EU Digital Agenda Commissioner Admits ACTA Is Probably Dead

A European Commissioner for the first time said openly that the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is more or less dead in the water.

"We are now likely to be in a world without SOPA [Stop Online Piracy Act] and without ACTA," Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said in a speech to bloggers and Web entrepreneurs in Berlin. ACTA is an international anti-piracy agreement that was signed by the European Union, the U.S. and nine other countries in January. It will enter into force after ratification by six of the signatory states, but so far none have done so. In the E.U., the deal must be approved by the European Parliament before it can become law.