Chilean agency for export promotion.

The statement of this interest group discusses the concerns the Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement (ACTA) raises. These include the lack of transparency of its content, the limited information given to the public, the fact that this is an executive agreement and the implications this will have in practice in the Unites States political context. Public Knowledge is also uneasy with the terminology used in the ACTA – the use of “piracy” and “counterfeit” without concrete definitions of what these words would encompass. 
    The opinion of Public Knowledge adds an important perspective to my argument because it criticizes the format and the ramifications of ACTA implementation on a domestic level. The interest group raises the fact that the ACTA is an executive agreement and as such does not require the “signatories to be accountable to the public” since it circumvents Congress. If one links this information to the claim that the ACTA is supported predominantly by copyright industries then it leads me to believe that the sole purpose of this accord is to give the companies such as the RIAA and MPAA greater powers to prosecute copyright infringement internationally at their own discretion. Eliminating accountability also signifies that the United States Trade Representative (USTR) does not want to directly involve the U.S. in multinational infringement disputes but only seeks to facilitate the domestic copyright industry to defend its rights in the international arena. The limitation of the Public Knowledge opinion is that it doesn’t consider the newest Fact Sheet that was released by the USTR in August 2008. Even though the fact sheet does not give a substantial amount of concrete information, it does formally address some of Public Knowledge’s questions.

    The United States Trade Representative has provided the fact sheet and the document is a clear outline of the goals and provisions of the ACTA. The sheet provides information concerning international cooperation, enforcement policies and the legal framework. It stipulates that international cooperation needs to be strengthened through increased sharing of information. Enforcement policies need to be intensified through the creation of multinational oversight institutions.
    This document is useful in my research because it succinctly describes what the ACTA is about. However, I found the description very vague and general. Considered separately, each of the aforementioned stipulations is valuable and necessary. Yet, there is no mention of how they will actually come to life. What will be the jurisdiction of the proposed agencies be? Where will they be based? Is the judiciary of each country involved? Is there accountability? The EFF seems to be correct to question the legitimacy and transparency of this document, because information about the execution of ACTA is absent. While the fact sheet addressed this problem, the documents it offers to support its transparency do not give necessary details for the implementation of the project. The realization, however, is the most important part of the agreement. After all, there is no point in signing a contract, which reiterates that piracy should be stopped and the international community needs to work together to successfully eliminate online intellectual property infringement. Everybody wants to accomplish these goals, but what is crucial is the way countries interact on the international scene to carry out enforcement of copyright and punish its infringement.

This article provides a comprehensive overview of the tenets regarding the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). The proposal is drafted by Japan, the EC, the US and Switzerland as of now for a plurilateral anti-counterfeiting agreement. The report delves further into the issue of piracy by identifying factors studied by the OECD. The OECD report highlights that negative impacts on individual property right’s holders include decreased sales volumes, prices and royalties complemented by limited research and development. In the context of file sharing, this could potentially damage the image of product sales and bigger companies due to the lack of proper revenue being brought in. This trade discussion paper is also provides information about Australian participation in the ACTA negotiations. Areas further discussed within the legal framework include criminal enforcement and border measures. These just serve as a few of the potentially stringent new plans to be carried out should the ACTA be passed.

This article seems to be similar to the ACTA information sheet, but provides a more comprehensive look at the future of file sharing and problems associated with it. However, the claims tend to blanket all issues of piracy and copyright infringement and thus leave out a lot of information regarding file sharing. In reference to my thesis, this seems to provide early evidentiary support for the ACTA’s prototype and the legalities that would come along with its passing.

The proliferation of piracy and counterfeiting appears to pose a threat to the development of the economy. It is believed that these infringements deprive legitimate businesses of proper income, while simultaneously limiting innovation and creativity. To combat these changes, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement serves to establish among nations a way to combat global infringements of copyrighted works.  Individual property rights’ protection via the ACTA will increase international cooperation, strengthen the framework of practices that contribute to effective enforcement of IPRs, and strengthen relevant IPR enforcement measures themselves. The provisions of the act stress international cooperation via improving technical assistance. This includes building relationships with organizations such as Comcast and other internet service providers to develop better restrictions on file sharing. These restrictive forces, when applied, will provide an easier way to control the transfer of illicit information via peer-to-peer sharing.

