Germany freezes signing of disputed Internet pact {ACTA} (Focus News)

[eppur_se_muova]

10 February 2012 | 17:52 | FOCUS News Agency
Home / European Union
Berlin. Germany on Friday halted the signing of a controversial international accord billed as a way to beat online piracy that has sparked angry protests, saying it needed more time to consider it.

"The signing has not happened, to give us time to carry out further discussions," a foreign ministry spokesman told AFP.

"The federal justice minister in charge of the issue has already signalled her objections this week," added the spokesman.

The ACTA agreement, negotiated between the European Union, Australia, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, South Korea, Switzerland, Singapore and the United States, needs all 27 EU countries to ratify the deal.

But countries including Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have already frozen their ratification process.
***
more: http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n270653




BBC has up a banner with a similar headline, but no article/link yet.

[eppur_se_muova]

1. Acta: Germany delays signing anti-piracy agreement (BBC)

Germany has halted signing a controversial anti-piracy accord, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta), after the justice ministry voiced concerns.

A foreign ministry spokesperson told AFP that the delay was to "give us time to carry out further discussions".

Latvia also put off signing on Friday. Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have already delayed ratification.

International protests against the agreement are expected on Saturday.

Measures within Acta to tackle online piracy have proven particularly controversial.
***
more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16980451

[suffragette]

2. Looks like opposition to ACTA has been building -Saturday should be interesting there

http://news.yahoo.com/european-internet-campaigners-battle-acta-180052742.html




"I haven't seen such major demonstrations in Poland for 20 years," Warsaw sociologist Adam Ostolski told AFP.


~~~

The debate has been similar to that sparked in the United States over two draft laws, the Protect Intellectual Property Act and Stop Online Piracy Act -- better know by their acronyms PIPA and SOPA -- which led to blacked-out page protests by Wikipedia and other websites.

Governments have come under fire for signing ACTA -- which still needs parliamentary ratification in most countries to come into force -- after talks with record companies and commercial media but not with groups representing Internet users.

Critics say it gives copyright-holders too much clout, for example allowing them to force the closure of websites without the same level of proof as a court would demand.