Well written. No objections from my end!
K On 07 Feb 2012, at 11:48, Ramon Casha wrote: > The Malta Anti-ACTA Group has prepared a press release which should be sent > to the press TODAY, and are asking whether MLUG would like to be included in > this PR. > > This has not gone out to press yet, but it has to go out soon. Are there any > objections? If everyone is ok with this I'll tell them to go ahead. > > --- > > The Malta Anti-Acta Group (MAAG) would like to inform the general public of > its reasons for opposing > the Acta Treaty. It would also like to announce a public protest to be held > on Saturday 11 February at > 11am, City Gate Valletta. Various organisations, including Moviment > Graffitti, Alternattiva Demokratika > Zghazagh, Front Kontra c-Censura, Forum Zghazagh Laburisti, Kunsill Studenti > Junior College, Malta > Alliance for Freedom, ir-Realtá Collective, MOVE Progressive Students and > Pulse, support and will be > attending the demonstration. > > The Acta Treaty has been negotiated behind closed doors without engaging > public debate and has > suffered from numerous problems of transparency. This treaty establishes a > committee which operates > outside the normal framework of the World Trade Organisation and which has > powers to amend the > treaty itself in a way which potentially circumvents the normal democratic > process. > > The MAAG is worried that this treaty would result in disproportionate actions > against intellectual > property rights infringement becoming the norm. The ambiguous nature of the > treaty also makes the > measures introduced for protecting intellectual property rights liable to > abuse. > > In particular, the implementation of these measures can have a detrimental > effect on the rights to > privacy of individuals, forcing ISPs to reveal personal information about > alleged infringers. The treaty > also paves the way for courts to consider ordering compensation for > infringements consisting of > amounts based on questionable criteria defined arbitrarily by rights holders > themselves. > > The ambiguous language used in ACTA also puts generic medicine at the risk of > being targeted unjustly > as a counterfeit product, stopping the distribution of essential medicines to > those who require them > most. This is further aggravated by the border control provisions in the > treaty, which would also allow > for the interruption of the transit of these medicines between two > non-signatory countries whenever > they pass through a signatory country. > > For these reasons MAAG is urging the public to attend the protest on Saturday > to express its concern > regarding a treaty which poses a threat to democratic processes, right to > privacy, Freedom of Expression > and medicinal distribution. > > Reuben Zammit > > Tel: 79091379 > _______________________________________________ > MLUG-list mailing list > [email protected] > http://linux.org.mt/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mlug-list _______________________________________________ MLUG-list mailing list [email protected] http://linux.org.mt/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mlug-list
