[governance] When will ACTA II be fought out ?
Riaz K Tayob
riaz.tayob at gmail.com
Mon Sep 10 08:45:08 EDT 2012
[No transparency, no access, and for the pursuit of life liberty and copyright protection... so much for exceptionalism...]
http://amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/tpp-must-not-trade-away-free-speech-and-health-2012-09-06
6 September 2012
TPP Must Not Trade Away Free Speech and Health
Negotiators from nine countries gathering outside Washington DC to draft a new Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement must ensure that any new rules on copyright and patents adhere to core principles of transparency and uphold human rights, Amnesty International said today.
"No one has the right to trade away our hard-fought legal protections for free speech and the right to health, and much less to do it behind closed doors," said Suzanne Nossel, executive director for Amnesty International USA.
"It is time for TPP negotiators to show the public their cards and, more importantly, the draft text of the agreement."
This text has been kept a secret since negotiations began in 2007, but leaked information suggests that it would attempt to achieve some of the same objectives of the widely criticized Anti-Counterfeiting Agreement (ACTA).
Specifically, leaked TPP draft text neglects protections for fair use and standard judicial guarantees - such as the presumption of innocence - and includes copyright provisions that could compromise free speech on the internet and access to educational materials.
Moreover, draft TPP provisions related to patents for pharmaceuticals risk stifling the development and production of generic medicines, by strengthening and deepening monopoly protections.
"Access to life-saving medicines is a right, not a privilege, and the TPP must put people ahead of profits," Nossel said.
In 2007, negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership started between Chile, New Zealand, and Singapore. The United States joined the negotiations in 2008, with Canada and Mexico expected to join negotiations soon.
The TPP countries account for 27 per cent of global Gross Domestic Product.
The talks that start today in Leesburg, Virginia, hosted by the United States Trade Representative, are the 14th round of negotiations.
AI Index: PRE01/424/2012
On 2012/09/10 11:41 AM, Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro wrote:
> Currently the TPP negotiations, the 14th round is being held in
> Leesburg, Virginia from September 6-15, 2012 .
>
> Today is the day allocated for those who have registered to take part
> in the Stakeholders discussions. You had to register to participate.
> You can visit: http://www.ustr.gov/tpp to access highlights and
> overviews and actual FTAs. It has been reported from other news
> sources that His Excellency B. Obama wants to conclude the TPP by this
> year's end.
>
> There is an interesting article by Gordon Campbell, see:
> http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1209/S00040/gordon-campbell-on-apec-and-its-significance-for-tpp-talks.htm
>
>
> On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 8:17 PM, Riaz K Tayob <riaz.tayob at gmail.com
> <mailto:riaz.tayob at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Thanks for this... informative and very useful links...
>
> I was hoping that middle class America would realise that ONE of
> the principle means that "good jobs" are lost is through the
> internationalisation of intellectual property rights... but Ihave
> no idea what passes for progressives or how issues come to light
> in these societies so your take is not only useful, but also puts
> forward some grounds for common interests...
>
> It is a pity that more was not done to raise the issue of
> conflation of domain names and trade marks...
>
> Just as a side issue, the close affiliation of govt and telecoms
> companies also had a material/technological basis - with fibre
> optics, govt needed to be at the telecom HQs (but I may be
> wrong)... and with the Bush retrospective legalisation - well that
> is about the worst thing in legal terms... retrospectivity...
>
> On 2012/09/10 11:01 AM, Louis Pouzin (well) wrote:
>> Hi Riaz,
>>
>> Why I think this is the case ?
>>
>> It takes a bit of revisiting some history to set the scene. Who
>> remembers, or has forgotten, the ATT-NSA spying net story between
>> 2002 and 2005 ?
>>
>> You can glance through:
>>
>> https://www.eff.org/files/filenode/att/presskit/ATT_onepager.pdf
>> http://cryptogon.com/?p=877
>>
>> In a nutshell, an ATT technician discovers in 2002 that the whole
>> ATT backbone traffic (phone, voice, data, web) is mirrored
>> illegally to NSA. Once retired in 2005 he talks to newspapers,
>> and after much effort gets an article in the NYT. EFF files a
>> class action lawsuit against ATT. The Bush admin moves to kill
>> the case, calling the State secret exception. Once Obama elected
>> the new admin legalizes retroactively NSA's spying, and declares
>> immune from prosecution all phone companies involved in tapping.
