ACTA copyright treaty leaked

Drafts of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, being negotiated in secret by nations around the globe, was leaked recently, revealing plans to give the recording industry more power.

Wikileaks has the documents in full, though many of the topics remain incomplete. The drafts deal with issues of enforcement and legal framework.

TorrentFreak points out an interesting portion in the most recent draft. The damages section specifies that judicial authorities have the right to order a copyright infringer to pay the rights holder. More importantly, the authorities wlll consider the market price of the copyrighted goods in addition to a "standard" set by each nation for damages that result from the infringement.

But here’s the kicker: the draft says that "the rights holders shall have the right to choose the system" of damage compensation as an alternative to mere compensation for market value. I think this could be interpreted a number of ways, but TorrentFreaks suggests that groups like the RIAA will be able set their own formula for compensation. The concern here is that the recording industry could consider every illegal file share as a lost sale, setting enormously high damages as a result.

This is why the process ought to be open, instead of secret. The public has no say in the definition of "damages" and how it might affect file sharers.

So far, the US has denied Freedom of Information Act requests on the draft, citing "national security" concerns.