ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, is an attempt at extending a common copyright and intellectual property law across the world. Currently the agreement is a hot topic in Europe, where it had been negotiated behind closed doors until a leak brought the matter into the public domain.
The treaty is well known for its harsh wording, favouring almost entirely, at least in its earlier revisions, the content industry. Since then it has been watered down somewhat, however, still looks to criminalise most forms of copyright infringement, including aiding and abetting and DRM circumvention and looks to minimise the voice of consumers.
ACTA has taken a bit of a beating lately, however. Towards the start of it all, the EU's chief Investigator, Kader Arif, resigned in protest to the number of states that had signed the agreement despite his recommendations; even newly appointed British chief investigator, David Martin, has recommended against the treaty, stating "The intended benefits of this international greement are far outweighed by the potencial threats to civil liberties."
Alone, the protests of a few investigators and minor committees have little weight, however, most recently, the influential European trade committee voted to reject ACTA by 19 votes to 12, potentially placing a very large nail into the coffin of ACTA, as this committee provides the formal recommendation of how the wider parliament should vote, something which is scheduled to take place next month.
