The momentum for ACTA appears to be dying as more and more European entities and officials reject that particular form of Internet regulation for the sake of protecting copyrights and intellectual properties. Recently, the Netherlands joined in on the anti-ACTA fray, and even though the move was scoffed at by certain parties within the Dutch government, the fact remains, ACTA rejection is alive and well in Europe for whatever reason.
Now, you can add entities within the European Parliament to the list of those rejecting the ACTA treaty.
According to a report in ArsTechnica, the European Parliament’s industry committee, civil liberties committee, and the legal affairs committee rejected ACTA, but apparently, that’s not the final word. The report reveals that the trade committee must also offer its opinion on the treaty, and we’re stil waiting on the European Parliament as a whole to offer its postion. That being said, considering how many entities have already spoken out against ACTA, it’s hard to see these positions being ignored.
Furthermore, when you couple the committees’ rejection with David Martin’s, who serves as the Data Protection Supervisor for the EU, it’s hard to see ACTA living a long and prosperous life. The ArsTechnica article also points to a blog post by Rick Falkvinge, founder of the Pirate Party, who says he won’t celebrate until ACTA is defeated by the European Parliament as a whole:
They all voted to recommend rejection of ACTA, and therefore, effectively recommend that the European Parliament kill it dead. But this all happened with very narrow margins, defying an onslaught of procedural tricks and attempts of delaying, so the game is far from over.
He also provides a schedule of where ACTA goes from here:
Next, the DEVE committee – (Third World) Development – votes on ACTA on June 4. The INTA (International Trademark Association) committee’s vote, the final step before the main vote, happens on June 21. Then, the European Parliament as a whole votes early July – presumably 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th. That’s the end-of-level boss fight.
While the latest round of ACTA rejections should be acknowledged and praised, the fight against it is not over yet.