With the recent demise of the stop online piracy act and protect IP act the general public has become more knowledgeable about potential bills that try to limit and censor our access to the Internet. Although SOPA and PIPA both crashed and burned, a long-standing but often overlooked treaty has been biding its time, or rather, our government has kept it out of sight. 

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is a treaty that would bring back both bills the U.S. Congress refused to enact.

ACTA was never broadcast to the public by either Bush nor Obama, and information on the bill was made public only through a recent revelation by the infamous WikiLeaks. 

Although not exactly a copy of SOPA or PIPA, the goals of ACTA are disturbingly similar. It would limit the people’s creativity and ability to find information  through the Internet and, as with SOPA and PIPA, the censorship  goes far beyond just protecting intellectual property.

As the U.S. populace, our duty is not just to know what our government is trying to do, not just to us but to the world. We are citizens of the world and ACTA has been, for all intents and purposes, developed in secret.

Not a lot of information has been released about ACTA, but since the WikiLeak incident, a multitude of uprisings and protests have broken out, especially in Europe. 

If Polish politicians can walk into Parliament in protest of the bill with Guy Fawkes masks, made popular by the Internet activist group Anonymous, we, as the American public, can do so much more.

SOPA and PIPA have often been cast as the public versus Hollywood and in the spirit of a squeal now it’s Hollywood vs. the world.

I urge everybody to find out more about ACTA. The first step towards battling such a large bill is not to run out screaming like headless chickens, but to properly inform ourselves of the situation then take action. Our government crafted this treaty; our government can kill it.