EU's secretive anti-piracy talks cause concern

EU officials are working on a global intellectual property treaty which could rewrite national legislation on copyright but which is being put together in a secretive process which helps to "launder" policies that may be too unpopular to pass through normal democratic channels.

The EU and industrialised countries such as the US, Canada, Australia and Japan have since last spring been negotiating a trade pact known as Acta - the Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement.

The treaty has be...