The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) – Enclosing the Internet?

Abstract

This paper examines the ongoing negotiation process over the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement from a Canadian perspective. ACTA, in brief, would represent a globalized version of the U.S. Digital Management Copyright Act intended to become the vanguard of the global intellectual property enforcement regime. Spearheaded by the Office of the United States Trade Representative and U.S. corporate interests the treaty is being negotiated in secret and represents a serious attempt to “normalize” digital technologies and the Internet, a process by which the Internet becomes subordinate to corporate control. ACTA, if successfully concluded and signed by Canada, would supercede Canadian legislation meaning that the 2009 Canadian copyright consultations undertaken with the promise of producing a “made in Canada” copyright act would be superfluous. The progress of ACTA and Canada’s participation in it will be examined through a variety of lenses highlighting the clash between global and local governance, democratic versus executive control over public policy, corporate versus popular interests.