ACTA in Malta

As the rest of us frenzied on Franco Debono and the no confidence vote, something eerie was going on, something which will effect how each and every one of us will be able to use the internet – ACTA.

On Thursday, Malta together with the other European member states approved an international copyright agreement treaty called Acta (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement). ACTA is disguised as an agreement which will safeguard intellectual property rights. The truth however, is that such laws on copyright are already in place. ACTA will curb freedom of expression, endanger your communication privacy and restrict your civil and digital rights. With this agreement, copyright holders will be able to bypass the court system and go directly to your internet service provider.

This means, no trial, no representation.

So while a couple of weeks ago we were patting ourselves in the back because Malta had just revamped its censorship laws, we completely missed the bandwagon on this. Want to stay organized locally? Groups, pages and events have already been set up on Facebook.

Protest against ACTA - https://www.facebook.com/events/372841852732565/

Malta Anti-ACTA group - http://www.facebook.com/groups/284478734946368/285495728178002/?notif_t=group_activity

via the San Francisco Examiner

Read more about ACTA here; http://youranonnews.tumblr.com/post/16257654698/acta-in-a-nutshell-what-is-acta-acta-is-the

More action can be taken by whoever disagrees with ACTA can do so officially by sending the following email to the following individuals that represent you. These of course are Maltese MEP’s so if you’re not a maltese citizen simply find the MEP’s representing you and send then an e-mail -
edward.scicluna@europarl.europa.eu
louis.grech@europarl.europa.eu
joseph.cuschieri@europarl.europa.eu
david.casa@europarl.europa.eu
simon.busuttil@europarl.europa.eu
john.attard-montalto@europarl.europa.eu.

Please note that Simon Busuttil and David Casa had voted against looking into the major concerns with regards to ACTA.