More on Canada's new counterfeiting bill: ACTA 'through the back door'?

This month, the Council of Canadians put out a media release on Harper's new anti-counterfeiting legislation (Bill C-56), asking why Canada would kowtow to the U.S. or EU on this issue considering how much global opposition there is to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. Only one of the 11 countries to sign ACTA has ratified (Japan) and it was declared dead last summer when the European Parliament voted against it.

"Is Bill C-56 not simply a way to support ACTA through the back door?" asked NDP MP Charmaine Borg in the House of Commons on March 4. Industry Minister Christian Paradis replied that the legislation is necessary to keep Canadians safe from counterfeit goods crossing the border, and that the legislation needed modernizing. But is it necessary or is it excessive? Reports over the past weeks explain the proposed copyright enforcement changes in more detail.

What's Fake about Canada's Anti-Counterfeiting Bill

With only limited fanfare, earlier this month Industry Minister Christian Paradis introduced Bill C-56, the Combating Counterfeit Products Act. Since no one supports counterfeit products -- there are legitimate concerns associated with health and safety -- measures designed to address the issue would presumably enjoy public and all-party support. Yet within days of its introduction, the bill was the target of attacks from both opposition parties and the public.

The NDP raised the issue during Question Period in the House of Commons, accusing the government of trying to implement the widely discredited Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) "through the backdoor." The public also picked up on the issue, noting that the bill appears to be less about protecting Canadians and more about caving to U.S. pressure (the U.S. called on Canada to implement ACTA on the same day the bill was tabled).

Bill C-56: Critics Say Canada Folding To U.S. Demands In Resurrecting ACTA

The Harper government has introduced a bill to bring Canadian law in line with a controversial copyright treaty that many critics thought was dead.

Critics fear the bill and the treaty it’s meant to enforce will turn Canadian customs officers into de facto enforcers of copyright law, empowered to seize suspected copyright-infringing materials without judicial oversight.

Anonymous Protests ACTA, Attacks FTC And Other U.S. Agencies' Sites

LONDON -- Opponents of a controversial global copyright treaty counted three victories Friday as American government websites were hacked and the Eastern European nations of Poland and Slovenia distanced themselves from the deal.

Sites belonging to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the National Consumer Protection Week were vandalized by Anonymous, a loose collection of cyber rebels who have helped lead the charge against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA.

The hackers replaced the sites with profanity-laced statements and a violent German-language video satirizing the treaty.

At the same time, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday the country was abandoning plans to ratify the deal. He said he now sees his earlier support for ACTA as a mistake. "I was wrong," he said at a news conference.

ACTA: Protesters Gather Across Europe To Decry Internet Freedom Threat

WARSAW, Poland - Protesters took to the freezing cold streets of Berlin, Helsinki and many other European cities Saturday to voice anger at an international copyright treaty they fear will lead to censorship and a loss of privacy on the Internet.

The rallies across the continent underline how opposition to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, has spread quickly since a first groundswell of opposition emerged last month in Poland.

"We have the protests in Poland to thank above all for what is happening in Europe and worldwide at the moment," said Tillmann Mueller-Kuckelberg, an organizer at a protest in Berlin.

"A lot of people in other European countries woke up then, and we hope worldwide that the protests will lead to the ACTA agreement being stopped."

ACTA has been under negotiation for years and has already been signed by a number of industrialized countries, including the United States, South Korea and Japan. Its drafters say it is needed to harmonize international standards to protect the rights of those who produce music, movies, pharmaceuticals, fashion, and a range of other products that often fall victim to piracy and intellectual property theft.

ACTA Copyright Treaty Sparks Protests In Latest Anti-Piracy Battle

In the United States, a massive Internet protest last week led by Wikipedia and Google drove congressional leaders to place controversial anti-piracy legislation on hold.

But in other parts of the world, another proposal to increase copyright enforcement is gaining momentum, despite protests from opponents concerned about Internet censorship.

On Thursday, the European Union and 22 of its member states signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA -- a major step toward enforcement of the copyright treaty. Eight countries, including the United States, had signed the agreement this past fall.

ACTA has always been controversial because the international negotiations that began in 2007 took place in secret. But now, opponents of the treaty have developed new muscle after witnessing the success of the Internet outcry against the two U.S. bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA).