TPP Negotiating Text IP Chapter Published by Wikileaks
November 13, 2013 5:22 PM   Subscribe

The Trans-Pacific Partnership has come under fire for the sweeping effects it may have on intellectual property laws in signatory countries, and is expected to export and even extend some of the worst features of US copyright law, including the criminalisation of DRM circumvention. The level of secrecy surrounding the agreement has been controversial: the US Trade Representative has refused to make the text of the agreement public, and only three persons in each TPP nation have access to the full text. The New York Times editorial board has been criticised for its endorsement of the deal, when the public (and supposedly the NYT) were unable to read the agreement. In advance of the 19-24 November Chief Negotiators summit in Salt Lake City, Wikileaks has obtained and published the secret negotiated draft text of the TPP Intellectual Property Chapter, including negotiation positions and disagreements between all 12 prospective member states. posted by anemone of the state (54 comments total) 43 users marked this as a favorite
 


I wish reading about new laws these days didn't typically make me think about how I was getting fucked so an anonymous shareholder could make a dollar or two.

Seems for the last decade or two we have only pass national laws as corporate giveaways or to take away from the neediest amongst us, I realize that's a canard but it doesn't make it any less depressing.
posted by sourbrew at 6:02 PM on November 13, 2013 [6 favorites]


Over on Buycott.com (inspired by SOPA/PIPA) they have a Stop TPP. They are missing the New York Times but list 16 others including Google.

Not sure how Google got on the list given the ACTA stance.
posted by rough ashlar at 6:04 PM on November 13, 2013 [2 favorites]




I'd love to believe that the TPP might lead to more open markets, that food in Japan would stop being so freakishly expensive (seriously, cauliflower is usually over 300 yen a head, six to seven green beans go for 200 yen), but I know in my heart that, if Japan joins, they'll demand so many exemptions that nothing will ever really change.

Meanwhile, adoprting the American style IP laws means I'll probably get sued by the NBA and NFL for torrenting games that aren't even available in Japan.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:11 PM on November 13, 2013


I'd love to believe that the TPP might lead to more open markets, that food in Japan would stop being so freakishly expensive

Given how well belief VS corporate benefit when it comes to Government policy - why would this time be different?

Why should you consider extending good will to groups that have a history of not deserving good will?
posted by rough ashlar at 6:19 PM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]




rough ashlar, I said I'd love to believe that good would come from this. It's not, obviously. It's rare enough that a single country, on its own, doesn't screw over its entire population in the service of corporations. All of these countries together, serving all of the different corporate interests involved? There's next to zero chance that anything the TPP will do could possibly be good for actual people.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:30 PM on November 13, 2013 [2 favorites]


US wants to criminalise breaking region codes:
The extraordinarily detailed information on negotiating positions released overnight by WikiLeaks shows Australia repeatedly backing the interests of the US against the objections of countries including Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and Vietnam on questions involving intellectual property. Australia is often the only one of the 12 parties to the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations to do so.
Region codes? Really? They're still flogging that dead horse? We're selling our sovereignty over region codes?
posted by Jimbob at 6:36 PM on November 13, 2013 [11 favorites]


Region codes? Really? They're still flogging that dead horse?

Consider developing different consumption habits that avoid such issues all together.

I used to watch video/listen to music and instead have replaced that with podcasts. If the Corporations want to make private little parties over culture items and charge rent-rates one can opt to say "no".

If fewer people have the desire for their entertainment what they gonna do? Complain about the lack of demand or do a remake of Freaky Friday?
posted by rough ashlar at 6:54 PM on November 13, 2013 [6 favorites]


Like the EFF, I'm eager to learn why the NYT would endorse this, because if this really is in the public interest, as they claim in their editorial, then there would be no reason for the NYTimes to keep the contents of this document secret.

So either they've seen it and endorsed it knowing how bad it is that the documents need to be kept from the public, or they haven't seen it and endorsed it anyway. Neither option sounds good. Thank God for Assange.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:08 PM on November 13, 2013 [11 favorites]


I don't think the NY Times has seen any primary material - I'd certainly be pissed at them if they had access to a final draft and wouldn't publish it. Their public editor started walking the editorial back today, claiming they were just endorsing the "idea" of the TPP, not the actual agreement.
posted by antonymous at 7:33 PM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


Consider developing different consumption habits that avoid such issues all together.