The ACTA's passing controls the future of file sharing and the implications involved in the advancement of these proposed restrictions. By taking this movement global, the ACTA will be able to infiltrate all forms of control and severely handicap the transfer of information. This block in file sharing appears to be the world's way of fixing our failing economy. Though this intends to strengthen the cause for the protection of individual property rights, this agreement severely stunts the growth of information and creativity from peer-to-peer. Joining other organizations in order to crack down on file sharing will enhance the opposition to find alternate paths to acquiring this information, a situation this agreement further fails to address. Though succinct, this article appears to highlight central arguments and provides constant updates on legislative procedures taken against the EFF.

Common access point to industrial, economic and developmental data from a variety of sources (UN, IMF, WHO, World Bank, etc.). Created by the United Nations Statistics Division.

A great search engine from the UN for finding international data.

Part of the International Trade Administration (Department of Commerce). Trade data, trade acts, etc. specific to textiles and apparel. 

see

http://www.cfr.org/content/publications/attachments/MENA2.pdf

http://www.cfr.org/content/publications/attachments/MENA2.pdf

for tables

PART 1

This book is a detailed look at NAFTA and the cultural industries. The book opens with an explanation of trade agreements like NAFTA and GATT as well as FTA and Cultural Industries. The book questions if culture should be subject to free trade. In the second chapter, John Sinclair examines cultural industries and the theory of cultural dominance and imperialism. Sinclair writes about the difference of cultural products from commodities because their appeal is their novelty and they are not used up when they are consumed. Sinclair questions if national culture should be protected by trade laws and to what extent. In the third chapter, Colin Haskins, Adam Finn and Stuart McFadyen write about TV and film in relation to Canada’s response to US dominance in international trade. This chapter is an examination of different country’s responses to US dominance with an economic focus. They question trade issues asking if they are merely goods, if the US is dumping and why the US dominates in the trade of cultural industries. The last section of the chapter is about Canadian policy and an assessment of their laws in relation to cultural industries. The next chapter in this part of the book, by Henry Newcomb, questions what happens to a culture when it adopts another culture’s methods of producing, understanding and representing their culture. Newcomb says that only cultural industries and not the culture itself can be protected by trade agreements. He looks at the issues and problems in defining cultural industries and how to protect them. The next chapter also concentrates on TV and more specifically the soap opera within the context of global media. Robert C. Allen begins with a brief history of the soap opera. Allen chooses to focus on the Mexican telenovela and compare it to US soap operas. In his comparison of the telenovela and the soap opera, Allen argues that the telenovela is a stronger product in the international market than the US soap opera.

 

