Collateral Damage: The Impact of ACTA and the Enforcement Agenda on the World’s Poorest People

Written by Andrew Rens on August 4th, 2010

It is not clear what officials from the trade offices of the US and EU will discuss when they meet to talk about ACTA on 16 August 2010. That is because the negotiation has been hidden not only from public scrutiny but even from the duly elected representatives of the people.

Its unlikely to be the impact which the IP Enforcement Agenda is having on the poorest people in the world. Its unlikely because its apparent from both the latest leaked text of ACTA and the preceding leaked text that no consideration is being given to threat posed to the poorest people in the world by ACTA. The likely impact of the threat on the poorest people in the world is already indicated by the instantiation of an expansive “enforcement” agenda. I’ve pointed to some of the obvious consequences in a working paper hosted by the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property at Washington College of Law.

 

Lies, Damn Lies and the BSA

Written by Andrew Rens on July 9th, 2010

I was interviewed by Paul Furber for an article in Brainstorm Magazine on the claims made by the Business Software Alliance on alleged software infringement in South Africa; entitled “Lies, Damn Lies and the BSA”.The article reveals that this years claims on the alleged level of infringement weren’t based on an any actual research in South Africa.