Thread by @doctorow

For the past ten days, I've written extensively about Mexico's new copyright law, a law that copy-pastes the US copyright system, enacted with no consultation or debate, nominally to satisfy requirements under Donald Trump's #USMCA agreement.

eff.org/deeplinks/2020…

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The law is a disaster for human rights, undermining free speech, the rights of disabled people, cybersecurity, national sovereignty, the #RightToRepair, and other fundamental rights - it puts Mexico at a permanent, structural disadvantage relative to Canada and the US.

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Like the US law it copies, the new law has numerous, seemingly reasonable exemptions that, superficially at least, appear to resolve these human rights issues. However, these are tissue-thin pretenses, unusably larded with conditions no one could satisfy.

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We know this, because the US law they're copied from has been in place for 22 years, and in that time, NO ONE has been able to invoke these exemptions successfully. They are needles designed to be unthreadable, even by the most innocent and blameless of defendants.

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My colleague, @EFF Senior Attorney @prilkit, knows more about US copyright law and digital rights than almost anyone else in the world, and she has published a VERY detailed analysis of the new Mexican law, drawing on her vast knowledge.

eff.org/deeplinks/2020…

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This deep dive represents not just the first public translation of the law into English, but also the best, closest analysis of the law to date (her analysis is currently in translation and will be published soon, likely today).

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Today is the final day for Mexico's National Commission for Human Rights to take action on the law, and if you are Mexican or in Mexico, you can petition them to take it up:

participa.nicensuranicandados.org

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But even if the Commission fails to act, the fight isn't over. As the people and businesses of Mexico have awakened to the hidden dangers of this law, pressure is growing for Congress to revisit it, and court cases are being planned.

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If there was ever any doubt that digital rights were inseparable from human rights, surely the pandemic - which relegated our whole lives to the digital realm - has erased it. Organizations like @R3Dmx and @derechosdigital are leading the fight in Mexico.

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Mexico's lawmakers have a duty to put their people's human rights ahead of the greed and venality of US-based multinationals. This issue will NOT go away.

eof/