex! 🙂

Stanford K. McCoy
Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Intellectual Property and Innovation
Office of the United States Trade Representative
600 17th St NW
Washington, DC 20006

Re: ACTA Public Comments (Docket no. USTR-2010-0014)

Dear Mr. McCoy:

I am a USA citizen writing to urge that the USA not sign
ACTA. Copyright law already reaches too far. ACTA would extend
problematic, overly-broad copyright rules around the world and would
increase the already inappropriate criminal penalties for copyright
infringement here in the USA.

Both individually and as an agent of my employer, I am regularly involved
in copyright enforcement efforts to defend the Free Software license
called the GNU General Public License (GPL). I therefore think my
perspective can be uniquely contrasted with other copyright holders who
support ACTA.

Specifically, when engaging in copyright enforcement for the GPL, we treat
it as purely a civil issue, not a criminal one. We have been successful
in defending the rights of software authors in this regard without the
need for criminal penalties for the rampant copyright infringement that we
often encounter.

I realize that many powerful corporate copyright holders wish to see
criminal penalties for copyright infringement expanded. As someone who
has worked in the area of copyright enforcement regularly for 12 years, I
see absolutely no reason that any copyright infringement of any kind ever
should be considered a criminal matter. Copyright holders who believe
their rights have been infringed have the full power of civil law to
defend their rights. Using the power of government to impose criminal
penalties for copyright infringement is an inappropriate use of government
to interfere in civil disputes between its citizens.

Finally, ACTA would introduce new barriers for those of us trying to
change our copyright law here in the USA. The USA should neither impose
its desired copyright regime on other countries, nor should the USA bind
itself in international agreements on an issue where its citizens are in
great disagreement about correct policy.

Thank you for considering my opinion, and please do not allow the USA to
sign ACTA.

Sincerely,
Bradley M. Kuhn