Members of the Polish parliament are not taking the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) lying down.
They’ve protested by appearing in parliament, holding cut-outs of the notorious Guy Fawkes mask in front of their faces in an obvious tribute to the hacktivist group known as Anonymous.
Unfortunately for Poland, most members of the the European Union signed up with ACTA yesterday, the first major step towards ratification.
ACTA, SOPA’s bigger meaner brother, was already signed by South Korea, Canada, and the U.S. in October of last year.
It is basically an international agreement that pledges not to change any laws, but rather establishes new rules that pave the way for governmental crackdowns on counterfeited goods. It also affects the internet and pirated material like movies and music.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, U.S. Congressman Darrell Issa says ACTA is much more dangerous than SOPA because lawmakers can’t do anything to change it once enforced.
“It’s not coming to me for a vote,” he said. “It purports that it does not change existing laws, but once implemented, it creates a whole new enforcement system and will virtually tie the hands of Congress to undo it.”
Check out the protest photo below.
Related articles
- Polish MPs wear Guy Fawkes masks to protest ACTA (boingboing.net)
- Poland’s politicians don Anonymous-style Guy Fawkes masks in anti-piracy protest (slashgear.com)
- Thousands wage war against ACTAck on Internet (rt.com)
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