An ACTA Comment to the USTR

We all know about ACTA. What we don't know is what ACTA contains. The US Government calls it a National Security issue, and points to Executive order 12958. The UK government is refusing to put the treaty on the Parliamentary record. It's a den of shadows, where nothing is clear. All that there are are rumours and drafts.


So, it's at least partially heartening that some pretense of listening to the people has occured to the US Trade Representative (USTR) in that he opened the door for comments. Naturally I, like others, jumped at the chance.

It's all too easy to go off half-cocked, and start rambling, talking about things you've heard, think you think might happen, etc. That's not the right way. If it sounds like a conspiracy theory, then odds are it'll be treated as one, and ignored. Sticking to the facts in a clear and comprehensive manner work wonders.

With only a week's timeframe, it could be hard to write something factually hard-hitting, but also short enough to avoid being ignored as 'tl;dr'. Luckily, the snowstorm that hit DC meant that there was a 2 day extension for submissions. This was not neccesary for myself, but for the US Pirate Party it meant we had enough time to get a statement out I feel was acceptable.

I'll leave it to them to publish their statement, but I'm going to post mine, just for some thoughts, should you wish to contact your representative. Especially in light of the most recent leak, 3 days after the deadline closed.

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Comment Tracking Number: 80aa7e65
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Document ID: USTR-2010-0003-0001: 2010 Special 301 Federal Register Notice
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