ACTA Protests a Success, Germany Takes a Step Back

The global protests against the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Act (ACTA) seem to have left their mark on state leaders, the latest country to pull back being Germany.

 While they didn’t clearly state that they were against ACTA, German officials decided to postpone their decision on whether or not the agreement would be signed, waiting for the European Parliament to make the first move, ZDNet UK reports.

At the end of January, 22 states part of the European Union signed ACTA, but since none of them ratified the act they can proceed with caution, many of them being highly influenced by the mass protests that take place worldwide.

In the case of Germany, three political parties, the Pirate Party, the Left Party and the Greens, showed their disapproval towards ACTA, RT informs.

Even though 31 countries have already signed the agreement, none of them ratified it yet and without being ratified, the convention cannot come into force.

In Europe, Poland, the Czech Republic, Latvia and Slovakia have also delayed the ratification process and considering that street protests are scheduled to take place all over the world, it can be expected that other countries will soon follow their lead.

Since it was first proposed, ACTA has gone through a lot of changes, many parts being considerably modified to make it sound less draconian.

Although this don’t do much good for ACTA defenders, US President Barack Obama and the EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht are still trying to convince everyone that by enforcing the rights of copyright holders, the pact may be helpful to global economies.

Considering the fact that Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was indefinitely postponed after massive protests, it’s very likely that ACTA will have the same fate. If world leaders haven’t noticed by now that the citizens in their countries are displeased with the pact, today they’ll surely find out.
Source: Softpedia

Visitors

Free counters!

Translate

MauriHackerS - Providing Latest IT Security and Hacking News !