Germany refuses to sign ACTA (for now)
panarmenian.nethighler quality sources in German Language:
http://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article13861529/Berlin-verweigert-Unterzeichnung-von-Acta-Abkommen.html Don't let yourselves be fooled - not only in Germany is it a common method by the government to undermine protests, to call them successful, sit out the fallout, then try again when public attention is focused on other events (like, a football cup or olympic games). I hope noone will withdraw their call for protest tomorrow. As Germany is one of the most infuencial countries in the EU, we should also show solidarity to the people in other countries and help overturn this treaty entirely. Its not a common method in Germany. No idea where you come from but if you would know a bit about Germany then you would understand that there democracy still kind of works (unlike in the US for example). Its not a common method in Germany. Where are you getting that from? It's standard practice, try reading some alternative media (fefe!) sometime. I have no matching links handy, but you can read about it pretty frequently if you look in the right places (e.g. during the Fukushima event). What do you mean with alternative media? The "alternative media" is what conspiracy theorists use to convince themselves that 9/11 was an inside job. If by alternative you mean a place like HN where stories are being commented on then I agree but you will hardly find one sided support for that kind of claims here. Which is why HN for all the bad trends we see here is still one of the best places to get our apriori views invalidated. HN does not invalidate your views, it presents you with the views of a certain group of (mostly U.S. based) people. You can observe strong tendencies in viewpoints for both web/startup/tech related things as well as political issues, and especially for the latter you won't find the full "political spectrum" covered around here (not confining its meaning to notions like left/right wing here). That's why you should use several different sources/media. Oh I do use several different sources. The point is that HN attracts different sources. But he is absolutly right. As a german i can say: there is no real democracy here, just the choice between the bad and the bold. But well, of course, it's way better than most other pseudo-democracys. There are no such thing as real democracy. So perhaps you are judging on the wrong premise. Go Germany! So it seems there is hope yet. The noise about ACTA in Poland is still growing and politicians are beginning to notice this is a much bigger deal than they thought. Especially as the leading party just went down several percent in polls. This can now be stopped at the EU level, which will not be easy, but is doable. As a German, I consider this a desperate attempt to dilute the efforts of the opposition to organize nationwide rallies on saturday. The move just seems too perfectly timed... (Edit: the keyword here is 'for now') Its still not to late to sign the petition against ACTA: http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_save_the_internet/ I'm afraid it's only postponed until the EURO 2012 in summer :-/ https://www.amnesty.org/en/news/eu-urged-reject-internationa... Amnesty international asks EU not to sign ACTA. Good for you Germany! I wish British politicians weren't useless, spineless, back stabbing, lying arseholes. They signed without blinking an eye. German politicians _are_ as useless, spineless, back stabbing, lying assholes as everybody else's politicians. > They signed without blinking an eye. So would German big-party politicians. But... next year we have elections, and the Pirate party is already too popular to be ignored. Fear of greens and pirates is the one and only reason why this wasnt signed now. Maybe it will in a year, when the elections are over. Until then, the anti-internet parties are tryin to keep a low profile with repect to internet censorship. Concur. Would the movement to save the NHS eclipse any ACTA movement too? What movement to save the NHS? I think it's a movement to fuck it up. This seems like big news. Can this article be trusted? I don't see this being reported anywhere else. Yes, it can be trusted: http://www.zeit.de/digital/internet/2012-02/acta-deutschland... BTW great article. Thanks Also here: http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=136546 Given what what was happening in the Czech Republic and Poland (and also the protests in Germany itself), it's not that surprising. Let's hope other EU countries follow. Yes, this is officially confirmed in Germany. See e.g. http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Deutschland-unterzeic... GG Deutschland! Anti ACTA protest planned tomorrow in Romania. Please attend the rally in your city.