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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe NYT has endorsed the TPP
The New York Times has endorsed the Trans-Pacific Partnership; a trade deal negotiated in utmost secrecy, without public participation, whose text is still not public. From leaks, we know that TPP wasn't just anti-democratic in its process -- it also contains numerous anti-democratic provisions that allow private offshore companies to overturn domestic law, especially laws that allow for free speech and privacy online. TPP is slated for fast-tracking through Congress, minimizing any scrutiny of a deal negotiated behind closed doors before it is turned into law. From what we've seen of TPP, it recapitulates all the worst elements of ACTA and then some. The Electronic Frontier Foundation needs you to write to your lawmaker demanding full and public debate on TPP.
The paper's statement emphasizes how the Obama administration strives to make TPP's policies an example for the rest of the world to follow. But if that's the case, then it's all the more important that the agreement be published immediately. Such a significant body of international law regulating digital policy must not be negotiated without proper, informed public debate. The secrecy of the process itself ensures that only some private interests will be represented at the expense of others. In addition, the U.S. Trade Representative's history of pushing forth extreme copyright enforcement policies through other trade agreements gives little assurance that users' rights will be considered in the TPP.
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http://boingboing.net/2013/11/07/nyt-endorses-brutal-secret-i.html
marmar
(77,067 posts)boston bean
(36,220 posts)sigh.....
Instead of uplifting people it drives people down to a lower standard of living..
el_bryanto
(11,804 posts)But predictable. I think it's most disturbing that they can't read the trade agreement - no one can apparently - but they still support it.
Bryant