Governments of Australia, Canada, European Union, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates and United States are amongst those undertaking secret negotiations for a so-called Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTAⁱ). Amongst the many topics it reaches, ACTA would:

The context:

Even if some challengers have taken a significant share of the browser market (primarily Firefox), Microsoft still has a huge advantage. This advantage is due to the bundling of computers and OS.

Indeed as most computers are sold with Windows (close to 100% in France) IE is included by default. To strengthen this power Microsoft implements IE-specific code to be sure that a website optimized for its browser doesn’t work perfectly with other browsers.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke in Washington today about the Obama administration's  commitment to promoting online rights and freedoms, including freedom of expression and access to knowledge - and, as a necessary precondition, access to the Internet itself.  In her speech she said:

3D Trade-Human Rights-Equitable Economy, a Geneva-based NGO, and IBON Foundation submitted a paper entitled The Philippines: Impact of copyrightⁱ rules on access to education to the Pre-Sessional Working Group of the Committee on the Rights of the Child last June 2009.

On 30 November 2009, a multi-stakeholder workshop was organized by the South African National Council for the Blind in Pretoria, South Africa, to discuss the 'Treaty for Improved Access for Blind, Visually Impaired and other Reading Disabled Persons' (referred to as the 'TVI'). This Treaty is on the agenda of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPOⁱ)'s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Matters (SCCRⁱ) Meeting, which will be held from 14-18 December 2009 in Geneva.

According to a press release issued by Microsoft last week to announce its "Consumer Action Day" against counterfeit softwareⁱ, "consumers want action", and are relying on Microsoft to "give people a voice in the fight against software counterfeiting". Whilst we do agree that counterfeiting of any kind can endanger consumers when they believe they are purchasing original products, we have to question Microsoft's credentials to represent consumers' interests here.

As part of CI’s A2Kⁱ programme we are producing a short film to look at the ways in which strict copyrightⁱ laws are affecting consumer rights around the world.

The film will examine the extent to which some companies are demonising consumer behaviour as they seek to hold on to and expand outdated copyright laws. It will look at arguments around the need for a renegotiation of intellectual property laws in the digital age and the roles businesses, governments and consumers are playing in this rapidly changing environment.

Consumers International and the African Copyright and A2Kⁱ Project (ACA2K) this week held a successful workshop looking at the Global State of Copyright and Access to Knowledge at the 2009 meeting of the multi-stakeholder United Nations Internet Governance Forum in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. The session was moderated by Dr Bassem Awad from ACA2K, who is also Chief Judge at the Egyptian Ministry of Justice.

Responding to the pressures of the culture industry lobby, a huge international coalition has come together to urge respect for the civil rights of citizens and artists in the digital era.

Today we are disseminating throughout the world the Charter of the Culture Forum of Barcelona for Innovation, Creativity and Access to Knowledge.

CI believes that a knowledge society can be developed only when access to knowledge is unhampered and inclusive, and that the role of consumer organisations in making this possible is vital. To this end, we have developed a concise survey of consumers designed to pinpoint where the barriers that prevent consumers from accessing knowledge lie.