Or just torrent everything. That works too.
posted by ryanrs at 7:35 PM on November 13, 2013 [4 favorites]


Has there ever been a good reason for a governmet keep an international treaty secret from it's own citizens?
posted by psycho-alchemy at 7:51 PM on November 13, 2013 [2 favorites]


Has there ever been a good reason for a governmet keep an international treaty secret from it's own citizens?

National security. Commercial confidence. Prevent public anger.

Oh sorry, you said good reasons.
posted by Jimbob at 7:55 PM on November 13, 2013 [4 favorites]


This (re TTIP) is pretty terrifying.

The purpose of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is to remove the regulatory differences between the US and European nations. I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago. But I left out the most important issue: the remarkable ability it would grant big business to sue the living daylights out of governments which try to defend their citizens. It would allow a secretive panel of corporate lawyers to overrule the will of parliament and destroy our legal protections. ...

..These companies (along with hundreds of others) are using the investor-state dispute rules embedded in trade treaties signed by the countries they are suing. The rules are enforced by panels which have none of the safeguards we expect in our own courts. The hearings are held in secret. The judges are corporate lawyers, many of whom work for companies of the kind whose cases they hear. Citizens and communities affected by their decisions have no legal standing. There is no right of appeal on the merits of the case. Yet they can overthrow the sovereignty of parliaments and the rulings of supreme courts.

posted by emjaybee at 8:04 PM on November 13, 2013 [10 favorites]


The Australian Government has been walking both sides of the street on this matter, it appears. The wikileaks cables show that Australia has often sided with the USA on controversial issues, while publicly claiming to be on the side of the Australian consumer.

More broadly, and this is happening faster in the anglosphere than elsewhere, global corporate interests are undermining democracy at a rapid rate. I don't know what the solution is, but I know where we're headed if nothing happens to change the situation.
posted by wilful at 8:10 PM on November 13, 2013 [2 favorites]


More broadly, and this is happening faster in the anglosphere than elsewhere, global corporate interests are undermining democracy at a rapid rate. I don't know what the solution is, but I know where we're headed if nothing happens to change the situation.

Time to work for a peaceful revolution.
posted by anemone of the state at 8:21 PM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


If you're in the US, call your Congress person's office, ask politely what their position is and make it clear what yours is. Calls like that count. Several members of Congress said they changed position on SOPA/PIPA after getting those calls.
posted by Triplanetary at 8:27 PM on November 13, 2013 [5 favorites]


Speaking of officials in Congress, this seems to be an instance of the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Also, I've talked to more than one person who was confused by the acronyms - TPP is this current set of international "gentleman's agreements" that are technically still secret and TPA is Trade Promotion Authority, which essentially allows the US to broker these deals by not allowing Congress to later meddle with them, rather requiring an up/down vote.
posted by antonymous at 8:40 PM on November 13, 2013


I used to watch video/listen to music and instead have replaced that with podcasts. If the Corporations want to make private little parties over culture items and charge rent-rates one can opt to say "no".

Yeah, it dampens my enthusiasm to see Corporate Superhero Comic Character Movie n+1 to know that my ticket money is going to undermine democracy.
posted by JHarris at 9:26 PM on November 13, 2013 [2 favorites]


I don't think the NY Times has seen any primary material - I'd certainly be pissed at them if they had access to a final draft and wouldn't publish it. Their public editor started walking the editorial back today, claiming they were just endorsing the "idea" of the TPP, not the actual agreement.

That doesn't sound like responsible journalism. I wish they wouldn't get so pissy about Snowden and Assange passing over them for news releases — they held onto the Bush wiretapping story for a year and change, and they endorse treaties without reading them.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:16 PM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


recent podcast on TPP
posted by telstar at 10:30 PM on November 13, 2013


Time to work for a peaceful revolution.

Peaceful? When in history has that ever worked?
posted by Jimbob at 1:32 AM on November 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


But I thought more regulation of the internet was a good thing, a shady internet person told me so
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 1:41 AM on November 14, 2013


Peaceful? When in history has that ever worked?

A few times, when there's a very weak central government and an obvious shake-up in the world system, as in the Velvet Revolution and a few other instances. (The Glorious Revolution gets some hype too, but William had a Dutch fleet behind him and Catholics would hardly call the whole thing "Peaceful" in retrospect.) But it's quite unlikely it'll happen anytime soon; neoliberal hegemony is quite robust at present, and it has no serious restrictions or structural weaknesses where the use of force is concerned.
posted by kewb at 3:10 AM on November 14, 2013


Their public editor started walking the editorial back today, claiming they were just endorsing the "idea" of the TPP, not the actual agreement.

