So what do I think of the Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement – ACTA now ?

• Posted by Phil Stirpe
• on 01 February 2012

Today, my colleague Scott Hayes got in touch about the post I made yesterday. Scott has actually looked into the proposed laws a little more carefully than I had. Actually, I get by on hearsay and Wikipedia most times. Anyhow, in light of his insight, I have rethought and refined my opinion. Told you I would!

In yesterday's post I dwelt on the curbing of illegal activities such as file sharing sites which isn't in fact the thrust of the act at all (although it is one of the intended outcomes). As Scott pointed out, the act targets the ISPs and will prosecute them if they fail to prevent unlawful content being distributed/generated from/on their servers.

If the act comes into force, the ISPs will then have to self censor and that in turn will restrict the activities on the internet.

OK. Got it.

So what do I think now?

Scene one: Interior of Office. Acme Industrial Units ltd

Manager: Hand gestures towards chair at reception table as he himself sits.

" Welcome to AIU sir. How may I help?"

 

Customer: Sits in chair and places folder on desk .

" I would like to enquire about the availability of storage facilities. probably in the region of 5000 square feet but our needs do vary from time to time."

 

Manager: Opens own pad and begins taking notes.

"Well sir, we would have no difficulty accommodating your storage needs. We have a flexible storage system with moveable walls that allows us to charge you for just the space that you take up on a monthly basis."

 

Note: No more stage direction or this will take all day.

 

Customer: "That sounds good. What is access like? We expect to be moving large volumes of goods through our unit and expect high numbers of visitors throughout the day. 24/7 in fact."

 

Manager: "That's not a problem sir. We are open 24 hours a day 365 days a year and during peak hours we can provide additional doors and visitor bays. For a small charge of course."

 

Customer: "Sounds good."

 

Manager: "May I ask sir. What exactly is your line of business?"

 

Customer: "Oh we store copies of copyrighted material such as music, video, books. etc."

 

Manager: "And so you charge visitors a fee for looking at this material? I only ask because we could help with the billing if you wish. We supply that service to some of our clients such as Phoney Pharmaceuticals. They do a roaring trade."

 

Customer: "No. No. We let them take free copies. We provide appropriate duplicating equipment such as photocopiers, video cassette recorders and the like and let them get on with it."

 

Manager: "How on earth do you make any profit if you make no charge?"

 

Customer: "Oh well we have an arrangement with several other businesses such as Top Totty and we display their advertising material around the premises and on the duplicating equipment. We charge them for every time a visitor comes into contact with one."

 

Manager: "Ah Top Totty. Why, they are in this very building. They have been operating from here for several years. Now they get A LOT of Visitors!"

 

Customer: "Yes, I'd heard that they were based here. That's why we decided to make the move."

 

Manager: "Can we help with the copying and the advertising. We have the means to display the adverts in our AutoBoards around your space. You let us know what adverts you would like us to display on your behalf and we can take care of it. We can help with the reprographics too."

 

Customer: "Brilliant."

 

Manager: "In fact, all you will have to do is stock your shelves."

 

Customer: "Oh no. We don't do that. The visitors do."

 

Manager: "I'm sorry, I don't understand."

 

Customer: "It's simple. Many of the visitors come to us to leave something for others to share. We simply catalogue it and hey presto."

 

Manager: "Oh that's very clever. How do they come by the goods in the first place? Do they create it themselves?"

 

Customer: "Oh I doubt it. But it doesn't matter really. No-one asks too many questions if you know what I mean."

 

Manager: "Why no of course not."

 

Customer: "So just to be clear. You have no problem with us storing goods of questionable origin and permitting thousands of visitors to make potentially illegal copies whilst advertising other businesses of a dubious nature."

 

Manager: "Sir. Pay your bills on time and you can do what you like".

 

Customer: "Great. One final thing. If government agencies started making enquiries into my business and it's visitors, can I be assured of complete confidentiality?"

 

Manager: "Why sir, we pride ourselves on the utmost discretion."

 

Customer: "Where do I sign?"

ACTA? Bring it on.