The European Commission has posted a response to one of the many questions raised by members of the European Parliament about ACTA.  The EC seeks to pacify the ACTA concerns by arguing that the treaty will be limited in scope and is targeted at commercial activities:

The Commission can inform the Honourable Member that the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) will be in line with the body of EU legislation, which fully respects fundamental rights and freedoms and civil liberties, such as the protection of personal data. This includes the Intellectual Property Rights' relevant aspects of the Telecoms package.

ACTA should not contain measures restricting end-users’ access to the internet that would not be appropriate, proportionate and necessary within a democratic society and without a prior, fair and impartial procedure.

It is the Commission's view that ACTA is about tackling large scale illegal activity, often pursued by criminal organisations, that is causing a devastating impact on growth and employment in Europe and may have serious risks to the health and safety of consumers. It is not about limiting civil liberties or harassing consumers.

The New York Times has a feature story on ACTA today that includes comments from an EU official rejecting a single solution to Internet issues as well as comments from a Swedish official calling for the release of the draft text.

The UK Digital Economy Bill is facing mounting criticism, as an influential group of MPs has expressed concern the bill may violate human rights.

Finnish Member of the European Parliament Heidi Hautala has added her voice to the concerns over ACTA, calling for greater transparency.

The British Library plans to make more than 65,000 19th century works of fiction available as free downloads for the public this spring.

Today, a press release was produced regarding the CRTC public hearing to consider the improvement of rural Internet access. See the original on OpenMedia.ca's website here or check it out below!

OpenMedia.ca in Favour of CRTC Hearing to Improve Rural Internet Access

Hearing to address Canada’s digital divide

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: February 5, 2010

read more

Hearing to address Canada’s digital divide

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: February 5, 2010

VANCOUVER (BC) – The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has called for a public hearing on October 25th, 2010, regarding the improvement of Internet access in rural areas. To this day, many of these areas are still using low-speed or dial-up Internet.

read more

A new south Australian law has been established. This law will prohibit bloggers and commenters from making political comments without leaving their name and number. If this law isn't obeyed, they will face up to $1,250 (AUS) worth of fines.

AdelaideNow, a site that allows forum discussion, is caught in the crossfire of this law. The website published an editorial article on Tuesday morning which stated:

read more

Faced with mounting criticism over ACTA secrecy, officials from both the U.S. and the EU are speaking out.  In a letter to the editor at the Financial Times, the USTR's Stanford McCoy rejects the transparency concerns, claiming:

"Far from keeping them secret, governments participating in these negotiations have sought public comments, released a summary of issues under discussion, and enhanced public engagement."

Meanwhile, an EU official told EurActiv.com that media reports have oversimplified ACTA and that information has been provided to the European Parliament "whenever possible."  The EU official declined to be named due to a non-disclosure agreement.


On the other hand, UK Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills David Lammy provided the House of Commons with his government's official position on ACTA secrecy:

It is current UK policy on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement to seek the agreement of our negotiating partners to publish the draft text. However, it is the practice in trade negotiations that working documents are not disclosed without the consent of all the negotiating parties. Not all parties currently agree to the release of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) draft text. My officials continue to press for greater transparency with our negotiating partners.

Not to be forgotten, Bridges Weekly reports on mounting concerns in the developing world over ACTA.  While an official from the Chamber of Commerce argues that it is not desirable to address ACTA issues at WIPO, a developing country trade diplomat acknowledges that the developing world will face pressure to adopt ACTA-like provisions and that the process sounds like "TRIPs-plus-plus-plus."

NDP MP Charlie Angus has launched a new Facebook group called ACTA: End the Secrecy.

Troy Media reports on possible discord in the Canada - European Union trade talks over the intellectual property chapter.

Nielsen Soundscan has just released the Canadian music sales figures for 2009.  Notwithstanding the regular claims that the Canadian digital music market cannot develop without copyright reform, the Canadian market grew faster than the U.S. market for the fourth consecutive year.  As the chart below demonstrates, digital music sales have grown faster in Canada than in the U.S. in every year since 2006:

Year
Canada
United States
2009
38%
8%
2008
58%
27%
2007
73%
45%
2006
122%
65%

While this does not suggest that the market is thriving - a down economy with more competition for the entertainment dollar it is a tough market - it does confirm yet again that attempts to link copyright reform to the development of a Canadian digital market are not borne out by the facts.  Indeed, Canada has consistently grown faster than the United States (from an admittedly lower starting point given that digital music stores arrived later in Canada). 


Moreover, as I pointed out last summer, the IFPI's global data further supports the conclusion that the Canadian digital music market is not the laggard that some would have the public believe.  As of last year, Canada's digital market stood 7th worldwide, while ranking 6th for all recorded music - in other words, about what you would expect.  Of the top 20 global markets for recorded music, the IFPI said that Canada ranked 5th for the percentage of digital sales. 

Indeed, digital music sales as a percentage of total sales in Canada is ahead of every major European country. The U.S. may lead Canada (though growing at a far slower rate), but the IFPI reported that Canada is ahead of France, Britain, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Portugal, and Russia.  Canada also leads countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and South Africa.  The global music market may be facing difficult times, but the industry's own data confirms that placing the blame on Canadian copyright laws is quite clearly misplaced.