Among other things, ACTA creates international guidelines that mean consumers lose internet access if they are believed to be digital copyright scofflaws.
Internet service providers could lose “safe harbor' protection for failing to police their customers' digital content for copyright infringement violations. Such a move would heap copyright liability onto the ISP, and fundamentally alter U.S. copyright law.
The questions came weeks after leaked documents from the European Union suggested the United States was taking those positions on the accord's draft internet section.
According to leaked documents on WikiLeaks, the proposed treaty would require ISPs to terminate repeat copyright scofflaws, criminalize peer-to-peer file sharing, subject iPods to border searches and even interfere with the legitimate sale of brand-name pharmaceutical products.
The details of the latest ACTA language that will be negotiated in secret in South Korea January 25th.
The government initially declined to divulge who saw the proposed treaty, saying it would undermine the national security of the United States.
The agreement does not require congressional approval. |