Paris, February 11th, 2012 - The co-founders of La Quadrature du Net1 and many of its contributors will join the giant distributed ACTA protest that is taking place in hundreds of locations all over Europe2.

• 1. The Co-founders will participate to the Paris part of the protest.
• 2. http://g.co/maps/dm6pt

Paris, February 7th, 2012 – Member of the EU Parliament David Martin, from the Socialist & Democrats group, has been appointed new rapporteur for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in the “International Trade” committee (INTA). Unfortunately, his record on protecting freedoms online is worryingly poor and should prompt EU citizens to act against ACTA and ensure that the EU Parliament will defend their rights by rejecting this dangerous agreement.

Paris, February 6th, 2012 – The EU Commission is relentlessly defending ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which faces widespread opposition in Europe and beyond. Falsely portraying ACTA as an acceptable agreement, the Commission is paving the way for its ultra-repressive copyright enforcement agenda, as revealed in documents just released. Citizens and their elected representatives across Europe must denounce this dangerous drift of the policy-making process, which is bound to undermine freedoms online and the very architecture of the Internet, and instead require a thorough reform of copyright.

Paris, February 1st 2012 – The EU Commission “Trade” Directorate-General is lobbying the EU Parliament, presenting a one-sided and plainly distorted view of ACTA to face the growing citizen opposition. The EU's executive branch, which negotiated ACTA behind citizens' backs, is now shamelessly relaying the copyright industries' lobbying pitch, in yet another sign of its collusion with business interests.

Paris, January 30th, 2012 – The EU Commission is engaging in an all-out offensive to portray ACTA as normal trade agreement harmless to fundamental rights or access to knowledge. In several published documents, the Commission's attempts to impose ACTA onto the EU Parliament while silencing legitimate criticism. But these misrepresentations don't resist scrutiny.

Paris, January 26th 2012 – Today in Tokyo, the EU and 22 of its Member States officially signed ACTA1, the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement. The worldwide citizen movement initiated against SOPA and PIPA must now focus on defeating their global counterpart ACTA in the European Parliament.

• 1. http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/economy/i_property/acta1201.html

Today, La Quadrature du Net sent a letter to the Members of the Development committee of the European Parliament. All citizens should also call on the committee to carefully consider the many serious issues raised by ACTA, the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement aimed at establishing extremist standards in copyright, patent and trademarks worldwide.

Paris, January 23rd, 2012 – After the huge online protests against the extremist SOPA and PIPA copyright bills discussed in the United States, the EU Parliament starts working on their global counterpart: ACTA, the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement. Citizens across Europe must push back against this illegitimate agreement bound to undermine free speech online, access to knowledge and innovation worldwide.

Paris, January 20th 2012 – The takedown1 of MegaUpload from the Internet shows a global attempt to control and censor the Internet, as illustrated by PIPA2 in the US, and the ACTA3 agreement worldwide. Conducted outside of the US territory and without even a court ruling, this case makes clear how disproportionate and violent is the war waged in the name of an obsolete copyright regime.

• 1. See http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/January/12-crm-074.html
• 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROTECT_IP_Ac
• 3. http://www.laquadrature.net/en/acta

Édito

Bonjour à toutes et à tous.

Le mois de décembre a été marqué par l'adoption par le Conseil de l'Union Européenne de l'accord anti-contrefaçon ACTA. Ce dernier fera dans les prochains mois l'objet d'un vote du Parlement européen, en vue de sa ratification définitive ou de son rejet par l'Union européenne. De nombreuses associations de la société civile européenne, de Reporters Sans Frontières en passant par Oxfam ou Article 19, s'opposent à l'ACTA, qui marque une nouvelle escalade au niveau international en matière de droit d'auteur et de brevet au bénéfice de quelques multinationales du divertissement, de l’agrochimie et du secteur pharmaceutique.

Pour agir contre ACTA, rendez-vous ici !

Par ailleurs, la neutralité du Net fait toujours l'objet de vifs débats au niveau européen. Les États membres ont adopté leurs conclusions sur le sujet, au travers du Conseil de l'UE. Dans ce texte, ils soulignent l'importance de préserver le caractère ouvert du Net en s'assurant que l'accès Internet ne fasse pas l'objet de restrictions imposées par les opérateurs télécoms, même si, malheureusement, ils ne vont pas jusqu'à affirmer que ce principe de neutralité doit être inscrit dans la loi. La balle est désormais dans le camp des régulateurs des télécoms et de la Commission européenne, qui doivent bientôt dévoiler les résultats de leur étude sur les atteintes à la neutralité perpétrées par les opérateurs de par l'Europe. Vous pouvez aider à protéger la neutralité en exposant les pratiques illégitimes de vos fournisseurs d'accès Internet (fixe et mobile) sur RespectMyNet.eu. Vous contribuerez ainsi à démontrer l'importance de légiférer rapidement sur cette question essentielle pour l'avenir du Net.

En France, le Parlement a définitivement adopté le projet de loi sur la copie privée, en restreignant les droits du public. Même si la nouvelle majorité sénatoriale s'est montrée sensible aux risques liés à la notion de « licéité de la source », elle s'est refusée à tout amendement, invoquant l'urgence d'une adoption rapide de ce texte.

De nombreux projets de La Quadrature ont actuellement besoin de contributions (refonte du site web, Respect My Net, Mémoire Politique, etc.) contactez-nous ou inscrivez-vous sur la liste de discussion afin de contribuer. Deux nouvelles mailing lists thématiques ont également été créées : une consacrée aux graphistes et web-designers souhaitant contribuer aux travaux de La Quadrature, et une autre consacrée à la veille juridique sur les différents dossiers.

Pour finir, sachez que le 13 janvier prochain, La Quadrature organise un nouveau Quadr'apéro, comme chaque mois. Venez en nombre vous joindre à nous autour d'un verre pour discuter de la défense de l'Internet.

Bonne lecture et à très vite !

Paris, December 14th 2011 – EU Member States –represented by the Council of the EU– adopt today the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which aims at imposing new criminal sanctions and privatized online censorship in the name of copyright. The text will now be sent to the European Parliament, which has a chance to oppose it. Citizens must act to ensure their freedoms online are protected by having ACTA finally rejected.

Paris, December 9th, 2011 – The Netherlands are convening a high-profile conference to discuss freedoms online. As the United States and Europe pose as defenders of freedom online, La Quadrature recalls that their Internet policy is going in the other direction by supporting censorship, through the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA) and other initiatives.

Paris, 18th of November 2011 – Nicolas Sarkozy is attempting a sleight of hand at today's G8/G20 Forum d'Avignon on culture, economy and the media: posing as the defender of digital culture and the Internet. La Quadrature du Net reminds of his disastrous record, and calls on citizens to judge by themselves with the upcoming votes in the Council of the EU and the European Parliament, in particular on the anti-counterfeiting ACTA agreement.

Paris, 04 November 2011 — “NO to ACTA!”, the video published by La Quadrature du Net last week, has been viewed more than one million times. It has become the top rated and most viewed this week in Youtube's “News & Politics” section. Such an impressive welcome illustrates how crucial of a responsibility lies between the hands of the Members of the European Parliament with their upcoming vote on ACTA.

On the occasion of the Free Culture Forum in Barcelona, La Quadrature du Net releases three films to inform citizens and urge them to take action against ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.