t-time

This is what happens when you allow corporations to make policy and the bastards are too greedy and stupid to revive or replace a dying business model. Should this become law, and there is no guarantee it won’t, then my movie, music buying days are done. Hell I don’t even buy (or download) music now as it is. I listen to free internet radio instead.

Documents passed to Wikileaks have revealed the extent of an international copyright treaty being formulated by the US, EU, Canada, Japan and Australia.

The Proposed US ACTA multi-lateral intellectual property trade agreement (2007) could see customs officers checking media players for pirated material.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is not yet in force, but is aimed at cutting down on the distribution of unlicensed material.

The proposed treaty would remove the current distinction under many national laws between people who profit from intellectual property theft and those who do not. This would mean that sites offering BitTorrent feeds, for example, could be prosecuted even if they do not profit from the material.

More worryingly, the treaty suggests that customs officers should be given the right to search laptops and media players for pirated material.