1. This is only about large-scale infringements
a. Criminal sanctions

There is no minimum-level of infringement that could be criminalised by ACTA. It requires parties to, at least, criminalise infringements which are for direct economic advantage, direct commercial advantage, indirect economic advantage, indirect commercial advantage or “aiding and abetting” such an offence.

In the absence of a definition of any these five activities, the European Commission has no way of knowing whether only large-scale infringements will be covered.

In order to counter the spreading misinformation, we are providing a how-to with short explanations regarding different practical problems related to ACTA. This guide looks at the risks that ACTA creates for websites, particularly e-commerce sites.

To stay online, a website owner just needs to make sure that their site contains nothing which might cause any of the site's service providers to fear that it contains an (intentional or unintentional) infringement of intellectual property rights. This could include information posted by third parties, such as user-generated content.

Recently, we have seen many rumours and half-truths about ACTA being circulated by campaigners on all sides. And, as the European Commission's "fact sheet" 10 Myths about ACTA shows, there are also still a lot of misunderstandings. Many decision makers and citizens seem not yet to be aware of ACTA's serious implications.

In the following, we are focusing on the real problems and most important issues in ACTA:

• Email Newsletter EDRi-gram 10.2 delayed
• ACTA - Frequently Asked Questions
• Data Protection Week 2012: CPDP and the BarCamp
• Police frequently uses Silent SMS to locate suspects
• The Lobby on ACTA is reaching a new level
• ACTA "uprising" in Poland
• FAVA'S bill: Another attempt to limit civil rights in Italy
• Geolocation censorship to be applied by Twitter
• Belgian Big Brother Awards 2012
• ENDitorial: EDRi's initial comments on the Data Protection Regulation
• Recommended Action
• Recommended Reading
• Agenda

EDRi welcomes the European Commission's proposal for a new data protection Regulation. Europe needs a comprehensive reform in order to ensure the protection of its citizens’ personal data and privacy, while enhancing legal certainty and competitiveness in a single digital market. Since the “inter-service” draft was leaked in December, there has been a significant lobbying effort by certain foreign governments and industries.

• EDRi supports protests against US blacklist legislation
• What's Wrong with ACTA Week
• The US pressure on Spain to censor the Internet has paid off
• Belarus strongly censors the Internet
• Commission confirms illegality of Data Retention Directive
• Romanian Senate rejects the new data retention law
• Finnish ISP started blocking The Pirate Bay
• Dutch Internet providers forced to block The Pirate Bay
• US continue pushing on EU Commission against Data Protection proposals
• Researchers say smart meter technology is privacy intrusive
• ENDitorial: Copyright vs Public Domain-copyright as a barrier to culture?
• Recommended Action
• Recommended Reading
• Agenda

Introduction The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a plurilateral international agreement which wants to set a “gold standard” for the enforcement of intellectual property rights. The Agreement will have major implications for freedom of expression, access to culture and privacy. It will also harm international trade and stifle innovation.

Decision-time in the European Parliament

In February, the European Parliament will be formally given the dossier. It then plans to discuss the dossier with the International Trade Committee as the body in charge, with input from the Industry, Legal Affairs, Civil Liberties and Development Committees.