A Reminder Why to Vote ‘No’ on ACTA

A Reminder Why to Vote ‘No’ on ACTA
Access to line entrance to European Parliament on Wednesday, July 4, calling on MEPs to VOTE ‘NO’ ON ACTA

STRASBOURG, France, 2 July 2012 – When the members of the European Parliament enter the building to cast their final ballots on ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) this Wednesday, they’ll receive a final message before going to vote.

As the culmination of a nine-month campaign calling on MEPs to vote “No” on ACTA, Access (https://www.accessnow.org) is organizing a delivery of its petition: lining the entrance to Parliament with banners reminding MEPs of all the people that want them to vote “No” on ACTA. A series of placards will list the different bodies that have spoken out against the treaty – including the five EP committees that recommended against it and the close to 400,000 individuals that signed Access’ petition. The last thing MEPs will see before they enter the building to cast their votes will be a banner reading, “Members of the European Parliament, how will you vote?”

Since September of last year, Access has collected over 380,000 signatures from its members around the world, calling on MEPs to reject ACTA.

“Negotiated under a cloud of secrecy, ACTA lacks democratic credibility and threatens free speech and privacy online by wrongly incentivizing ISPs to surveil and police their users,” said Raegan MacDonald, Senior Policy Analyst, Access.

Access was also responsible for publicizing previously unreleased ACTA negotiating documents, which can be found here: https://www.accessnow.org/acta-docs

While ACTA has already been signed by several negotiating countries, including the United States, a "No" from the European Parliament would politically kill this Treaty. For more information on Access' campaign, go to https://www.accessnow.org/acta.


Access is an international NGO that promotes open access to the internet as a means to free, full and safe participation in society and the realization of human rights.

ENDS

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