Chamber: Acta protects jobs and investment

Robert Callus

Feb 22nd, 17:41

@E Schembri

I agree with you except for one thing. You seem to have the impression that the main benefactors of this draconian measures will be the "celebrities". The "intellectuals" if we're talking about Intellectual Property.

Hardly so.

In my early teens I used to dream to become a Rock Star so I bought a guitar and spend most of my pocket money on guitar magazines. There was already talk that we, little devils, were a threat because we lent casette tapes to each other and even dared to record them. The horror!

Yet, the established musicians writing advice articles on those magazines were not warning aspiring musicians of the threats the "pirates" posed to their art. Not at all! They were warning us of THE INDUSTRY ITSELF. Except for some Mick Jagger or Madonna, ones in a million who made it real big, the entertainment industry exploits the artists all the time. That the excessively high price we pay for the "property" is going to the "intellectual" is a myth. They just recieve a small fraction of the profit.

In reality, file sharing may have hurt Mick Jagger a little but it has also helped millions of Joe's next door whose talents would have otherwise remained undiscovered (unless they would have been willing to sell their soul to the industry, have the right connections and a lot of luck).


I still would have been ACTA if the intellectual was being treated fairly because it's still a draconian measure. However I must admit that if it was the case I would have been less cold and sceptic on it. Unfortunately it isn't the case.

Emmanuel Carabott

Feb 22nd, 15:40

I cannot figure out how we keep hearing claims that Acta will not require new laws. An integral part of Acta is that it requires member countries to ensure laws against anti-circumvention of protection mechanism, laws which currently do not exist and if created would make plenty of legal activities illegal such as:

Copy a legally bought DVD to a Tablet
Any Linux based DVD Player
Jail Breaking of mobile Phone to work with a different provider / using a different OS

Also Certain activities which the IT industry depends on might also become illegal depending how such an anti-circumvention law gets implemented. Activities which the IT industry does that breaks protection mechanisms include:
Reverse engineering of Malware to create Anti-Virus Software
Reverse Engineering of Software for the purpose of Interoperability. Most free software would become impossible to use as it would no longer be compatible with expensive proprietary software that are industry standards. This will definitely increase costs for the local businesses.

Also I would really love if Malta's chamber of commerce can point out how Acta will protect Jobs and Investments if like it says this agreement doesn't really introduce any new laws? How specifically will it do this?

The only thing I see ACTA doing personally is making people break the law or paying multiple times for the same content! You bought a DVD, thats paying once and then if you want to watch it on your tablet you have no choice but either buy it again in a format that you can play on your tablet or obviously you could break the law by copying it yourself either cause you mistakenly believe you're allowed to do it or because you believe its unfair to pay twice for the same thing. In the long run as tablets become more popular Either people will stop buying DVDs and just buy digital copies thus hurting local businesses who aren't allowed to sell digital files (bet thats not what Malta chamber of commerce really wants) or people will simply decide that since they're breaking the law anyway might as well they save the money from buying it in the first place.

I honestly cannot figure out anyway in which Acta would protect Maltese businesses, far from it, it can only increase costs and promote more piracy. Copyright infringement is already illegal, introducing new laws will not change that. There is a very good saying which says if you make guns illegal only outlaws will carry guns. Introducing legislation that makes circumvention illegal will only hurt legitimate customers, whoever doesnt mind breaking copyright law will not be deterred by new laws because they're already breaking the law as it is! legitimate customers will however suffer as they will lose some of their current rights.

Steve Demicoli

Feb 22nd, 14:51

ACTA protects the BIG FAT pockets of big businesses. If they're concerned let them take other big businesses (ex advertisers) to court rather than bully the general public!

James Dimech

Feb 22nd, 14:24

heqq kif ser ibengilha Joey Muscat issa ? Dak diga rikeb il-karru tal-anti-ACTA

John Zammit

Feb 22nd, 14:10

while I agree that property rights shoud be observed I don't want a secret policman behind my back

Geoffrey Farrugia

Feb 22nd, 13:59

Within the European Commission itself there are dissenting opinions about ACTA. A number of countries in Europe, one of which is Germany, have declared that they are not ready to ratify the law as is now.

There are many interests involved, most of which are US ones. What is indeed funny is that USA was one of the first countries if not the first to sign for ACTA, but the same country still offers a lot of resistance when it comes to implement environmental laws!

