PROTESTERS ACROSS EUROPE and the US are getting ready to take to the streets in protest against the overbearing Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).
ACTA does what no one in their right mind wants, it hands over the policing of copyright infringement to rights holders and threatens to censor web sites and cripple internet freedom.
Protests will be held across Europe on Saturday and in a cluster of locations in the US. The protests have the vocal support of the Pirate Party, and it will back protests in words and in physical attendance.
Protests will be held in Glasgow, London and Nottingham, Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, Belfast and Dublin, as well as in major cities across Europe.
"I hope to see many of my fellow citizens out next Saturday to demand that free speech and privacy online be eroded no further, and to let the political establishment know that they cannot simply bypass democracy like this without people noticing," said Pirate Party Scotland spokesperson Finlay Archibald.
Protest web site KillACTA is publishing a live map of protests that lets people check where and when they are happening.
"ACTA will let rightsholders use laughably inflated claims of damages (based on the disproven idea that every download or stream is a lost sale) to sue people. As if suing amazing artists, video makers and websites for millions wasn't hard enough!" warns internet rights group La Quadrature du Net.
"Trade agreements are a gaping loophole, a backdoor track that, even though it creates new law, is miles removed from democracy." µ
more on the rest of the world at bottom of post
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2145346/world-ready-acta-protests
