Doesn't congress have to approve treaties? If Obama is against SOPA and PIPA it makes him a hypocrite to sign this and give foreign nations the right to regulate US based websites and users. I also agree that the penalties are crazy.
I can see both sides to this issue.
On the one hand, people do "pirate" copyrighted material all the time - music, movies, literature, video games, software applications, etc., etc. Those creators and/or vendors of these "products" deserve to have their property protected against unlawful copy and distribution.
On the other hand, there does need to be a better way to police the Internet to deter online piracy without abdicating such duties to foreign entities. Of course, if you read the Act in question, it's really a two-way street at play here, i.e., "If France learns that their intellectual property is being sold illegally over the Internet in Russia, they should be able to contact the ISP in Russia and have the stop the piracy". Maybe I need to study the subject matter more, but on the surface I don't see a problem with this. After all, it's not a "restrictive" measure to be practiced arbitrarily by the host nation, i.e., a media blackout. It's merely a nation trying its best to protect against the unlawful distribution of online countent. Some may think that the policing authority shouldn't be focused on the ISP that committed the infractions but instead should be levelled against the violator itself, but that's the problem - catching that violator is akin to finding a needle in a haystack! Therefore, focusing in on the host ISP is much easier than trying to "find" the "bootlegger" himself.
On the issue of presidental authority to sign the treaty in question: Per Art 2, Sect. 2, clause 2: "[The President] shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur..."
With that framework in mind, I suggest folks read the following two linked articles to determine for yourselves if the President has side-stepped the Senate concerning the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, towit, I invite your attention to
Article 39, footnote 17 of said Agreement.
Strategy for American Innovation: Promote Market-Based Innovation | The White House (See third paragraph under, "Support and protect effective intellectual property rights")
Meet the Women of the Administration: Miriam Sapiro | The White House (See "What has been your favorite moment since you’ve been working at the USTR?" for details)
(
Sidenote: This Agreement isn't just w/China as outlined in the footnote to Article 39.)