 PART 2
The next section of the book focuses on Mexico and cultural trade and identity.  The first chapter, by Carlos Monsivias, is about Mexican nationalism and how the US cultural industries and presence in Mexico affects the sense of nationalism in the country.  He claims that the cultural identity needs to stem from adaptability of US culture into the Mexican system because the power of the US cannot be denied.  Following this chapter, Nestor Garcia Canclini also writes about the Mexican identity.  Canclini says that there will be multicultural and trans-cultural changes and influence within Mexico and its social and cultural policies.  Jose Carlos Lozano, in his chapter, focuses on the reception of US cultural industries on the Mexican border and their effects on Mexican culture.  This chapter focuses on the people’s response to the opening of Mexico under NAFTA and the effects of US culture on people close to the border.  He shows that there is nationalism and that people often prefer the products of their country.  The last chapter in this section of the book is by Eduardo Barrera and again deals with issues surrounding NAFTA, cultural industries and the US-Mexico border.  He calls the border a laboratory for post modernity.  Barrera does a case study on TV in a barrio to look at the effect of the transmission of cultural industries across the border with results that support Lozano’s arguments.  The next section of the book focuses on Quebec and issues of trade and national identity. The first chapter shows how cultural industries are important to the survival of cultural identity.  Claude Martin writes about how Quebec’s cultural industries are fundamental to the nation, despite their lack of strength when compared to Hollywood.  The next chapter, by Roger De La Garde, is a look at TV in Montreal and the effects of free trade on the industry and community.  This chapter is similar to those on Mexican border studies, in that it demonstrates a demand and a loyalty to local programming as opposed to English or dubbed-US shows.  The following chapter examines best selling books as a representation of Quebec’s support of their authors.  Jacques Lemieux and Denis Saint-Jacques claim that in the ten years of the study, Quebecois authors sold more books than US authors.  The final chapter on Quebec focuses on the music industry.  Line Grenier again demonstrates that the people of Quebec prefer their own music to the US imports.  The final part of the book focuses on copyright and contracts.  The first chapter focuses on issues surrounding the popular music industry in relation to NAFTA.  It explains how music is always changing copyright law and speculates how NAFTA will change to cover new laws and technologies.  The final chapter, by Keith Acheson and Christopher J. Maule, is a broader look at copyright, NAFTA and cultural industries.  They argue that cultural products are becoming more and more prevalent in daily life and they have an effect on the quality of life.  They demonstrate what copyright does and how it interacts with contracts to function in the cultural industries.  This book was very interesting and provided a lot of points of view on NAFTA and how it works in terms of trading cultural commodities.  The authors’ articles were all different but each section came together to demonstrate common themes and sentiments. 

 

Zorzi, Alvise. Venice: The Golden Age, 697-1797. Trans. Nicoletta Simborowski and Simon Mackenzie. New York: Abbeville Press, 1980.

Zorzi gives a vivid account of the rise of the Venetian Empire and its eleven-hundred year ‘Golden Age,’ using historical quotations, pictures, diagrams, etc.  He traces the history of Venice, from its beginnings as a refuge for Romans, escaping from the barbarians that destroyed their Empire, to its own imperial dominance and mastery of overseas trade.  Venice has an almost mythic quality to it, which it why Daphne du Maurier chose to set her short story, Don’t Look Now, in Venice.  Zorzi writes of Venice’s beginnings, “Tradition and legend […] surrounds the founding of Venice in a mythology which is almost reminiscent of the Biblical account of the origins of the world” (10).  The mysterious quality of the city makes it a perfect setting for Don’t Look Now, which toys with reality and makes us question our historical vision.  Zorzi explains that Venice was seen as an “overbearing entity, which aroused hatred suspicion, worry and fear” (7).  He describes Venice as an ominous figure, menacing those around it.  Roeg captures this negative character of Venice in the film, making the city complicit in the death of John Baxter.
Zorzi explains that the Venetians were “descendants of the Romans that had opted for the freedom of the seas and lagoons rather than bend to the will of barbarian monarchs” (68).  Venice is described as a safe-haven, a place for people to escape to (from the crumbling Roman Empire).  Don’t Look Now captures this aspect of Venice, because John and Laura are refugees in a way.  They are attempting to escape from their pain and sorrow over the death of their daughter by ‘escaping’ to Venice.
Understanding the history of Venice also illuminates certain moments of dialogue in the film.  For example, when John says, “The deeper I go, the more Byzantine it gets,” he is referring both to the difficulties that arise as his renovation of the church progresses and the fact that Venice was built by Byzantines (i.e. citizens of the Roman Empire).  The devotion of the police officers is also better understood, because, “An extremely strong sense of justice permeates Venetian civilization right from its beginnings” (137)...

Article discusses how in the past decade the music industry has dramatically changed because of advancements in digital technology. In the past years "bandwidth restrictions" have served to hinder distribution of music in digital form via the Internet but due to the evolving netwrok technology these "restrictions are disappearing." As a result consumers can obtain and listen to high-quality music in digital form directly from the internet, "accelerating the development of the Internet as an infortainment hub, whereby it will become the main conduit for both information and entertainment."