ACTA faces growing opposition

The EC is due to respond to US internet restriction proposals on Thursday

The Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) being secretly negotiated by the European Union, the US and other leading countries is facing mounting opposition.

Documents have been leaked from the negotiations containing controversial proposals for disconnecting illegal downloaders from the internet.

Any operator storing or transmitting copyrighted content will be held liable for intellectual property infringement, according to plans submitted by the US.

The European Commission (EC) is expected to respond to the proposals by 17 December.

Digital rights groups, trade unions and other non-governmental organisations signed a petition today addressed to the EC, arguing that the contents of the draft agreement should not be kept secret and should be made publicly accessible before 17 December.

The negotiators argue that it is common practice to withhold trade agreements from the wider public, but the petitioning organisations maintain that the process should be made transparent because the proposals will affect the freedoms and privacy of European citizens.

The groups have also argued that a trade agreement is not the appropriate medium to hold legislation on such issues.

"The current draft of ACTA would profoundly restrict the fundamental rights and freedoms of European citizens, most notably the freedom of expression and communication privacy," said the petition.

"These are very much at risk, since the current draft pushes for the implementation of three-strikes schemes and content filtering policies by seeking to impose civil and criminal liability on technical intermediaries such as internet service providers."

The petition follows similar complaints from EuroISPA, the pan-European association of more than 1,700 internet service providers' associations. ISPs have additional concerns as they will have to pay for the implementation of technical measures to track down illegal downloaders and cut off their service.

The ACTA policies regarding internet access restrictions appear to go against the current beliefs of politicians and legislators in Europe and the US, but this is because the negotiations have been taking place since 2007.

Only last month the European Union passed the reform of the 2002 Telecoms Rules, determining that Member States cannot restrict internet access without involving the courts, but this was after years of debate on the issue.

Meanwhile, US president Barack Obama has campaigned for a free and neutral internet, but he came into power after the ACTA negotiations were well underway.

An EC official could not explain what would happen to the Telecoms Reform package if the ACTA policies are adopted, nor could he comment on the specific proposals on internet access.

The EC has given a broad outline of discussions taking place as part of ACTA on its web site, but details are limited. It has also published an ACTA Q&A (PDF).

A press statement released at the fourth meeting held in Paris by the countries involved in ACTA said: "Participants agreed on the importance of transparency and on holding further discussion on sharing additional information with the public."

The EC official added: "The Commission has never tried to hide the fact that negotiations are taking place, even if some level of discretion is required in intergovernmental negotiations."