Acting on ACTA

3rd February 2012

The furore over the controversial ACTA agreement took another turn this week after President Bronislaw Komorowski sought clarification over fears it might threaten civil liberties.

In a letter to the civil rights ombudsman, Mr Komorowski wrote, “Internet and street protests seem to suggest that a significant part of society, especially the young, regard the agreement as a threat to their basic civil rights.”

But when pushed during an interview for TVN24 as to whether he thought the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement was in fact a threat, the president said “it appears not”. He added, however, that he saw “some problems that need clarification”.

He stated that such checks were necessary to see what changes to law had to be made and to demonstrate that the public’s concerns were being taken seriously.

Protests against the agreement have continued around the country with some 5,000 people taking to the freezing streets of Gdansk on Tuesday to voice their opposition to the agreement.

Their protest follows similar demonstration right across the country, and the hacking of government and ministry websites that knocked a number of them off the Internet for two days.