ACTA rejected by EU parliament

[Moonchild]

Some good news today!

The European Parliament has voted to reject the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta).

The proposed agreement sought to curb piracy, but internet campaigners said it posed a threat to online freedoms.

The rejection vote followed a failed attempt to postpone the decision because of ongoing investigations into Acta by the European Court of Justice.

Euro MP David Martin said: "It's time to give [Acta] its last rites."

Twenty two EU member states, including the UK, had signed the Acta treaty - but it had not been formally ratified.

Outside the EU, the treaty also had the support of the US, Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea.

However, following significant protests, several countries chose not to back the treaty.

Wednesday's vote is seen by most observers as the final blow to the treaty in its current form.

A total of 478 MEPs voted against the deal, with 39 in favour. There were 165 abstentions.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18704192

[Rohugh]

EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said work into tackling piracy would continue.

Good, ACTA was going about it the wrong way but I dislike piracy in any form so hopefully a better alternative will be found.

[dark_moon]

Yes, we made it. Our petition against acta and the much demonstrations made it.

Realy good news today.

[steviem1]

Great... a victory against the insidious erosion of our rights and freedoms from those who continuously seek to impose their will over us.

[lyceus]

Cool.

I heard now that Google want to chase the ads from piracy web sites http://googlepolicyeurope.blogspot.de/2012/07/follow-money-to-fight-online-piracy.html Can this really hurt the pirates?

[Rohugh]

Cool.
Can this really hurt the pirates?

I hope so. Anything that makes it more difficult for people to find pirate sites has to be a good thing.

[Moonchild]

Can this really hurt the pirates?

Yes, it can. Most piracy web sites survive (through being blocked, having to re-host regularly, needing dedicated servers, etc.) by being popular and getting lots of revenue from ads. I fully agree with Google's policy to block ads on these sites - I'm surprised it took them this long; most other ad networks already prohibit the use of their ads on illicit sites.

[billnotben]

After seeing some really dodgy ads being displayed on ebay, I'm of the opinion that maybe the ad networks need to concentrate on cleaning up their own acts first.