For nearly two years now, DailyTech has been covering the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), a secret treaty masterminded by the U.S. government at the behest of media copyright protection organization.

The treaty has many alarming terms -- warrantless border search and seizures of suspected infringed content, government internet monitoring, and more. More alarming is the fact that the U.S. government, of the nations involved, was perhaps the most vocal in demanding that the treaty be kept secret from citizens worldwide.

One of the more alarming portions of the draft is its provision of "imminent infringement". According to the draft, copyright holders can demand legal action, claiming infringement is "imminent" -- even if it hasn't occurred yet. In essence this is creating the infringement form of thought-crime.

All of these provisions will be effectively funded by taxpayer dollars of the member states.

As mentioned, the bill will be finalized later this year, so this is the one and only time for citizens to voice their opinions on it before it becomes law in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=18183