Graeme Philipson discusses the surreptitiously conceived Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which aims to strengthen digital copyright protection.

In effect the new regulations mean border and immigration officers in treaty countries will become “copyright police”, empowered to search, confiscate, or destroy, virtually at their sole discretion, any electronic device that may, or may not, hold content that contravenes copyright laws.

The ACTA draft is a scary document. If a treaty based on its provisions were adopted, it would enable any border guard, in any treaty country, to check any electronic device for any content that they suspect infringes copyright laws. They need no proof, only suspicion. They would be able to seize any device - laptop, iPod, DVD recorder, mobile phone, etc - and confiscate it or destroy anything on it, merely on suspicion. On the spot, no lawyers, no right of appeal, no nothing.