Thousands condemn secrecy of internet copyright talks

One new signature about every 37 seconds has been flowing into an online petition condemning global talks being held behind closed doors in Wellington to draw up ways of policing copyright violations on the internet.

Delegations from 37 countries - including the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Korea, Mexico and Switzerland - have converged this week to negotiate an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement to regulate copyright breaches.

Protesters have put together a "Wellington Declaration" at the weekend and began collecting signatures. It had more than 6000 signatures at 11am today. In thirty minutes, between 10.31am and 11.01am, it got 48 signatures, including from Germany, France and Canada, and many from New Zealand.

The talks have been widely criticised for its lack of transparency, with leaked documents offering one of the few glimpses into what is being discussed.

The trade agreement is expected to include a "three strikes" policy, requiring ISPs to kick off people who repeatedly breach copyrights.

Below is a selection of comments on the talks:

Russell Brown, publicaddress.net: "The most obvious problem with Acta is, of course, the secrecy in which it's being negotiated. All we know about it is the result of leaks."

Labour Party communications and and IT spokeswoman Clare Curran: There are "important questions that need answering about the intent of Acta and what New Zealand's negotiating position is".

The Washington Post, in March: "These proposals might or might not make sense. But they ought at least be subject to public deliberation."

US President Barack Obama, in March: "We're going to aggressively protect our intellectual property ... USTR (US Trade Representative) is using the full arsenal of tools available to crack down on practices that blatantly harm our businesses, and that includes negotiating proper protections and enforcing our existing agreements, and moving forward on new agreements, including the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement."

French protest group La Quadrature du Net's co-founder, Philippe Aigrain: "Contrary to the 'don't worry' statements of the negotiators and persons in charge of ACTA in national governments, what we are seeing is an all-out offensive on freedom of expression and fundamental rights and a process that seeks to establish circumvention of democratic control as a rule."

New Zealand Open Source Society donchristie: "Today, in Wellington, the representatives of a regime that promised a new era of 'Hope' and 'Change' are brow beating the rest of the world into submission."

US Trade Representative spokeswoman Nefeterius McPherson: "Progress is necessary so that we can prepare to release a text that will provide meaningful information to the public and be a basis for productive dialogue."

University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist: "US: No Acta transparency unless other countries cave on substance"

On Twitter: "Hey @DemocratsDotOrg, @BarackObama, & @RNC! WTF are you trying to hide in ACTA? What happened to #transparency? #fail.gov"

"The dark clouds of ACTA rolling in over Wellington today"

Stopacta.info: "It would profoundly alter the very nature of the internet as we know it by putting an end to Net neutrality."