ALEA "ACTA" EST

The blogosphere lit up recently when the news that there was to be a tightening-up of the law which would affect downloading hit the collective consciousness of the 'Net Warriors.

Apparently, ACTA (and I really couldn't be fagged to look up the full name) is going to bring about the end of the virtual world as we know, and the Thought Police are going to be poised to ram their way into the homes of each and every one of us if we even contemplate the merest possibility of a hint of a chance that we're going to do something naughty.

This brought out the Revolutionaries in their droves, red scarves tied around their throats and clenched fists pounding the empty air.

Another view of the whole thing is that the new regime is simply a means to enforce the law as it stands already, and it is only things which were illegal before that will be illegal after ACTA is brought into play.

So nothing to worry about, then.

I had asked, on my Twitter/Facebook feed, for some elucidation about why so many people were fulminating and blaming GonziPN personally for the fact that their inherent right to surf the 'Net was being so heinously proscribed. I specifically asked that no rhetoric should be resorted to, but it was, leaving me no better informed except for a suspicion, now confirmed since reading a sober assessment by a young legal beagle who is way more knowledgeable than I, that what was getting people irritated was the fact that illegal downloading was going to be a less easy task.

And here is the rub, as that bane of teenager's lives for many years (Shakespeare) had probably put it. I have downloaded stuff along with the rest of them and frankly, it's such a bind downloading movies, that I'd love to be able to do it hassle-free, even if it costs a few euro. This doesn't apply to music which I've owned in vinyl, cassette and CD - there's a limit to how many times I think I should pay for the same thing.

I've done it illegally (go on, sue me) simply because since time began (i.e. since the Interwebsuperhighway started) Malta seems to have fallen into a black hole and trying to get stuff legally is very often a non-starter. It seems that rights holders were playing silly buggers - things are improving slowly, but we're still way off the mainstream of Europe, so perhaps our esteemed politicians, instead of trying to stick it to each other about ACTA, should do something about it.

Pity Grace Borg decided to bow out of politics: on her election (did you have any doubt she'd get in if she had tried?) she could have been appointed to an Action Committee to get us into the civilised world for movie buying purposes.

After all, I'm sure she knows plenty about why it's so difficult to source material from outside our shores: she represents the major rights holders here.