Denkov Appeals to GERB: Honor Agreement, Prevent Elections
Former Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov has called on GERB to honor the agreement made nine months ago and refrain from plunging the country into chaos by opting for early elections
The official website of Prophon, a Bulgarian music licensing company, was hacked by Anonymous on Sunday due to its recently declared support of the controversial ACTA agreement.
"This is Anonymous. It has come to our attention that YOU and another twelve greedy organisations have signed a open letter, supporting the so-called "Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement"," prophon.org said on Sunday.
"Not only your letter is full of false statements, but you are also essentially calling people's concerns about their FREEDOM "groundless suggestions and manipulations". This is unacceptable, this is where you made us rage. You are the first, but not the last. This should be a lession for the other ACTA supporters," the Anonymous message warned.
"We are Anonymous.
We are legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us."
On Friday, Prophon, together with 12 other copyright organizations and companies, sent an open letter to Parliamentary Chair Tsetska Tsacheva, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and several cabinet members, declaring their firm support for the implementation of ACTA in the country.
Prophon.org was back to normal late on Sunday. Prophon represents the biggest music catalogue in Bulgaria, including the repertoire of the four major record companies (Sony, UMG, WMG, EMI).
On January 26, the Bulgarian government signed in Tokyo the international ACTA agreement, vowing to make downloading content similar to forgery of brands.
The agreement was sealed by Bulgarian ambassador to Japan Lyubomir Todorov, based on a decision by the Bulgarian cabinet taken hastily on January 11.
22 out of the 27 EU member states have signed ACTA, along with countries such as the USA, Japan, Canada, Australia, South Korea and Switzerland.
Among EU Member States, Germany, Cyprus, Estonia, Slovakia and the Netherlands have postponed their signing.
ACTA, abbreviation for Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, mandates that signatory countries implement legislation to criminalize certain types of downloading content such as music and movies, from sites not sanctioned by rights owners, such as torrent trackers.
According to the agreement, such actions will be classified as similar to counterfeiting, and will carry heavier sanctions, including confiscation.
The treaty also will require Internet providers to provide information about the traffic of their users.
In order to become effective in Bulgaria, ACTA must first be ratified by the European Parliament and then by the Bulgarian Parliament, which is expected to happen no earlier than June.
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