Earlier tonight I appeared on CBC's As It Happens to discuss ACTA. An MP3 version of the interview is available.
CBC’s As It Happens on ACTA
November 6, 2009
Share this post
3 Comments

Law Bytes
Episode 278: Ben Waldman on Gander Social and the Challenges of Building a Sovereign Social Network
byMichael Geist

August 10, 2026
Michael Geist
Search Results placeholder
Michael Geist on Substack
Recent Posts
The Lessons of 9/11 We Forgot After October 7th
Named to Canadian Lawyer’s Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers
Be Careful What You Wish For: Why Asking Google Maps to Defy the U.S. on Lake Ontario Would Undermine Canadian Digital Sovereignty
Big Money, Bigger Design Changes: What the Meta Settlement Means for Canada, Bill C-34, and the Age Verification and Privacy Risks That Remain
Unleashing the Trolls: Ontario Court Opens the Door to Liability for Influencers Who Weaponize Their Audiences

How??
The part I’m confused about is HOW, exactly, any law arrived at via ACTA, or any of these “trade meetings”, can be “forced” on us? Aren’t we a sovereign nation, having the right to manage our own affairs??
Head Honcho
No!
I had about 5/6 sentences on a rant but I had to delete them! 🙂
This is where it leads.
I’m some upstart interenet company, I need customers, I spend my time using people’s wireless, or pegging off competitor isp ip’s from the posted botnets for sale.. I get every customer from my competitor’s isp banned from the net. They come to me for internet. I take their money and get them banned quickly ( freeing up resources ) and I sell more.
Noone has reliable internet, and I’m rich.
I know there’s a lot of ideas there, any single one of them makes the whole concept of 3 strikes so utterly ridiculous.