ACTA: If You Write A Trade Agreement No One Will Sign, What's The Point?

[Commentary] Last summer, with the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiations stalled for two years because of Hollywood insistence adding all kinds of regulate-the-internet crazy stuff, we gave the US Trade Representative and the industries pushing for ACTA some friendly advice: "Drop the crazy stuff." Unfortunately, whenever there is an international trade agreement negotiation, Hollywood jumps in, takes over, and starts driving the crazy train off a cliff by demanding all kinds of nonsense in the name of "stopping piracy."

This invariably holds things up because the rest of the world does not like the crazy stuff that Hollywood keeps selling, Nevertheless, the official position of the U.S. government has generally been to let Hollywood drive the crazy train through Trade Agreement Town. This makes everyone else in Trade Agreement Town captive to Hollywood's crazy demands. So let me give USTR and the non-Hollywood industries involved right now in negotiating trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) another spot of free advice. Do not let Hollywood hijack your trade negotiations to put in even crazier stuff no one in the world likes, wants, or will sign on to.