Secret copyright treaty leaks. It's bad. Very bad.
The internet chapter of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret copyright treaty whose text Obama's administration refused to disclose due to “national security” concerns, has leaked. It's bad. It says:
Context & Ripple Effects
The ACTA leak ends a period in which the treaty's internet provisions were largely opaque; March coverage of the White House's secrecy stance had already made disclosure a central issue. The same leak was circulated by the Electronic Frontier Foundation as containing three-strikes and global DMCA-style provisions, putting the proposed enforcement model into public view.
First-order effects
- ACTA negotiators face immediate scrutiny over internet rules that would affect copyright holders, internet providers and accused users, rather than only the treaty's stated anti-counterfeiting aims.
Second-order effects
- Three-strikes and DMCA-style provisions would place internet providers at the center of copyright enforcement, forcing them to assess the operational and legal burden of acting on rights-holder complaints.
Third-order effects
- If ACTA-style terms become a treaty template, copyright enforcement shifts toward cross-border rules that enlist network intermediaries as enforcement points rather than relying solely on direct action against alleged infringers.
The trend: Copyright policy is being negotiated through international agreements that can extend intermediary-based enforcement across national borders.