Winning BIG on ACTA and Beyond!

Paris, June 26th 2012 – This Wednesday July 4th, the European Parliament will have an opportunity to reject ACTA as a whole, in plenary, and destroy it forever. After four years of citizens’ hard work, such a rejection would create a tremendous political symbol of global scale. La Quadrature du Net calls on all citizens to contact Members of the EU Parliament to urge them to reject ACTA, and beyond, to start a process to positively reform copyright law. A strong victory would set the ground for future reforms.
[UPDATE 02/07] The EPP group will try to suspend the parliamentarian procedure by postponing the final vote on ACTA (due to take place tomorrow) until the European Court of Justice issues its opinion on ACTA. This dangerous strategy is pushed the EU Commission and industry lobbies.

Last week’s adoption by the “International Trade” (INTA) committee of a voting recommendation against ACTA is extremely encouraging, but the final step ahead is indeed the most important: all the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) will cast their vote in plenary on July 4th, 12:00PM, in favour or against ACTA. Citizens of the Internet must unite forces for this unique and historic occasion!

If chances of winning are now high, nothing is won yet. Last week, industry lobbies and the European Commission (responsible for negotiating on behalf of the EU) attempted to influence¹Industry lobbies distribute these kind of documents in European Parliament’s corridors: http://ur1.ca/9jqs6 http://ur1.ca/9khs3 http://ur1.ca/9khs7 http://ur1.ca/9khs8 http://ur1.ca/9khsa the Members of the INTA committee, and are already trying very hard to save face. We must therefore win this vote by a strong majority, to make it impossible for the Parliament to go back and stick to blind repression once ACTA is rejected.

As a citizen platform, La Quadrature du Net provides the PiPhone, a web tool allowing to call free of charge MEPs who are still not clearly against ACTA, along with some guidelines and key arguments against ACTA. Personnalized contacts should always be favoured over copy-paste of templates!

While engaging with the MEPs and their assistants, citizens are encouraged to start an open discussion about the need, beyond ACTA, to reform the EU copyright framework. Our online cultural practices must be encouraged rather than repressed. The voice of citizens, the free and open Internet, as well as our cultural practices matter more than a few industry lobbies’ interests!

“The ACTA debate could mark the beginning of a new era, where citizens organized online have the power to counter the influence of powerful industrial lobbies and short-sighted policy-makers keen on sacrificing our rights, along with the free Internet. By engaging with our representatives ahead of next week’s vote, we can not only achieve a huge victory of tremendous political significance against ACTA, but also help lawmakers understand how Internet and online culture work. Let’s win big on ACTA!” concludes Jeremie Zimmermann, spokeperson of the citizen group La Quadrature du Net.