[Infowarrior] - The ACTA Guide, Part One: The Talks To-Date

[Richard Forno]

The ACTA Guide, Part One: The Talks To-Date

The 7th round of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement negotiations  
begins tomorrow in Guadalajara, Mexico.  The negotiation round will be  
the longest to-date, with three and a half days planned to address  
civil enforcement, border measures, the Internet provisions, and (one  
hour for) transparency.  Over the next five days, I plan to post a  
five-part ACTA Guide that will include sourcing for much of the  
discussion on ACTA, links to all the leaked documents, information on  
the transparency issue, and a look at who has been speaking out.

I start today with a lengthy backgrounder for those new to ACTA or  
looking to catch up on recent developments.  There are several ways to  
get up-to-speed.  The recent Google-sponsored debate was very  
informative, particularly on the transparency issue.  There has been  
some helpful mainstream media coverage from the Washington Post  
(Copyright Overreach Takes a World Tour, Q & A on ACTA) and the Irish  
Times (Secret agreement may have poisonous effect on the net).  The  
Command Line ran a podcast on the topic last week and I've posted  
interviews on ACTA I did with Search Engine and CBC's As It Happens.   
Last last year I also created a timeline that tracks the evolution of  
ACTA and I gave a talk on ACTA last November that highlights the major  
developments in about 20 minutes (embedded below).

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http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/4725/125