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ACTA: Open Letter to My Congressional Delegation

As a constituent, I am concerned about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) being negotiated by the United States Trade Representative.

Ostensibly, ACTA was intended to coordinating the global fight against fraud and counterfeit merchandise.

Instead, this international proposal has now:

• expanded to interpret substantive law and establish public policy;

• includes new regulations on the Internet and digital technology;

• supplants the delicately-crafted balance of intellectual property law in the United States by a restrictive global customs regime;

• institutionalizes broad discretion for customs officials to search and seize information technology without regard for individual privacy and free speech safeguards;

This will create unfavorable international conditions for American technological innovation made possible by existing flexibilities in US law. Not only will this affect international trade, but also the rights of citizens, travelers, and Internet users, and innovators. All are vital to this countries future.

Please contact your colleagues on the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means Committees to request that the USTR:

• make public its negotiations to date;

• replace the ACTA process in favor of more open and accountable discussion of any new intellectual property laws, in their proper forum - Congress;

• abandon ACTA for open methods of managing co-operation against commercial counterfeiting with true oversight and deliberation.

The new Administration should also reject this secretive agreement.

(There is more info about ACTA at the EFF, include an easy form to contact your delegation. Email is actually the preferred method of contact since security measures since the anthrax attacks of 2001 have slowed down physical mail delivery to a crawl.)