In a stunning reversal brought about by massive European protests, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has been overwhelmingly rejected by the European Union's Parliament in a vote of 478-39.
Not only did the European body reject corporate interests over the voices of millions of citizens, Parliamentarians celebrated doing so.
Witness:
This image is demonstration that the power of popular protests should never be underestimated, for the treaty (think SOPA on a global scale) had been approved by 27 EU leaders and had already been signed by 22 member states.
However, it had yet to be ratified when massive protests, both in the streets and online, shook European leaders to their core.
The reverberating voices of millions caused those in power to shift from supporting some of the world's most powerful corporate interests to siding with Europe's populace:
The treaty was unanimously approved by the 27 EU heads of government in December. But EU efforts to ratify it ran into deep trouble almost immediately. For the EU to become a party to the treaty, all 27 member countries would have to formally approve it.
Protests erupted on the streets of several European cities. A petition against ACTA garnered 2.8 million signatures.
Just as here in the U.S. with SOPA, these protests -- which were swift and caught governments throughout Europe off guard -- effectively killed an online piracy treaty supported by the world's most powerful media and entertainment conglomerates.
The controversial treaty would have had dire consequences for the global blogging community, potentially criminalizing non-commercial copyright infringements and chilling the free-flow of information:
ACTA demanded the criminalisation of 'commercial-scale' copyright infringement, but its definition of commercial scale was broad enough to turn bloggers putting copyrighted images on their blogs into criminals.
The United States remains as one of a few nations which currently supports ACTA, but with Europe's rejection of the treaty, its future looks bleak.
Thanks to activists worldwide.
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