Mr ALBERT LEONE GANADO

Feb 22nd, 13:38

ACTA should be opposed by the whole European civil society. It sets a dangerous precedent in control of the internet and sources of knowledge which form the the natural cerebral heritage of mankind. All major NGO's who have contributed to creating the Web and the modern information society are against it.
ACTA was formulated by an elite restricted pluliiateral group of countries driven by US corporate interests who aimed to protect their immediate commercial interests against those of the ordinary citizens and developing nations. It stifles innovation, disadvantages students and freezes business models which are continuously changing because of the nature of high-tech and the internet. It is ethically grossly unfair and unbalanced because it favours corporate multi nationals to the detriment of the community and freedom of expression. The worst danger is eventual legal creep in interpretation as high profile corporate lawyers abuse it and thusl stifle freedom of expression. For the first time in history media, communication channels and knowledge are no he longer dominated and controlled by state organisations. Many countries for all sorts of reasons are unhappy with their loss of control over people's minds.
The World trade organisation had already established a mulilateral agreement (TRIPS) in 94 uruguay meeting which was further updated in 2005 in DOHA for intellectual property rights to which a large group of countries both developed and developing subscribed . Although criticised it was transparent and multi-lateral and should have served as a basis for further refinement where needed Local defenders of ACTA state that the contents of ACTA are already covered and incorporated in our legislation. What they do not say is that some of the worst aspects of IPR legislation has been imposed on us through bilateral agreements .
I have high hopes that when the EU parliament fully comprehends the regressive aspects of ACTA and realize it is against EU citizen interests Ithey will oppose it. Hopefully the example of the EU rapporteur on ACTA who called it a charade and resigned will set an example for all the other MEPs.
Latvia, Poland and the Czech republic have already declared they oppose it, Germany said they will delay ratification and the list of world countries which oppose it keeps growing.
I urge the local civil society to write to the European MEPs expressing their disapproval of this rushed ACTA agreement and demandi they reject it.

Chris Borg

Feb 22nd, 13:20

Malta Chamber of Commerce is protecting big companies and corporate interests. Acta is not needed in Malta and can't be accepted simply because it was negotiated behind our backs. If it hadn't been leaked, none of us would know about it.

ACTA is an treaty which was agreed upon in an undemocratic way, so NO, I don't support it.(That's just one reason not to support acta)

Ramon Casha

Feb 22nd, 13:05

It appears that the Malta Chamber of Commerce has turned against Maltese business interests. Acta is one of the biggest threats to Maltese business in decades.

E Schembri

Feb 22nd, 12:57

It is true no additional legislation will be added at the EU level, but the biggest and most dangerous factor of ACTA is that the responsibility of curbing piracy is going to be shifted to the ISP's, who are private entities with their private interests on the front line.

Therefore any user who is suspected to be publishing illegal content BY THE ISP, will be disconnected instantly, without any detailed investigations, court warrants or warnings.
No ISP is going to invest in manpower and hardware to scrutinize every possible breach of ACTA as no profits are derived from such activity. Therefore, to be on the safe side, ISP's will simply disconnect suspicious users on a daily basis. And if the user complains, the ISP will use the ACTA excuse to get away with everything.

Without ACTA, there are legal procedures, including court warrants and trained forensic personnel to carry out this job and protect copyrighted content, thus ensuring protection of the users rights too.

With ACTA, this will all be gone and ISP's will have an open ticket to check and monitor your content and disconnect you with the click of button if you look suspicious in one way or another.

Also, as Mr Bailey said, the 'big losses' they are crying about are based on the assumption that every pirate download would have resulted in a sale. This is far from true, but organizations like the RIAA want us to believe this to protect their luxury lifestyles, yachts and villas.

John Micallef

Feb 22nd, 12:05

Funny how the Chambers spoke in favour of this... can it be because the members of the board are the only one who would gain from this treaty? Considering that the president himself is none other than Tancred Tabone the owner of forestals? Deputy president is Stefano Mallia who is senior advisor on Regional Policy to Dr. Simon Busuttil MEP.... Next?

Paul Barrett

Feb 22nd, 12:01

Basically the idea is to have ISPs monitor your Internet and produce evidence should you inadvertently download anything with a copyright for individual prosecutions. The industry belief is that people would buy their stuff when in reality they would not bother if it was not available for free (if you discount the very expensive fees for Internet connection).

David Bailey

Feb 22nd, 11:58

Media and entertainment companies should start embracing new technologies and distribution methods instead of refusing to change their business models and trying to push for more restrictive legislation that infringe on our online rights. That's how new jobs are created, through innovation and investment. ACTA will actually make it harder for innovators because it favours existing big business.

As for the "losses" reported by many companies due to piracy, they are overly exaggerated as they assume that every single piece of software/music/movie pirated could have resulted in an actual purchase.. as if!