If the U.S. is proposing draconian rules to implement the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), it's nothing compared to the British proposal. Cory Doctorow reports:

These changes will give the Secretary of State...the power to make "secondary legislation" (legislation that is passed without debate) to amend the provisions of Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (1988).

What that means is that an unelected official would have the power to do anything without Parliamentary oversight or debate, provided it was done in the name of protecting copyright. [Secretary of State] Mandelson elaborates on this, giving three reasons for his proposal: