Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip in front of Parliament answering questions regarding ACTA (1/2)

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• published: 12 Feb 2012
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Second part is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqVL-zcmRSs (length is something around a minute, I wanted to make the first video as long as I could, so people shouldn't have to switch). PS!!! I know these subtitles aren't the best, because my first language isn't English. If any Estonian wants to make it better, go ahead: First part here: http://piratepad.net/zmARMqGGHL Second part here: http://piratepad.net/jubn1yrXel You may edit them, and if I see that there is a better translation, I'll edit YouTube's subtitles too. In case someone should delete the text from PiratePad, then you may also take it from here: First part: http://pastebin.com/jYL6gtKR Second part: http://pastebin.com/nEaKtqm8 And then just include the corrections to your comment. Thank you! :) --------- I just want to say, that I am deeply disappointed of our Prime Minister. I actually voted for Reform Party, and this is what I get in return. Many and many Estonians have said that they won't elect Reform Party in the next elections. Critics have even said in the media that Mr Ansip should resign. ----- But lets take a look on few points, where Mr Ansip failed and missed. 1) So, Mr Ansip says that the proceeding of ACTA has been completely public. Umm.. has it? Even the European Parliament didn't know that the negotiations took place. 2) Mr Ansip thinks that ACTA will not violate any fundamental rights. Well, the Korff and Brown analysis made it clear that isn't true. http://www.greens-efa.eu/fileadmin/dam/Documents/Studies/ACTA_fundamental_rights_assessment.pdf 3) Mr Ansip says that this hasn't reached to the media in Germany. Really? http://www.spiegel.de/suche/index.html?suchbegriff=acta A headline of one article: "Copyright Agreement: Why Acta belongs in the trash" http://wefind.stern.de/stern/search?query=acta Yeah, it really hasn't reached to the media. Germans don't know anything about this. 4) Mr Ansip compares downloading and file-sharing to stealing. It's been said almost like 1000 times, that these are completely different things. The correct term for this is "copyright infringement". But yeah, what do you expect from a politician who is that old already. He thinks that if people couldn't download a move then they would run to the shop and buy it. I wouldn't be so certain about it. There are already tons of alternatives, like Creative Commons-licensed movies and so on. I mean, people could easily live without Hollywood movies - these are not part of our physiological needs. 4) Mr Ansip thinks that if Sweden or USA signed it, it is automatically a great agreement, and there is no need for discussion. ----- Well, at least after protests (1500 people attended in our capital Tallinn and 600-700 in our second largest city, Tartu) and tens of articles in the media, the Parliament and the commissions are finally discussing ACTA. Even if ACTA inforcement will not bring along the necessity to change our laws, it is definitely a good thing that the debate about copyright reform has started. We all know that copyright is outdated and needs a reform, it should be fitted for the digital age. 5) Mr Ansip based his arguments on a memo made by the Ministry of Justice. As an Estonian blogger points out: "All this was based on briefly reading the Ministry of Justice short memo probably written by some junior official and saying nothing but a couple of the same old tired half-truths coupled with some lies (compared to that, the EU '10 Myths' are much more thorough, but these have also been refuted by the FFII). But as Mr Prime Minister had read it, nothing more was deemed necessary." Taken from: http://oo.kakupesa.net/2012/02/09/show-must-go-on/ ----- Right now there are 4 parties in the Parliament. Two opposition parties, Estonian Centre Party and Social Democrats, have said that they don't support ACTA in its current form. That means that if all of their members would say no to ACTA in the Parliament, then that would make 45 out of 101. It also appears that some members of Reform Party are also against it. So it is not a done deal yet. Over 7200 people have signed for a petition "Say NO to ACTA". For a population of 1,3 million, that's an astonishing result. If anyone wants to keep himself up to date with Estonian news regarding ACTA, you may take a look here: http://news.err.ee/ (Estonian national broadcaster's news site)