ACTA passed one of the several voting gates it needs to get through before becoming law.
It was ratified in Poland last night. This was the scene at Polish parliament afterwards, as (presumably) a bloc of anti-ACTA politicians expressed their displeasure and, perhaps without knowing it, foretell of the Anonymous repercussions to this bill.
Some things you should know:
- Online petitions are meaningless. While they are well-intentioned and organized, the signing of a digital petition takes about twenty seconds, and does not require that you leave your beanbag chair in the coal cellar. Politicians know this, and pay just as much attention to online petitions as is warranted by a “political action” that is literally less strenuous than leaving a YouTube comment.
- Nothing except direct action is going to do a goddamn thing. This means getting out in the street, it means DDoSing, it means vicious and widespread boycotts, site blackouts, and other strongarm tactics that actually impact the flow of money from corporations to lobbyists to politicians. How do you, as a tiny flailing consumer, do this? You can’t, really. You can join up with groups that are intent on doing actions that actually mean something, adding your voice to a chorus of hundreds or thousands, instead of screaming alone. You can contact celebrities, the spokespeople of our time, as ask them to leverage their followers on the issue. You can write to Tumblr and ask for more blackouts. None of these things will be very effective, so don’t be too disappointed when they don’t work, but they sure as fuck are more effective than online petitions, and the intense response to SOPA by corporations and consumers was responsible for getting it “tabled” (not dead, but dreaming lies).
- ACTA was already signed by Obama in September of 2011. He had been praising the bill for over a year prior, and signed it without reservation. Most of us didn’t hear about it, and he likely used the 9/11 coverage to make sure of that.
- Eventually, one of these bills will pass, and the pro-corporate laws will go into effect. Expect it. Be prepared. Learn to circumvent this garbage and you’ll have a leg up when the feds shut down the internet as we know it.
- The best thing you can do now is install Tor and learn how to use it. Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security known as traffic analysis. In order to circumvent the coming corporate takeover of the web, we’re going to have to go underground, creating a sub-internet of encrypted nodes known as a “darknet”. It’s probably going to be like the internet was in the beginning, with most people only seeing what AOL wanted them to see, and only a small group of super-nerds existing outside of that bubble in the “real” internet. It’ll take another twenty years for them to catch up to us again.
- Welcome to the grim cyberpunk future.
Online petitions are meaningless.
Online petitions are meaningless.
Online petitions are meaningless.
Online petitions are meaningless.
Online petitions are meaningless.
welp
I can’t believe that this person is encouraging the mass public to DDoS websites… not only is DDoSing illegal, but if done incorrectly (and 99% of the public will not know how to do it safely) can result is being caught and sentenced to jail. Fair enough for them to explain their view on this subject and inform others, but don’t ask people to do highly illegal acts! Okay, it’s something Anonymous is known for and has been in the news recently for their attacks on big companies such as the FBI and big Hollywood and media sites. But they are a HUGE group of people who know what they are doing and how to do it safely. DDoSing very rarely has more effect than petitions! As the majority of government bodies would see it as a negative way of displaying opposition to something and would therefore be more inclined to support it!
If anything this post is just injecting fear into the minds of people whom do not fully understand what is happening or could possibly happen. This is not the first time that an act such as this has tried to go through.
Also, claiming that online petitions are meaningless. They alone cannot move mountains I agree, but neither can DDoSing or site blackouts. All of these are simple forms of raising awareness and getting people’s attention. That is all. It wasn’t the online petitions that shelved SOPA, it wasn’t the DDoSing of major corporations, and it wasn’t the blacking out of websites. It was the combination of these that showed the huge amount of backing that the opposition had. That is what helped turned the tide for SOPA.
Yes, there are acts out there that will change the internet if they pass, no they are not the first ones to try. But what makes these different is the fear injected into people’s minds by the media reporting on it. It is on a par with the ideas that the Iraq war would result in WWIII. I am not denying the seriousness of ACTA, SOPA and PIPA and believe the fact that Obama attempted to fast-track it was utterly idiotic. I also love the fact that awareness of Tor is being increased as a result of this, but I do not believe that using scaremongering tactics are a good means of doing so.
Just my thoughts.
This is just a fear appeal.
