The fun-loving weirdos at the World Intellectual Property Organization have a new and terrible wheeze they want to unleash upon the world: a treaty that would require “intermediaries” (web-hosts, ISPs, social networking sites, auction sites, etc) to enforce trademarks on behalf of mark-holders. Under the proposal, these companies and organizations would not only have to delete material that is alleged to infringe on a trademark, they’d also have to narc out their users, supplying IP addresses and other information to the trademark holders, without a court order.
Combine this with the current vogue to copyright trolling, where scumbag lawyers send out indiscriminate shakedown letters demanding copyright “settlements,” these being sums priced below what it would cost a victim to get legal advice as to whether they should cough up, and you’ve got the making of a fine racket for the next generation of legal fraudsters, bottom-feeders and blackmailers.
I love that this UN agency has made its mission to provide full employment for extortionists and trademark lawyers.
(Thanks, Nick!)