Before Wikileaks disclosed several documents regarding the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), the entire treaty was veiled behind a curtain of secrecy, while little was known about the negotiation process.  In September of 2008, the Bush administration refused to release information related to ACTA and more recently in March 2009, the Obama administration classified ACTA related documents and stated that their release would be a threat to “national security”. Many, many Freedom of Information Act requested were denied. Over in Canada, a document with only the title of the treaty was released after the University of Ottowa filed a request, while the rest of the document was blacked out. In November of 2008, the EU Council denied a Foundation for Free Information Infrastructure appeal for information related to ACTA stating, “disclosure of this information could impede the proper conduct of the negotiations, would weaken the position of the European Union in these negotiations and might affect relations with the third parties concerned”.

Unlike SOPA and PIPA, ACTA is obviously not a bill and calling your legislators about it will, at this point, be meaningless since it was already ratified by President Obama in October 2010.  Even though Congress has the Constitutional authority to ratify a treaty and several members of Senate like Ron Wyden have complained about ACTA, the Obama administration is referring to ACTA as an “executive agreement”. The argument that calling Senators specifically and reminding them of checks and balances could be made.

“But regardless of whether the agreement requires changes in U.S. law…the executive branch lacks constitutional authority to enter a binding international agreement covering issues delegated by the Constitution to Congress’ authority, absent congressional approval.”  – Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR)

How ACTA will affect you

The sheer absurdity of ACTA lies very little in its clandestine negotiation process.  ACTA’s usurpation of the domestic laws of all of its signers results in massive violations of the civil liberties of the citizens of those nations.

• Customs officials at airports, border check points, and various other locations will now be able to, under “international law”, search through your MP3 players, laptops, iPads, cell phones, and a host of other devices in order to find violations of copyright law and intellectual property theft. This means that customs agents will sift through your iPod playlist for illegally downloaded music and through your laptop for illegally downloaded movies.
• Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are immune from legal action for invasions of privacy, which will occur under ACTA. ISPs will be able to release your web browsing records to governments and corporations–both foreign and domestic–leaving their customers helpless against this gross violation of their privacy.
• ACTA would criminalize violations that are currently considered civil or monetary violations. Instead of going to civil court for downloading a new song and facing thousands of dollars in fines, you are now facing hard prison time.
• If your iPhone has been jailbroken, you’re a criminal.
  
• Are you a farmer or someone concerned about corporate patenting of organisms? Well, Monsanto’s lawsuits against poor farmers now have international legal backing. If you haven’t heard already, Monsanto has been patenting seeds and suing farmers who have had their genetically-modified seed blow into their patch of land.

ACTA would create unduly harsh legal standards that do not reflect contemporary principles of democratic government, free market exchange, or civil liberties. – Aaron Shaw, research fellow @ Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society