ECA Responds to ACTA

The ECA (Electronic Consumers Association) sent around a letter last week to inform it's members about it's ongoing fight against the 'anti-piracy' efforts SOPA, PIPA, and (new acronym!) ACTA.

Actually, it's not new. ACTA (the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) has been around for years. Its another one of those 'lets clean up online piracy' bills that actually has the power to do a hell of a lot more.

If you haven't been following recent events, SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) were both extremely stern and heavy handed anti-copyright infringement measures that would have, arguably (and unconstitutionally), had the ability to shut down any website that even smelled like it used unlicensed material without any review of said material.

'Would have' because both bills were shelved and are effectively in a coma for the moment. President Obama (probably realizing how unpopular the laws would have been with the voting public) even went so far as to publicly state that he would not support or sign into law any legislation related to SOPA or PIPA that would cross his desk.

Now it seems though, that there is yet another acronym rearing it's ugly head- that being ACTA. It sure seems as though there's someone in Washington who simply won't give up on this idea. At least, that's what it might look like at first glance, but ACTA is actually a global effort- and it's one that has been around for a while.

For it's part, the ECA has sent around a letter to inform it's members about the situation. You may have gotten one in your inbox recently, but if you haven't, here's the info printed right from the horses mouth:

Much like with SOPA and PIPA, the ECA has fought the underlying policies behind the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) for years. ACTA is a global trade agreement intended to manage intellectual property rights enforcement. Unfortunately, it is fundamentally unconstitutional, with dramatic privacy, civil and digital rights restrictions.
We ask you now to join with us and sign the petition here, asking the Obama Administration to protect our constitutional rights and end ACTA. We believe that ACTA is a treaty that should be debated by Congress.
Please sign the petition now!
Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA)

If getting involved is your thing, go ahead and click the link, sign the petition, and feel like you've made a difference... until the next set of capitalized letters comes along.