By Bhaskar Prasad: Subscribe to Bhaskar's RSS feed
February 3, 2012 11:17 PM EST
The Irish Aid, a government oversees development body, had to take its Web site offline after it was hacked and several staff members' private information was posted under a 'Stop ACTA' banner.
The Anonymous Sweden, who last week claimed responsibility for taking down several Irish government Web sites, tweeted a link to the post before it was taken down.
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a plurilateral agreement between 10 countries and the European Union that aims to establish a legal framework against counterfeit goods. The agreement, according to The Guardian, is scheduled for debate in June. It is yet to be ratified by the EU parliament.
The legislation, which is being sought by major record labels, including EMI, Warner Music, Sony and Universal, has been compared to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S.
Meanwhile, international non-governmental organization Oxfam identified problems in the ACTA that will undoubtedly have an impact on access to affordable medicines. The Oxfam has said the ACTA redefines the word "counterfeit". Instead of just targeting products intended to deceive consumers, the ACTA targets even goods suspected of trademark infringement.
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Another issue raised by the organization is the border measures provision of the ACTA. The provision states that customs authorities may act upon their own initiative to suspend the release of suspect goods.
The Oxfam said this provision constituted a grave threat to trade in generics. Apart from the provision possibly being imposed on goods not confirmed to have infringed on intellectual property rights, it applied to goods that were merely in transit through a signatory.
At the same time, the European Commission sought to appease these concerns on generic medicines last month by saying the ACTA did not have provisions affecting global health, directly or indirectly.
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