Worse than SOPA, ACTA claims that most people are guilty unless if you use a VPN service

While sites like Wikipedia, Reddit or even Google protested on January 18th 2012 against SOPA, the ACTA mobilization seemed very small whereas the  law’s restrictions appear to be stronger.

There are several criticism of the agreement. Countries like India and Brazil have been vocal opponents, telling it will strongly harm the economy of emerging countries.

To briefly sum up, here are some main features of ACTA, and why the regulation could be seen worse than SOPA and PIPA:

• ACTA contains global IP provisions as restrictive or worse than anything contained in SOPA and PIPA.

• ACTA neglects the developed world by threatening the internet freedom.

• ACTA was written behind closed doors. It’s not nearly clear enough how the agreement will affect US laws.

Finally, even EU official claimed how this new regulation is privacy invading:

the article 11 of the agreement, which states that the right holder has the right to ask for information “regarding any person involved in any aspect of the infringement or alleged infringement”. This article is worded in such wide and unclear terms that it leaves a great deal of room for interpretation. In practice, almost anyone could be linked to an infringement of intellectual property rights and face criminal sanctions under such a vague definition.

ACTA foresees that the use of counterfeited goods on a commercial scale can lead to criminal sanctions. But here again no definition of “commercial scale” is given. Article 14 of the agreement clearly states that, unless contrary action is taken by one of the parties, it is possible to search people’s personal luggage, including small consignments. So if a traveler has on his laptop or MP3 player a tune or movie downloaded illegally, could he face sanctions ? How many tunes or movies would one need to set up a commercial illegal activity? In theory one would be enough…

The biggest problem with ACTA is that it doesn’t give any actual information. Besides the granted ability to search the travellers’ personal stuffs, there is a a great risk for abuse and unfounded actions.

Nevertheless, here is a quick presentation of the law’s sanctions abilities:

 How to prevent you from ACTA?

With all these forecoming scary measures, the needs to improve your online privacy and security are really increasing. Whereas quite everybody can be guilty facing ACTA’s eyes, it’s obvious that you have to hide your online identity.

The Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a practical system which gives you the ability to switch your IP address and also your identity. It creates a secure tunnel between your computer and a VPN server. Thus you benefit from a new identity. This kind of software also provides an ensured privacy by avoiding leaving any track behind you.

Find a VPN

1. Choose a VPN provider in accordance to two major criteria: the server location (the closest server offers the best browsing speed), the VPN protocol (the OpenVPN ensures a better privacy than the PPTP)
2. Setup the application
3. Switch your IP by connecting yourself to a server
4. Enjoy a restored freedom

Top 3 VPN providers to bypass ACTA’s restrictions

Compare features and prices of other VPN providers

Bottom line

Choosing a VPN actually ensures your online privacy, however it’s also a good manner to browse geo-blocked websites such as Hulu or Netflix.

Those websites have numerous contents such as series, TV shows, and movies.