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:

Polish youth apparently decided to break the stereotypes about the nation's passiveness and lack of interest in Internet politics. As soon as the Polish government announced that ACTA would be signed on 26 January, we became witnesses of an amazing movement. Hundreds of thousands joined protest groups created on Facebook, Polish MEPs announced they have received more than 100 000 e-mails encouraging them to vote against ACTA, petitions and appeals to Polish decision makers gained massive support.

On the top of this real and enthusiastic social movement, a group of self-proclaimed "hackers" started attacks on government servers (mostly DDOS), affecting mainly the Parliament, Prime Minister and the Ministry of Culture (responsible for ACTA dossier in Poland).

When the Commission calls for ACTA support, the chosen ones in industry happily follow. Going back a few months, in November 2011, at an International Fragrance Association event, Pedro Velasco Martins from the European Commission (DG Trade, Deputy Head of Unit, Public Procurement and Intellectual Property) warned parts of industry that the civil society was speaking out loudly on ACTA and that they were losing the public opinion.

In January 2012, under the umbrella of the New York-based International Trade Mark Association, 28 federations and associations released a paper called "ACTA - Why you should support it". Last week, the European Commission launched an intensive lobby -campaign meant for the European Parliament.

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Internetzensur: Einflussnahme der USA auf Spanien macht sich bezahlt

The US has continued to pressure Spain since 2008 to adopt measures against users allegedly illegally downloading copyrighted music and movies from file-sharing networks.

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: What's Wrong with ACTA Week – Aktionswoche "Was läuft falsch b...

Since many politicians and citizens are not yet aware of ACTA's serious implications, EDRi has launched a "What's Wrong with ACTA Week".

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.