Government U-turn over ACTA

10th February 2012

The government has decided to postpone the ratification of the controversial anti-copyright agreement that has provoked widespread anger and protest, saying it needed further “consultation”.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that country needed more time to see if the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA as it is better known, was compatible with Polish law.

Speaking at a press conference, the PM added that government consultations over the agreement “had been incomplete” and that he was “mad with his co-workers” because of this.

Opponents of the ACTA, which aims to crack down at online piracy, argue that it will infringe upon the freedom of information and free speech. Venting their spleen, anti-ACTA demonstrations have occurred across the country since the government inked the agreement last month, and hackers even managed to take down the prime minister’s website, among others, in a demonstration of cyber-opposition.

But despite the decision to postpone parliamentary ratification, Mr Tusk said his government would not withdraw from the agreement, and that any government that changed its mind owing to public protest “should resign”.

“I guess, however, given the level of public anxiety [over ACTA], that there might be something we haven’t seen, something we haven’t understood,” he added during a public question-and-answer session on the agreement, which had been billed as part of the consultation process.

The government also published a list of “commitments” that it requires to be met before the ratification process can go ahead. Top of this list is the commitment to publish all documents related to the ACTA that the state has, and all the material it can get out of the EU. This, the government hopes, should allow the greater scrutiny the agreement apparently deserves, and help calm fears that it has no secret or unknown aspects which would undermine internet freedoms.

But by delaying ratification and calling for commitments the government has drawn accusations that it made a mistake. All consultation, critics point out, should have taken place before the decision to sign, and now the government is indirectly owning up to making a mess of things.

“In our culture admitting to a mistake is not seen as a sign of wisdom but as a sign weakness,” wrote journalist Katarzyna Kolenda-Zaleska in daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza.

She added anybody now might take advantage of this perceived weakness to campaign for any cause they hold dear knowing that a certain amount of pressure could make the government go back on future decisions.