My primary reason for the trip is the PublicACTA event, scheduled just prior to the actual ACTA negotiations. I think it is important to use each round of the ACTA talks as an opportunity to raise public awareness about the treaty and its implications. In addition to the PublicACTA event, I'll be giving a talk on privacy law developments in Auckland for the Privacy Commissioner's Office.

Why should the average person care about ACTA?

ACTA is important to the average person because it could have major implications for national privacy laws, copyright laws, and the way we interact with the internet. This is particularly true for countries like Canada and New Zealand, who have not moved in lockstep with the US on copyright policy. The ability to continue to craft national laws that reflect the national interest could be directly affected by ACTA.

There have now been a lot of leaks of ACTA documents. In your mind, what fears have these alleviated about the proposed treaty and what have they heightened?

I don't think the leaks have alleviated any fears. Rather, the leaks have confirmed fears about the possibility of using ACTA to establish a raft of new laws including anti-circumvention rules, three-strikes policies, increased border searches, statutory damages, new injunctive powers, anti-camcording rules, and new criminal measures.