
Poles Take anti-ACTA Protests to the Streets - llambda
http://torrentfreak.com/poles-take-anti-acta-protests-to-the-streets-120126/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
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sp332
I thought I should surface this comment by "sado" from that page:

 _Also, the statement “We must sign ACTA and not give in to blackmail" was
taken out of context (the context: Anonymous, who DDOSed Polish govt sites,
threatened to release personal data of minister Boni and to DDOS moar, if
Polish govt signs the ACTA... that could be called "blackmail")._

~~~
JumpCrisscross
Does Anonymous's association net help or hurt the anti-ACTA position? And
historically, did it help or hurt anti-SOPA/PIPA?

I generally took what they do as being emotionally gratifying but having zero
real impact, but by giving the un-informed but not necessarily malicious (and
potentially the intentionally malevolent spinsters) an easy way to justify
onerous regulation, I think they may be hurting the causes they ostensibly
back in the long-run.

~~~
tszyn
It's hard to say what the net effect is. It's true that such attacks give the
government an effective, if fallacious, argument: "we cannot give in to
blackmail". On the other hand, large-scale media coverage started only after
the Anonymous hacked the government websites. Before the attacks, the Polish
media were not interested in ACTA. This in turn helped mobilize politicians
from opposition parties and, I think, also the protesters.

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denysonique
I am lucky to be right now in Poland visiting my GF. I took a some videos of
todays ACTA protest in Poznan. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLSSUV4P_d4>
More videos will appear on my YouTube channel

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click170
3 cheers for the Polish people for standing up for yourselves! A diminishing
quality in today's society.

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zalew
looks like ACTA's potential enforcement on ISPs to implement content filtering
can't be applied in EU countries that adopted
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_of_Fundamental_Rights_o...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_of_Fundamental_Rights_of_the_European_Union)

Can't find an English source: <http://goo.gl/sVQUN> (translated from Polish)

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pfraze
I read a summary that a redditor wrote maybe... a week back. It didn't seem
that bad. What's the controversy?

~~~
tszyn
It fossilizes a framework of copyright laws that was created before the
Internet. Each country that signs ACTA commits itself to preserving the
existing system of intellectual property protection, which many consider to be
antiquated and out of touch with the digital world. It ensures that no
alternative ideas for managing intellectual property will arise in those
countries, which is of course the goal of the United States government and the
rightsholders that lobbied for this treaty.

In addition to limiting the flexibility of individual countries without giving
them anything in return (other than a pat on the back from Uncle Sam), ACTA
contains a number of vague provisions that could lead to more stringent IP
regulations. For example:

"ordering the alleged infringer (...) to provide information on any persons
(...) involved in any aspect of the infringement" (notice the broad scope)

"endeavoring to promote cooperative efforts within the business community to
effectively address trademark and copyright or related rights infringement"
("encouraging" ISPs to "voluntarily" cut off users?).

ACTA also contains provisions that go beyond what is currently law in many of
the countries that are about to sign it. For example, it introduces broader
anti-circumvention laws that are currently in effect in Poland. It also
provides that prosecutors must be able to act out of their own initiative (ex
officio) on copyright cases -- even if the rightsholder does not complain.

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hastur
Third night of protests in progress.

Some photos and vids from what's happening right now in the city of Poznan:
[http://www.tvn24.pl/0,1732237,0,1,lublin-i-poznan-kolejny-
dz...](http://www.tvn24.pl/0,1732237,0,1,lublin-i-poznan-kolejny-dzien-
protestow-przeciw-acta,wiadomosc.html)

And a fun nugget: members of parliament displaying Guy Fawkes masks in the
Parliament: [http://www.tvn24.pl/0,2497368,0,0,1,1,,poslowie-palikota-
w-s...](http://www.tvn24.pl/0,2497368,0,0,1,1,,poslowie-palikota-w-sejmie-
pap,galeriamax.html) Note: these are just the MPs from the populist party Ruch
Palikota. Clearly trying to win some votes of the protesting youth,

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hastur
You can read more about the Polish eruption here:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3502200>

And here's some more footage from the protests:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3511980>

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rgrieselhuber
At the end of the day, Poland is highly dependent on support from the US, as
they are positioned between Russia and Germany.

~~~
NinetyNine
How is this an issue in this day and age?

~~~
hastur
Poland is in NATO so the threat from Russia is vastly overestimated.

Poland is also a great friend of Germany.

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test1663
Protests are big in Poland because they are very poor and 90% of people
downloads everything from the Internet. Deleting Pirate Bay, Rapidshare.
Youtube and Megaupload would stop most people from accessing any cultural
goods: music, films, software.

Unlike India etc, average Pole has enough money for good PC or notebook and
good internet connection, but not yet enough to pay for software.

Nobody uses Steam or Itunes, paying for software is just laughable. Except for
businesses - they must be legal.

~~~
adambyrtek
I'm sorry, but this is just a load of bullshit. GDP per capita in Poland is
46th in the world (comparing to 127th position of India), it has one of the
fastest growing economies in Europe, and one of few that were immune to the
recent economic crisis. If you want more information, you can find it on the
web[1].

It's true that in the early nineties, just after the fall of communist regime,
intellectual property wasn't regulated and piracy was sprawling, but a lot has
changed since then.

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Poland>

~~~
test1663
Yes, I said enough money for good hardware but not for software.

Why nobody uses Iphone, Xbox, Playstation, Gamecube in Poland? Because it is
hard to jailbreak and pirate.

I know someone who bought Mac from UK. Disk wasn't erased, there were hundreds
of mp3s in Itunes and some apps. And we all thought it is a computer from an
abosolutely crazy richman.

~~~
kisielk
That's plain BS. When I was in Warsaw in December and iPhones were everywhere.
During the holiday season I saw tons of people buying legitimate non-pirated
music, movies, and games at stores like EMPIK. In fact after the new year when
I went to buy some albums it was hard to sort through what was left on the
shelves because so much of the stock had been cleared out and made a mess of
in the holiday buying rush. It's true that a lot of people in Poland may be
income limited due to low wages, but I think making it seem like everyone
there pirates everything because that's the only way to get it is totally
wrong.

