[bestbits] New leaks confirm TiSA proposals that would undermine civil liberties

[Maryant Fernández]

*New leaks confirm TiSA proposals that would undermine civil liberties*
https://edri.org/new-leaks-confirm-tisa-undermine-civil-liberties/
https://twitter.com/edri/status/802077350682914817

Today, on 25 November 2016, German blog Netzpolitik.org
<https://netzpolitik.org/> in association with Greenpeace published new
leaked documents concerning the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), a
“trade” agreement that is currently being negotiated between 23 members
of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), including the European Union.

*The new leaks confirm the problems identified in previous leaks,
including serious threats to freedom of expression and protection of
personal data of European citizens.*

"The proposals on privatised censorship are particularly worrying", said
Joe McNamee, Executive Director of European Digital Rights (EDRi).
"Creating a power to undermine our free speech with no accountability is
reckless and contrary to literally all relevant provisions of
international law."

In September 2016, Wikileaks and Greenpeace Netherlands published
<https://edri.org/tisa-leaks-set-alarm-bells-ringing/> other documents
on TiSA. In the light of today’s leaks, what’s new from a civil
liberties perspective?

_*1. Liability protections:*_ while having provisions to promote freedom
of expression will be a step forward, the latest US made a proposal in
TiSA which does not respect the rule of law and would remove rights to
freedom of expression. The proposal is that internet companies would not
be liable for any damage caused by voluntary restrictions of
individuals’ free speech if they undertake such restrictions “in good
faith” because they feel that the communications are “harmful or
objectionable”. The proposal even extends to when this damage is caused
implementing regulation-by-algorithm – in other words when using
technical means, such as automatic filtering, to do so. This would
privatise the regulation of the human right to receive, impart and seek
information. It would almost inevitably *lead into privatised censorship
of completely legal information by governments *(through pressures to
online companies), or online companies themselves (acting in their own
commercial interest).

_*2. Net neutrality:*_ The EU had taken a step towards the right
direction and proposed some improvements to the text on net neutrality,
the principle that all the internet traffic has to be treated equally,
which is crucial for fair competition between online services, for
innovation, and for freedom of expression. The leaks show that the US
and Colombia proposal officially oppose these improvements.*The US has
net neutrality rules and this position was taken before the elections.
Why hasn’t it supported the EU here?*

_*3. Data flows: *_The leaks show that the pressure to include “data
flows” and “free flow of data” in the agreement is persistent. The
European Commission announced previously that data protection will be
left out of TiSA. However, the European Commission Directorate General
for Trade (DG Trade) has stated that they will ensure free data flows
and provisions against data localisation. Bringing these topics into the
discussions will almost inevitably*bring data protection and privacy
onto the negotiation table.*

A big coalition of organisations around the world is worried about the
proposals
<https://edri.org/files/TiSA/globalletter_dataprotection_privacy_20161102.pdf>
in the draft core text, the e-commerce, telecommunications, financial
services and localisation annexes of TiSA. These leaks are not reassuring.

TiSA is being negotiated formally since March 2013. A Ministerial
Meeting to conclude the talks was scheduled on 5-6 December. The meeting
has been cancelled due to outstanding issues and the recent developments
in the US.

*Read more:*

TiSA-leaks: Fundamental rights shall be levered out for free trade –
also in the internet (25.11.2016)
https://netzpolitik.org/2016/tisa-leaks-fundamental-rights-shall-be-levered-out-for-free-trade-also-in-the-internet/

Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), Annex on Electronic Commerce
(25.11.2016)
https://cdn.netzpolitik.org/wp-upload/2016/11/tisa_annex_on_electronic_commerce.pdf

Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), Annex on Telecommunications Services
(25.11.2016)
https://cdn.netzpolitik.org/wp-upload/2016/11/tisa_annex_on_telecommunications_services.pdf

Global letter on TiSA, data protection and privacy (02.11.2016)
https://edri.org/files/TiSA/globalletter_dataprotection_privacy_20161102.pdf

Corporate-sponsored privacy confusion in the EU on trade and data
protection (12.10.2016)
https://edri.org/corporate-sponsored-privacy-confusion-eu-trade-data-protection/

TiSA leaks set alarm bells ringing (20.09.2016)
https://edri.org/tisa-leaks-set-alarm-bells-ringing/

EDRi analysis of the TiSA leaks of September 2016 (20.09.2016)
https://edri.org/files/tisaleaks_edrianalysis_20092016.pdf

EDRi’s position paper on TiSA (January 2016)
https://edri.org/files/TiSA_Position_Jan2016e.pdf

Study launch: The EU can achieve data protection-proof trade agreements
(13.07.2016)
https://edri.org/study-launch-eu-can-achieve-data-protection-proof-trade-agreements/


-- 
Maryant Fernandez Perez
Advocacy Manager
European Digital Rights
Rue Belliard 20
B- 1040 Brussels
https://edri.org
Tel: +32 2 274 25 70
PGP: D59A 1D3F 50CC 231B DCFE 3F2C 92FA 6F29 3D74 0B42
@edri | @maryantfp

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