The European Commission, facing opposition in city streets, on the Internet and in the halls of parliament, has suspended efforts to ratify a new international anti-counterfeiting agreement, and instead will refer it to Europe’s highest court to see whether it violates any fundamental EU rights.[…]
« ACTA will not censor websites or shut them down; ACTA will not hinder freedom of the internet or freedom of speech, » De Gucht said.
However, opponents fear ACTA would lead to censorship and a loss of privacy on the Internet. And the plan to gain court approval of the agreement has left at least some of them unimpressed.
« No legal debate can fix ACTA or give it a legitimacy that by design it cannot have, » said Jeremie Zimmermann, co-founder of the Internet advocacy group La Quadrature du Net.
http://thetandd.com/business/technology/eu-suspends-copyright-treaty-ratification/article_ac866d69-d139-545a-9219-953d6aac8ca1.html