>>
>> Ergo, Bush or Obama, same tricks. Whatever is illegal becomes
>> legal if the president says so. A first step into dictatorship ?
>>
>> The US is no exception. Many governments have deployed illegal
>> and secret mass surveillance systems. Their motivation is
>> primarily controlling political opponents. Their natural allies
>> (and financial donators) are marketing organisations eager to
>> know everything on everybody, i.e. controlling consumers.
>>
>> If admins need justifications with their parliament (to get a
>> budget) they conjure up terrorism, pedophilia, child protection,
>> obscenity, social disorder, religion, IPR, what have you. It's
>> the sort of decor adequate for painting spying as a public
>> protection acceptable by the population or the political
>> opposition, if any.
>>
>> During the GW Bush admin the first three were the excuse. Now
>> those slogans have lost emotional drive. IPR is the new excuse,
>> supported by the republican opposition and their media lobbies,
>> working on more drastic laws to protect their revenues. Since the
>> market is international the US has to coax other countries to get
>> on the bandwagon and adopt similar legal provisions, .. thus
>> similar control systems (a bonanza for the US surveillance
>> industry), and an easy way for NSA to collect other countries data.
>>
>> Apparently this is part of what's going on under the TPP
>> umbrella. It should be easier for the US to maneuver this limited
>> coalition than the rest of the world.
>>
>> Last July general Keith Alexander, NSA's head, became Cyber
>> Command's Commander. You can google his recent declarations and
>> interviews. He is dead set on security (read spying). It seems
>> DHS was not good enough, as Cyber Command (read NSA) is now to
>> coordinate all US departments for securing ALL networks (read
>> domestic and abroad). Ok, he may have a dream.
>>
>> All that leaves little else to be interpreted other than a
>> determination to build a worldwide mass surveillance system
>> centered in USA. IPR and other opportunistic lures serve as
>> negotiation jokers for aggregating lobbies and other governments
>> in the gang.
>>
>> It will be quite interesting to observe what approach will be
>> taken with China, India, Russia, and EU. ACTA 2012 won't be
>> forgotten any time soon. New convincing arguments for IPR will
>> sound deja vu. The prospect of US controlled mass surveillance
>> will look as attractive as a scarecrow. Then, what else US can
>> offer ? Probably rude arm twisting, a not unusual tactic in real
>> politics.
>>
>> I just read that EFF is up against TPP. Resistance goes on.
>>
>> Cheers, Louis
>> - - -
>>
>> More on the subject
>> http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/SER_klein_decl.pdf
>> http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/SER_marcus_decl.pdf
>> / The two previous documents were on the web for several years,
>> and have vanished recently
>> /https://www.eff.org/issues/nsa-spying
>> https://www.eff.org/nsa/faq
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
>> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA_warrantless_surveillance_controversy>NSA_warrantless_surveillance_controversy
>> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA_warrantless_surveillance_controversy>
>> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-karr/one-us-corporations-role-_b_815281.html
>> http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/01/obama-sides-wit/
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Klein
>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/07/AR2007110700006_pf.html
>> http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/05/70944
>> http://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2007/05/kleininterview
>> http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/01/fdl-book-salon-welcomes-mark-klein-author-of-wiring-up-the-big-brother-machine/
>> http://www.mainheadlinenews.com/video/qrBapXsLcro
>> http://www.technewsworld.com/story/60204.html
>> http://osdir.com/ml/culture.war.guerrelec/2006-04/msg00040.html
>> http://www.dailytech.com/ATT+Accidentally+Leaks+Incriminating+NSA+Info/article2558.htm
>> http://www.spamdailynews.com/publish/Bush_administration_to_intervene_in_ATT_surveillance_case.asp
>> http://www.infowars.com/att-whistleblower-spy-bill-creates-%E2%80%98infrastructure-for-a-police-state%E2%80%99/
>> http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=74c_1243652643&c=1
>> https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/obama-doj-worse-than-bush
>> http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/nsa-denies-wired/
>>
>> - - -
>> On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 8:30 AM, Riaz K Tayob
>> <riaz.tayob at gmail.com <mailto:riaz.tayob at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>> Why do you think this is the case?
>>
>> On 2012/09/07 03:34 AM, Louis Pouzin (well) wrote:
>>
>> But whatever happens in November, the next USG is
>> unlikely to change policy on IPR. Watch out.
>>
>>
>>
>
>
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