Victor Ponta announced during the RoNewMedia 6.0 conference that Romania will not ratify the controversial intellectual property treaty. Speaking as special guest of the IT event, Ponta declared himself a fan of new technologies. “If one morning someone stole my tablet PC, I could not do all my duties as a premier,” he said. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) was signed by the states of the European Union, including Romania, at the beginning of this year, during an international meeting held in Japan. Previously, it had been signed on october 1st 2011 by Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, Morocco, New Zealand and the United States.ACTA is meant to fight the trade with counterfeited goods and computer piracy, but its opponents say that it opens the door to abuses against the private lives and freedoms of citizens.ACTA was the target of massive street protests in many countries of Europe, including Romania, and other continents, because of its provisions concerning internet piracy, blamed for infringing human rights, private life, and the free circulation of ideas.
