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Future

Hey Anti-Piracy Haters! Meet CETA, The 'Trojan Horse' Of Just Rejected ACTA

LE MONDE (France), TORONTO STAR, RABBLE (Canada)

Worldcrunch

According to Canadian expert in copyright, Michael Geist, the European Commission is planning to implement the recently rejected provisions of ACTA with a clever little workaround: by applying the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

The Canadian publication Rabble reports that Canada and the European Union are trying to ratify the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement through the backdoor.

Michael Geist, who is also the Toronto Star"s Internet legal affairs columnist, stated: "The European Commission strategy appears to use CETA as the new ACTA, burying its provisions in a broader Canadian trade agreement with the hope that the European Parliament accepts the same provisions it just rejected with the ACTA framework."

On his blog, Mr Geist presents the similarities between ACTA and CETA provisions, mainly concerning the Internet Provider Liability, the Civil and Criminal Enforcement, as well as the Border Measures.

French daily Le Monde points out that according to leaked documents from February 2012, the CETA agreement will oblige Internet providers to disclose the identity of their users suspected of piracy.

Dubbed "ACTA's Trojan horse" by several European websites, CETA is currently in its last stage of negotiation.

As for the ACTA treaty, which the European MPs massively rejected in the voting session last week, it is to be examined by the European Court of Justice. ACTA could be re-examined by the EU Parliament, if the Court decides it respects fundamental rights.

In the meantime, reaction was fierce in Europe to reports of this Plan B for anti-piracy policy:

French Indignados' reaction on CETA: "Europe thinks you are idiots'

"Brussels is trying to cancel the rejection of ACTA. Did you say European democracy???"

"Goodbye ACTA, hello CETA; A new struggle begins."

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Society

Influencer Union? The Next Labor Rights Battle May Be For Social Media Creators

With the end of the Hollywood writers and actors strikes, the creator economy is the next frontier for organized labor.

​photograph of a smartphone on a selfie stick

Smartphone on a selfie stick

Steve Gale/Unsplash
David Craig and Stuart Cunningham

Hollywood writers and actors recently proved that they could go toe-to-toe with powerful media conglomerates. After going on strike in the summer of 2023, they secured better pay, more transparency from streaming services and safeguards from having their work exploited or replaced by artificial intelligence.

But the future of entertainment extends well beyond Hollywood. Social media creators – otherwise known as influencers, YouTubers, TikTokers, vloggers and live streamers – entertain and inform a vast portion of the planet.

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For the past decade, we’ve mapped the contours and dimensions of the global social media entertainment industry. Unlike their Hollywood counterparts, these creators struggle to be seen as entertainers worthy of basic labor protections.

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