[llreader]

EDIT: zerospinboson started a thread on this already.

Once again, seen on Ars Technica (they should give me a free subscription or something), a leaked version of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

Titled "Enforcement procedures in the digital environment," the brief document quickly hits the high points: Internet filtering (not allowed to be a requirement), "three strikes" policies (encouraged but not mandatory), takedown procedures (required), and ISP safe harbors (also required).

The ISP safe harbor bit requires that they implement some policies to police content on their networks.

The real kicker is that they want laws against bypassing DRM to be implemented everywhere as part of this agreement. This would include the sale of circumvention devices. Hellooooo Canada! .

In places like Europe, there's also huge concern about how these American-pushed policies would interact with existing privacy law. Just today, European Data Protection Supervisor Peter Hustinx issued an extraordinary opinion (PDF) in which he "regrets that he was not consulted by the European Commission on the content" of ACTA.

He goes on to say that Internet disconnections are "disproportionate" and "highly invasive in the individuals' private sphere. They entail the generalised monitoring of Internet users' activities, including perfectly lawful ones. They affect millions of law-abiding Internet users, including many children and adolescents. They are carried out by private parties, not by law enforcement authorities."

So, we living in Europe may not get reamed just yet. Gosh, that sounds swell. We will have to wait a few years to join the Great Corporate Collective.