ACTA ist Teil einer Jahrzehnte andauernden, weltweiten Copyright-Kampagne

Ars Technica hat mit Michael Geist von der Universität von Ottawa gesprochen. Michael Geist ist ohne Zweifel einer der wichtigsten Experten, was ACTA betrifft. Er hatte unter anderem die verschiedenen, geleakten ACTA-Versionen eingeordnet und kommentiert und den Verhandlungsverlauf von ACTA in seinem Blog von Anfang an begleitet.

ACTA is part of a multi-decade, worldwide copyright campaign:

Countries have been negotiating international copyright treaties for more than a century, but the passage of two treaties in the 1990s represented a turning point in international copyright law.

The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement, signed in 1994, made protection of copyrights a requirement of membership in the World Trade Organization. Countries that failed to meet international copyright standards could face trade sanctions. The 1996 World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty further ratcheted up the minimum requirements for copyright protection—requiring, for example, that signing countries regulate the circumvention of digital rights management schemes.

Selbst die WIPO ist irgendwann zu offen für die USA und ihre Lobbyisten geworden, um ihre Vorstellungen eines globalen restriktiven Copyrightstandards durchzusetzen.

ACTA sollte deshalb abseits der WIPO komplett in Hinterzimmern ausgehandelt werden:

In contrast to the relatively open WIPO process, ACTA was negotiated in secret by a relatively small number of mostly wealthy countries. The developing nations who would be the most likely to object weren’t invited to participate. The plan was to present the finished treaty to the world on a „take it or leave it“ basis.

Leaks und Proteste haben das Unterschreiben von ACTA zumindest verlangsamt.

Von einem Ende kann aber weder bei ACTA noch bei der internationalen Kampagne, von der ACTA ein Teil ist, die Rede sein. Ganz im Gegenteil:

Geist believes that the interests behind SOPA and ACTA are likely to view recent defeats as temporary setbacks. „They’re not playing for next year,“ he said. „They’re playing for 10 years and 20 years in the future.“

He said that reformers can resist their agenda, but only if they play the same „long game“ as their opponents. Ordinarily, the most important thing a citizen of a democracy can do to stop bad public policies is to call their legislators. But in this case, most of the action is occurring in international organizations where individual legislators have little influence.

To fight agreements like ACTA requires organizations with the sophistication and resources to navigate the complex world of international diplomacy. Geist pointed to Knowledge Ecology International, Public Knowledge, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation as examples of organizations with a track record of resisting the drive toward ever-stronger copyright protection.These organizations are „WIPO regulars“ well positioned to stay in the trenches and ensure the public interest is well-represented regardless of the venue. Geist said that donating to these organizations is the most effective way for ordinary voters to help resist the worldwide trend toward ever-more-extreme copyright laws.

(Hervorhebungen von mir)

Zu den Problemen mit ACTA, TRIPS und anderen internationalen Abkommen hatte ich bereits etwas geschrieben.