EU Data Privacy Official Slams Copyright Talks

"As international negotiations toward a major cross-border trade agreement to curb intellectual property crimes continue behind closed doors, a top European privacy official today blasted the secrecy of the talks, sounding an alarm about Internet monitoring provisions that could press ISPs to filter traffic on their networks for pirated content.

"The warning from European Data Protection Supervisor Peter Hustinx comes as nations negotiating the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) recently concluded the seventh round of talks at a meeting in Guadalajara, Mexico.

"While the negotiations are secret, and anyone who is given access to ACTA documents is bound to silence by a non-disclosure agreement, leaked materials have been trickling out onto the Internet, including some that outline provisions calling for heightened monitoring by ISPs to crack down on subscribers suspected of illegally downloading or sharing copyrighted content."

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