If you missed our live teach-in yesterday on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement and its restrictive, anti-user provisions, you can still check out the video of our discussion. It’s embedded below. We invited experts from digital rights groups from several TPP countries—all members of the Fair Deal Coalition—and we discussed the various ways this massive, secret trade deal threatens our rights on the Internet and over our digital devices.
A recent leak of the TPP’s Intellectual Property chapter confirmed that the provisions on anti-circumvention, copyright terms, ISP liability, and criminal enforcement has further deteriorated. But it also revealed new, dangerously vague text on the misuse of trade secrets which could be used to enact harsh criminal punishments against anyone who reveals or even accesses information through a “computer system” that is allegedly confidential. This language could have alarming consequences if nations are obligated to enact new laws that could be used to crack down on journalists and whistle blowers.
We held this teach-in because things are moving fast now. President Obama and the US Trade Representative are determined to conclude this agreement, organizing dozens of meetings with TPP delegates to resolve some of the longstanding disagreements in the text. On the US front, Congress is likely to introduce another Fast Track bill in January that would tie these representatives’ own hands from debating or modifying the terms of this agreement after the White House has secretively negotiated it for years.
When the time comes, we’ll need to step up the fight against this agreement on a coordinated, global front. So watch this video, share it, and continue to spread the world about this secret, Hollywood-driven agenda to chip away at our digital rights.
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