Secret global trade talks spur civil libertarians' outrage at Obama
Filed under: Technology, Economy, People
Civil liberties and consumer groups are furious at President Barack Obama for supporting secret international trade negotiations that could wind up rewriting U.S. copyright law. At issue is the International Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which various nations have been hammering out this week at secret talks in Seoul, South Korea. Earlier this week, negotiation materials leaked out of the hush-hush hearings, shocking and alarming civil libertarians and privacy watchdogs.The groups, which include some of the most influential voices on internet policy, voiced "deep concerns about the lack of transparency and openness" in a letter sent to Obama on Thursday, the day the parley is set to wrap up.
Based on leaked meeting documents, it would appear that the participating nations are crafting measures that would make it easier to crack down on digital piracy -- including cutting off alleged offenders' Web connections -- as well as make it easier for authorities to search and even seize your personal computer or other electronics in an effort to root out copyright infringement.
In particular, it appears that the treaty would provide some kind of "safe harbor" for internet service providers protecting them for prosecution if they comply with the treaty's draconian measures to identify and sanction alleged internet pirates.
Secret meetings in Seoul
The groups' first objection concerns the highly clandestine nature of the meetings.
"As an instrument affecting multiple nations' laws and policy, ACTA should be negotiated in public, as has been done routinely with international intellectual property agreements in the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Trade Organization," the coalition of 16 library, consumer, creator, and civil liberties organizations told the Obama Administration on Thursday. The groups include the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Future of Music Coalition, the Liberty Coalition, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Open Content Alliance, the Sunlight Foundation, OpenTheGovernment.org, Public Knowledge, and the group Change Congress.
According to the EFF, the U.S. government appears to be pushing for a three strikes policy similar to that just passed in France, "to be part of the new global IP enforcement regime which ACTA is intended to create – despite the fact that it has been categorically rejected by the European Parliament and by national policymakers in several ACTA negotiating countries, and has never been proposed by U.S. legislators."
Prominent public intellectuals such as Harvard's Lawrence Lessig have also voiced their concerns, with Lessig circulating a statement arguing the citizens are "entitled to question whether copyright law as currently crafted makes sense, national security claims notwithstanding."
Global copyright treaty a longtime enigma
For years, ACTA has been cloaked in mystery, with the Bush administration maintaining that such secrecy was required. Obama took this a step further, arguing last spring that a draft of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement and related materials are "classified in the interest of national security pursuant to Executive Order 12958." Executive Order 12958, issued in 1995, allows material to be classified only if publication would inflict "damage to the national security and the original classification authority is able to identify or describe the damage."
The letter comes as the secret trade negotiations continue this week in Seoul, South Korea. The U.S. Trade Representative has repeatedly declined to make the draft text of the agreement public and, according to the group of 16, has "actively resisted disclosure of relevant information during the course of litigation under the Freedom of Information Act."
The Administration's secrecy conflicts with President Obama's promise of "a more transparent, collaborative and participatory government," the groups said.
"Much of ACTA's transparency deficit stems from the disconnect between ACTA's apparent aims and its formulation as a trade agreement. In negotiating agreements focusing on traditional trade matters such as tariffs and trade barriers, confidentiality regarding some negotiating positions may be appropriate," the group said. "But ACTA aims to set international legal norms, potentially driving changes to substantive intellectual property legal regimes on an international basis. Attempts to force a multilateral intellectual property agreement through trade processes unsuited for it does a disservice to citizens, public policy, and the USTR alike," the group added.
Not just process; critics say substance 'favors big media'
But the groups aren't just objecting to the secretive nature of the process. They're also attacking the substance of the agreement, which they say is "heavily weighted in favor of big media companies."
"With respect to ACTA's substance, we remain concerned that the terms may not adequately account for all of the interests that would be affected. Intellectual property law requires a balance between the benefits conferred upon creators and the rights of the general public to access and use those creations in free discourse and for the public good," the groups said. "Yet the public and the industries enabling such uses would face crippling liability under an improperly calibrated intellectual property regime. ACTA could increase the risk of participating governments taking an imbalanced approach."
