ACTA

There was this treaty called ACTA that came out of nowhere around 2012—governments had negotiated it in secret as an anti-counterfeiting thing, but what it actually did was open the door to total internet surveillance. Unlimited monitoring, ISPs logging everything, websites shut down on accusation. You read the details and it sounds like fiction, but it was real, and people were about to let it happen.

That Saturday, there were protests everywhere. I remember how spontaneous it felt—not some organized campaign, just millions of people independently deciding this was worth walking outside for. It was one of those rare moments where you could see the internet actually mattering to people, not as content or commerce but as something worth defending.

And it worked. Countries didn’t ratify it. The whole thing failed.

Looking back now, ACTA seems almost quaint. We ended up with all the surveillance anyway, just slower and without the treaty, which made it easier for everyone to pretend it wasn’t happening. But ACTA was at least honest—it came with text you could read and understand and refuse. That moment, when people understood what was at stake and actually showed up for it, that felt important.