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Last summer, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, more popularly known as ACTA, was voted down by the EU Parliament. The treaty, which was meant to streamline and standardize intellectual property laws across global jurisdictions was widely fought against by activists and protestors as an invasion of privacy and freedoms of speech. The protests ended with thousands of people in the streets and the EU Parliament emphatically rejecting the treaty. It was widely thought that the treaty was dead in the water.

However, on Friday, after receiving a request from the U.S. government to fulfill its “ACTA obligations,” the Canadian government introduced legislation suggesting it was gearing up to ratify the treaty, raising fears from several anti-ACTA advocates.

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Below, we lay out exactly what ACTA is and why exactly it’s a bit strange that Canada is looking to enact it.

What exactly is ACTA?

ACTA is a multinational treaty designed to modernize and standardize intellectual property laws across the globe.