Governments Working on a Treaty to Search Citizens’ PCs in the Name of Copyright?
By Alexander Grundner |
March 30th, 2009
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Something scary is going on that has a lot of privacy advocates and consumer watchdog groups a little worried. It turns out that the Obama administration, in cooperation with other foreign governments and entertainment industry representatives, are negotiating the details of a controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement [PDF] in secret and under the veil of “national security”. Some of the early leaks suggest that the proposed trade agreement would “criminalize peer-to-peer file sharing, subject iPods to border searches and allow internet service providers to monitor their customers’ communications,” writes Wired.com. Russian TV broadcaster, Russia Today, even goes so far to say that governments may seek to reserve the right to search/scan people’s computers without permission or just cause. It’s all too Orwellian… but not that surprising considering the RIAA and BSA’s favorite lawyers have taken top Department of Justice posts in the Obama administration recently. I guess we’ll have to see if the treaty turns out to be as pernicious as many think it will be.
Further coverage: Techdirt, CNET News, Wired.com, Russia Today, News Search @ Google.com
Tags: Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, Copyright, File Sharing, Peer-to-Peer, Privacy
Filed in: Industry Buzz