But that is, in fact, what they did, isn't it? I mean, the last paragraph of that editorial is the only part that passes any kind of value judgment:
A good agreement would lower duties and trade barriers on most products and services, strengthen labor and environmental protections, limit the ability of governments to tilt the playing field in favor of state-owned firms and balance the interests of consumers and creators of intellectual property. Such a deal will not only help individual countries but set an example for global trade talks.
That sounds awfully hypothetical. I'm baffled as to how anyone could read it and come away with the impression that it's a endorsing a specific document.
posted by teraflop at 4:05 AM on November 14, 2013


Naked Capitalism has been doing a superb job hollering about the TPP; for example...
posted by dragonsi55 at 4:35 AM on November 14, 2013


At what point does this qualify as a coup d'etat?
posted by Devonian at 4:56 AM on November 14, 2013


I'm baffled as to how anyone could read it and come away with the impression that it's a endorsing a specific document.

The Times should know better than to pretend these international trade agreements might "strengthen labor and environmental protections" and "balance the interests of consumers and creators of intellectual property." It's disingenuous and misleading to pretend those things are a possible outcome of these talks, and those who do not pay close attention to international relations may look to the Times' editorial board to help them understand the issues, which were unrealistically framed by that piece.
posted by antonymous at 5:48 AM on November 14, 2013 [2 favorites]


Kudos to ABC News and the Hilton Head Island Packet for publishing the AP article.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:03 AM on November 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


Or just torrent everything. That works too.

The more extreme version of just avoiding these products is to avoid what is branded "Predictive Programming". The more grounded interpretation notes that films with Military themes and want to use the Military gear backdrops for low cost have to have the scripts changed and approved. Or will note the Hoover-era media control WRT the FBI image.

One can also avoid product placement, in-entertainment advertising, and other culture factors that benefit the Government making the TPP.
posted by rough ashlar at 8:33 AM on November 14, 2013 [3 favorites]




The problem with torrenting is that use of public torrent sites makes you vulnerable to MPAA/RIAA attacks, fully protected by the government, of course. The only way around that is to use private trackers, which has the disadvantage of forcing a much greater reliance on friends, versus giant, faceless corporations.

Wait, did I say "disadvantage"? Reverse that. It's a good thing.
posted by IAmBroom at 11:44 AM on November 14, 2013


One of the problems with BT over TOR is that the client will report your real IP address.

You would think that someone would have built a TOR relay-based darknet alternative to BT.
posted by anemone of the state at 11:54 AM on November 14, 2013








I keep wondering if the healthiest lens through which to view things like this treaty is as the last thrashings of a dying system. How long it will take to die, however, remains to be seen, and who knows how many people will get pulled into the death throes...
posted by gern at 2:37 PM on November 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


If that's not enough, there's also the threat to affordable medicine, including HIV/AIDS meds.
posted by gingerbeer at 7:20 PM on November 14, 2013 [2 favorites]


This has been somewhat mainstream news in Australia, which surprised me.
We really need to get somebody in Oz pointing out that if anti-piracy measures are successful it will produce a $1.37b drag on our economy, just in terms of movies.
(Source: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/movie-piracy-costs-economy-13-billion/story-e6frg996-1226007456066).
Copyright holders like to quantify economic damage, but I like to remember that every dollar that doesn't make it to Hollywood is available to buy another coffee in my small town's cafes or go towards my kids education.
posted by bystander at 5:59 AM on November 15, 2013 [2 favorites]


Copyright holders like to quantify economic damage, but I like to remember that every dollar that doesn't make it to Hollywood is available to buy another coffee in my small town's cafes or go towards my kids education.

You're absolutely right. Now carry that concept over to other industries where money gets sent straight out of town.
posted by anemone of the state at 11:24 AM on November 15, 2013 [2 favorites]




The United States is isolated in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations [in pushing for extreme copyright and patent laws].
posted by jeffburdges at 7:46 AM on November 19, 2013 [1 favorite]






Disruptive Competition (DisCo) has posted the most recent TPP draft for annotation at RapGenius (via).
posted by jeffburdges at 4:54 AM on November 21, 2013
















« Older "Be Mysterious. Dateable girls know how to shut up...   |   littleBits + KORG Synth Kit Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments