
It would seem that freedom of speech and the open web are in better hands in Eastern Europe than they are in Western Europe.
After Poland, the Czech Republic is the
second country to suspend the process of ratifying ACTA. "A wave of protests against the international agreement, including hackers' attacks, has swollen in the world as well as in the Czech Republic. 'By no means would the government admit a situation where civic freedoms and free access to information would be threatened,' [Czech PM] Necas said." Anyone from either Poland or the Czech Republic care to comment on how serious we have to take their politicians? If a Dutch or an American politician said something like this, I'd be weary and mistrusting.
Member since:
2012-02-06
Polish PM announced that Poland will not ratify ACTA without broad debate - but for now its only a delay. A debate took place today, with PM Donald Tusk, Minister for Digitalization, members of various organisations and internet users, where Donald Tusk presented his point of view. He explained that he believes ACTA is not a threat for free internet and he wouldn't sign it otherwise, so he has no intention to cancel his signature, but he will not proceed with ratification until all doubts surrounding ACTA will be addressed.
How serious it is depends on ability of polish society to turn spontaneous protests into organized and sustained action. One of initiatives is to organize referendum - there is requirement of 500 000 signatures, and 300 000 are already collected, but event with that referendum is only possible, not guaranteed. There are still protests happening and situation is highly dynamic, so its hard to make any predictions.