WikiLeaks Reveals Secret Trade Agreement That Could Crack Down On Web Freedom
A secret draft proposal of a controversial trade agreement shows the Obama administration is trying to push through a corporate wish list that resembles a failed anti-piracy measure and would limit intellectual freedom and likely increase health care costs.
The online whistleblower group WikiLeaks posted the complete draft Wednesday of the 95-page Intellectual Property chapter of the highly secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed commercial agreement between the United States and 11 Asian and Latin American countries.
The multinational trade agreement has been in secret negotiations for at least two years and would encompass about 40 percent of the global economy, and the excerpted chapter shows the U.S. is trying to impose the wildest demands by Hollywood, the recording industry and the pharmaceutical industry both at home and abroad.
“If instituted, the TPP’s IP regime would trample over individual rights and free expression, as well as ride roughshod over the intellectual and creative commons,” said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. “If you read, write, publish, think, listen, dance, sing or invent; if you farm or consume food; if you’re ill now or might one day be ill, the TPP has you in its crosshairs.”
Critics say the proposal, if enacted, would severely limit access to affordable medicine, the Internet and textbooks, and shrink consumer rights and protections.
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