RIAA, MPAA, ACTA: Oh, my!

It's been an interesting few days. First, the full text of the working ACTA treaty is to be released on the 21st. All of the countries attending the conference in New Zealand were in favor of its release, saying that earlier release was premature. It has been leaked massively and those unofficial copies were not at all friendly to personal digital rights. Allegedly the forthcoming release will not include border searches of electronic equipment and USB flash drives, we'll see what it contains soon enough.

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/regulation/2010/04/16/acta-copyright-enforcement-treaty-to-go-public-40088663/?tag=mncol;txt

http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/04/17/0050203/ACTA-Draft-To-Be-Made-Public-Next-Week


There's always fun in ??AA land! The entertainment industry submitted a wish list in response to "Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator's request for comments on the forthcoming "Joint Strategic Plan" for intellectual property enforcement." Included in the list:

"Anti-infringement" software for home computers
Pervasive copyright filtering
Intimidate and propagandize travelers at the border
Bully countries that have tech-friendly policies (such as Canada, the vile den of sinners!)
Federal agents working on Hollywood's clock

Yes, they want armed Federal DOJ and DHS officers protecting Independence Day 2.

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/04/entertainment-industrys-dystopia-future (you might need to scroll down a bit to get to the article text, it displays a lot of white space on my Mac in the latest Firefox)

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/RIAA-MPAA-Illegal-downloads-Torrent,news-6496.html

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/04/17/1211205/Media-Industry-Wants-Mandated-Spyware-and-More?art_pos=28