Intellectual Property Law

European ACTA Negotiators Reject "Three Strikes" Moniker

By Kodi

Seething Danes were seen stomping out of the ACTA negotiation chambers in Wellington, New Zealand, citing frustration with the United States negotiators' continued pushing of "three strikes" proposals.

"ACTA is an international agreement," fumed negotiator Olaf Atdis. "It's absurd for the United States to continue demanding a baseball analogy when a football analogy would be much more representative of the diversity of the negotiating countries."

"Three strikes" laws and policies require Internet service providers to automatically disconnect their Internet users on repeat allegations of copyright infringement by entertainment company complaints, but EU negotiators reportedly prefer a "carding" system. ISPs that receive complaints would issue "yellow cards" and "red cards," tracking the official penalty system of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).

EFF spoke out against both naming conventions. "These sports analogies are antithetical to the spirit of the open Internet," argued EFF International Director Gwen Hinze. "The Internet is much more like the Force, which as Obi-Wan taught us all, 'surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.' Evil Sith-Imperial complaints should not result in an individual being severed from the Force. That's clearly preposterous."

Full post as published by Electronic Freedom Foundation - Deep Links on April 01, 2010 (boomark / email).