As a few folks have submitted, EU Commissioner for Trade, Karel De Gucht -- the main EU politician backing ACTA -- has been caught lying about ACTA.

The referral to the Court of Justice is clearly intended by ACTA proponents as a way to buy time in face of the strong opposition to ACTA. The EU Parliament must therefore proceed immediately and formulate its own reasons for rejecting ACTA.

"ACTA, a treaty designed to attack the rights of computer users in some 40-odd countries -- and others later -- is encountering increasing opposition. ACTA threatens, in a disguised way, to punish Internet users with disconnection if they are accused of sharing, and requires countries to prohibit software that can break Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), also known as digital handcuffs.."

"A month ago, we published a statement against ACTA and asked for your signatures in support. Over 3,000 of you joined us in calling on ACTA negotiators to either dramatically change the agreement or drop it all together..."

Today 377 members of the European Parliament adopted a written declaration on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in which they demand greater transparency, assert that ISPs should not up end being liable for data sent through their networks, and say that ACTA "should not force limitations upon judicial due process

Over the past week, I have had several posts on ACTA in the wake of the most recent leaked text, including a scorecard on the major remaining areas of disagreement, one assessing the growing rift between the U.S. and E.U., Canadian positions on ACTA, the changed U.S. position on anti-circumvention rules, and a look at geographical indications, a key issue for the EU.

Members of the Parliament must live up to their responsibility to protect EU citizens and listen to their uproar against ACTA. What this means is refusing any Parliamentarian referral to the ECJ and continuing their work towards a clear and strong rejection of ACTA.”,

"ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, is a proposed enforcement treaty between United States, the European Community, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand and Mexico, with Canada set to join any day now..."

* http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/acta [...]

Take action! ..."

"BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Wednesday, June 16, 2010 -- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today published a new declaration calling for rejection of ACTA unless key changes to protect the public's freedom are made, and is asking people around the world to add their names in support before the next round of negotiations on the treaty happen in Switzerland at the end of this month..."