Now, the ball is in the Obama administration's court. We'll see if they are responsive to the coalition's complaints, or ignore them as they continue the now-not-so-secret international trade negotiations.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 25)
11-05-2009 @ 9:03PM
FOXYLYNX said...
WATCH OUT AMERICA THIS NEW "HISTORICAL" PRESIDENT IS WORSE THAN BUSH!
Reply
11-06-2009 @ 3:27AM
CYNTHIA said...
THE WHOLE COUNTRY HAS BEEN ON A BULL SH-- RIDE FOR A LONG TIME WITH BUSH AND CHANEY. WE MAY BE JUST A BIT LITTLE GUN SHY. PRESIDENT OBAMA IS OUR MAN AND IF HE CAN'T DO IT, IT CAN'T BE DONE. HE IS STRONG AND THINKS AND TALKS TO OTHER EXPERTS. THIS CONCEPT DID NOT EXIST IN THE BUSH AND CHANEY YEARS.
11-06-2009 @ 1:27PM
Darren said...
DUMP YOUR OIL STOCKS!!
11-08-2009 @ 8:43PM
rick said...
Foxy, that's just wishful thinking on your part, No one is worse than Bush and I voted for him, twice. and yes I am a Republican.
11-08-2009 @ 8:54PM
Leanne said...
First no one could be worse than Bush. OB walked into a mess that took 8 years to create and then is expected to clean things up in one year. Give me a break
11-08-2009 @ 10:20PM
Andy said...
Obama worse then Bush, you say??? ... he goes way beyond that and is worse then Clinton. Obama remeinds me when Hitler lied to the country and got the entire country to believe a lie. A person that is charasmatic and a smooth talker is the worse kind of leader to have. Give me someone that can't put a sentence together any day, because it's not how well a person talks, but what he believes. A man will act out what he believes and it apprears that Obama believes he knows better than the people as to what is best for the country. He needs to listen to what the people are saying and want, not try to get HIS OWN AGENDA done for his own sake. Talk about BIG GOVERNMENT. He is it.
Andy
11-09-2009 @ 1:21AM
john said...
Not remotely possible. This guy thinks. Bush hasn't, ever.
And all of this "secret negotiations" crap is ludicrous. To be valid in the US, and enforceable here, it must be ratified by the US Senate after PUBLIC HEARINGS. No secrecy, all kinds of transparency, enough even for you wingnuts to protest, march, chant and pray about and Pat Robertson to wish God's wrath on.
11-08-2009 @ 10:18PM
mesaman said...
Cynthia, you are a total nincompoop! "If Nostrobamas can't do it, it can't be done". If you believe that then sell the outhouse because you are in a world of crap.
11-08-2009 @ 10:36PM
jackie said...
Foxy this isnt for you, its for the Idiot Cynthia that replied to you. Cynthia you need to find another country to live in, because I am not going to let you Dem/Libs make a bigger mess than you already have. Please leave now! This is America, home of the FREE! Get it FREE!!!!!!!!!! No more govt programs, no more govt telling us what to do! Go live somewhere else. Republicans are going to take back our country just watch and see. This man will go down in history as being worse than Carter, and that is big!
11-08-2009 @ 10:55PM
MTM said...
Cynthia - just where do you get your ideals? Dump this clown and his ilk. We need someone in the White House willing to stand for AMERICAN ideals, not the leftist elistist garbage Obama spouts.
11-08-2009 @ 11:14PM
Kim said...
I agree with you FOXYLYNX
11-09-2009 @ 5:32AM
Aragomon said...
I have to laugh ... or I will find myself crying. I look at the responses of the re'TARDs like Cynthia, Rick, & Leanne! What scares me even more than these people having the right to vote is the fact that they can procreate!
