Members of the Parliament must live up to their responsibility to protect EU citizens and listen to their uproar against ACTA. What this means is refusing any Parliamentarian referral to the ECJ and continuing their work towards a clear and strong rejection of ACTA.”,

"...Cancel ACTA entirely. Although parts of it are not objectionable, they are secondary to ACTA's threat to our freedom. Unless we are sure that the repressive aspects of ACTA are blocked, the main significance of ACTA is as a threat to society. Killing ACTA would be a fine way to get rid of this threat..."

Today 377 members of the European Parliament adopted a written declaration on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in which they demand greater transparency, assert that ISPs should not up end being liable for data sent through their networks, and say that ACTA "should not force limitations upon judicial due process

The ratification process in the Parliament is already characterized by the absence of transparency. The EU Parliament has refused to publish its legal services' full opinion on ACTA, saying that it would “seriously interfere with the complex ratification process”.

"This vote is a terrible blow to EU citizens. It shows that the conservatives and some of their allies can get the Parliament to vote in favor of ACTA."

ACTA aims at circumventing democracy to impose now and later repressive legislation through secret negotiations. The European Parliament now has a unique occasion to firmly oppose it.

As a result of the copyright lobbies' noxious influence, ACTA still includes a set of measures for stepping up the war on the sharing of culture over the Internet.

Over the past week, I have had several posts on ACTA in the wake of the most recent leaked text, including a scorecard on the major remaining areas of disagreement, one assessing the growing rift between the U.S. and E.U., Canadian positions on ACTA, the changed U.S. position on anti-circumvention rules, and a look at geographical indications, a key issue for the EU.

By a remarkable vote of 633 to 13, the Parliament rebuked European negotiators who have been drafting the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in a series of confidential meetings around the globe. No version of the document has been disclosed by the participants, which include the United States, the European Commission, Japan, and Canada.