No to ACTA

There is a direction being discussed that aims to change a few deep aspects to our lives. The following video describes it.

Do you really think record and film companies and game manufacturers are suffering because of illegal downloading? Don’t the budgets for films and rock concerts still reach 100′s of millions of pounds? I never asked for films to devour so much money, and resources. I don’t think musicians should be catapulted to almost god like statuses, lavished with all the consumables the world has to offer simply because they enjoy to play music. I know many musicians that do it for free, they do it because they love music. They don’t need all that money to do it. It’s all about corporations yet again.

And as for medicines, well after a certain amount of time after a company has invented a new compound, the compound then becomes up for grabs, and anyone can synthesise it and sell it. This is what they want to stop, so a corporation has the legal right to OWN a chemical, something you can make and anyone can make given the resources, yet they want to make that illegal, it’s not like your stealing anything, again your making a copy. Copying is not theft, stealing a thing leaves one thing less.

The same goes for the plant patents, however this one to me really takes the piss, they want to patent certain genetic codes. If a plant is shown to have a certain genetic sequence and you didn’t pay for it then you can be done for theft. In America they already do this, and if a farms crops get pollinated by the neighbouring farm which uses patented crops then the farm that hasn’t bought that patent gets sued into oblivion, this has happened more than once.

“Copying is not theft. Stealing a thing leaves one less left Copying it makes one thing more; that’s what copying’s for. Copying is not theft. If I copy yours you have it too One for me and one for you That’s what copies can do If I steal your bicycle you have to take the bus, but if I just copy it there’s one for each of us! Making more of a thing, that is what we call “copying” Sharing ideas with everyone That’s why copying is FUN!”

This act isn’t being proposed to assist the human race in anyway, it’s there to make the rich richer. What with all the protests against the investment culture, this also should take a position at the top of what’s wrong in the world. This reminds me of the fable of king Midas, someone who got so greedy they did something that mortally affected themselves. We should share ideas with ourselves, the human race should do things to better itself, not to better just a few.

If you get a chance to speak up against ACTA then do, sign petitions, go on marches, write to your paper. If this is past I assure you nothing good will come of it, only harm.