A new international copyright treaty in the works

[tangaroa]

The stereotypical conspiracy theory involves a room of shady elitists making secret plans to oppress the common man for the benefit of the already rich and powerful. This seems to be exactly what is happening in the case of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret international agreement under developemnt which rumours say will outlaw the fair use of copyrighted material one owns, in the name of expanding content owners' monopolies. I am reminded of the secret World Trade Organization meetings from the late 1990s.

Wired Magazine describes the Obama administration's position as "policy laundering", and a summary of the treaty negotiations has been leaked.