It makes one actually consider whether forced sterilization might not be a good thing .... Geeesh and I am Catholic!!
Some people maybe filled with hate and so blinded by their obsessions that they over look facts and the truth, but people like Cynthia, Rick, & Leanne take their ignorance and stupidity to such a level that one can only laugh as so not to cry!
Even in the face of such obvious lies as Obama stating he was going to have the most "transparent" administration ever, we find one failure and another to even remotely attempt to keep that promise.
1. NONE OF THE MAJOR OR CRITICAL BILLS BEING PASSED ARE BEING POSTED FOR REVIEW
2. HE IS AUTHORIZING SECRET INTERNATIONAL TRADE NEGOTIATION
3. HEALTH CARE REFORM WAS NEGOTIATED BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
4. HE POSTS COMMUNISTS, RACISTS, ANTI-AMERICAN RADICALS AND "TRUTHERS" TO OVER SEE KEY POLICIES WITHOUT VETTING THEM THROUGH CONGRESS
... I could go on, but those of us who think can list these things just as well as I can. It is the re'TARDS like Cynthia, Rick, & Leanne who will NEVER get it and are actually happy about that.
11-09-2009 @ 6:51AM
Kat said...
Bush will be remembered like roses and diamonds on Valentines Day. This TWERP? Do you really think America will elect ANOTHER African-American President of ANY party anytime in the next 50 years???? YOU MESSED UP Obama, now we really know why your nickname has been "Osama" and THAT guy is probably laughing his a-- off because YOU are doing a better job of destroying America than he ever could. At the end of this term do race relations a favor - DON'T RUN AGAIN, because what you're doing WILL "trickle down" and affect how people affected by YOUR INCOMPETENCE regress in their relations with other races. You had a chance to PROVE something good and you are turning it on it's head. DO AMERICA A FAVOR - GO BARACK HOME ***NOW***. Just maybe Biden can fix YOUR SCR-- UPS!!! TAKE THE HINT FROM YOUR SLIDING NUMBERS, KEEP IT UP AND THERE WILL BE ENOUGH SUPPORT TO IMPEACH YOU!!! There are a couple of democrats (that "d" was intentional by the by)
in this state that will hold their long term seats next time around by the skin of their teeth if at all, and these guys have been well liked by one and all in this state BEFORE NOW.
SECRET NEGOTIATIONS???? YOU ARE A FOOL.
11-05-2009 @ 8:50PM
mtmist3383 said...
Would someone PLEASE start impeachment procedings on this guy and get it over with while there is still something left to save? Sheesh...it just goes from bad to worse.
Reply
11-06-2009 @ 10:28AM
bob said...
I AGREE WITH YOU 100%
11-08-2009 @ 8:23PM
Mat said...
I'm with you on that one, I've been saying that since they announced in his first 100 days as president, he spent MORE money than Washington-Bush COMBINED! ALL OUR PREVIOUS PRESIDENTS SPENT LESS then this "Answer to all our problems" of a so called "president". I hate referring to him as that, the guy is a commie and a fraud, and needs to be removed before this country ends up like the roman empire.
11-08-2009 @ 9:16PM
Cheryl said...
Good luck with that. If Bush and Cheney haven't been impeached yet for their 8-year crime spree and the mass raping of all Americans, destruction of Iraq and war in Afghanistan all based on lies and deception .... then there isn't a chance in hell Obama would ever be impeached for anything. The precedent has already been set and there probably will never, EVER be an impeachment of ANY president in the future simply because they never did it when they had Bush and Cheney dead to rights and all the proof they needed.
11-08-2009 @ 9:13PM
IWorkForMyFood said...
That's weird........I don't remember being raped by a bush.....
11-08-2009 @ 9:41PM
ubobfletch said...
Go for it!
11-05-2009 @ 9:01PM
Tony R. said...
Obama lying? Doing deeds behind the publics' back? WOW What a shocker!!!!!
Reply