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USTR: No Mandatory Three Strikes in ACTA

By Michael Geist

Public Knowledge features a post describing a response from the USTR on its position on ACTA.  When asked about whether the U.S. was seeking mandatory filtering or three strikes, Stan McCoy of the USTR responded:

Mandatory filtering by ISPs would go beyond existing U.S. law, as would a mandatory 'three strikes' approach to termination of repeat infringers. The U.S. Government is not seeking these or any other obligations that would go beyond U.S. law in the ACTA.

As the post rightly notes, this doesn't tell the whole story.  First, I do not recall any reports that ACTA contained mandatory filtering requirements, so that is not news.  Second, the discussion on three strikes in ACTA noted that the treaty opened the door to three strikes by ratching up third party liability.  That approach is still consistent with McCoy's assurance of no mandatory three strikes, yet may lead to the same place.  Third, from a Canadian perspective, the substantive concerns with ACTA have never been limited to three strikes - from anti-circumvention rules to notice-and-takedown, the treaty is filled with provisions that would require changes to Canadian law.

Full post as published by Michael Geist on February 11, 2010 (boomark / email).