The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is a proposed copyright treaty that contains provisions that criminalize non-commercial file-sharing; require net-wide wiretapping for copyright infringement and border-searches of hard-drives and other devices; and disconnection from the Internet for people accused of violating copyright. The actual text of these provisions is a secret, though, as the treaty is being negotiated away from the UN, behind closed doors; the Obama administration denied a Freedom of Information Act request for it on the grounds that it is a matter of "national security."
The NGO Knowledge Ecology International pressed the US Trade Rep on this, and received a reply stating that 42 DC insiders -- including some reps from activist groups -- have been shown the treaty, after signing a vow promising to treat it as classified. KEI has researched the 42 people and their bios and corporate affiliations. Sherwin Siy of Public Knowledge describes his experiences with the secret treaty:
White House shares the ACTA Internet text with 42 Washington insiders, under non disclosure agreementsOur first exposure to any text was on fairly short notice. We were allowed to view a draft of one proposed section as we sat in a room at USTR with some of its negotiators and counsel. We were not allowed to take any copies of the text with us when we left the meeting about an hour later.We were urged to keep any notes we took secure, and not to discuss the substance of what we saw unless USTR confirmed that the other party had also seen the text. The meeting proceeded with USTR discussing each point of the text in turn as we viewed it for the first time and compared the text to existing statutes, trade agreements, and treaties.
We were invited to set up additional meetings or call USTR to confirm our recollections if we wanted to verify what we remembered from the meeting, as we were not allowed to photograph, scan, or (presumably) transcribe the documents. We were told that some edits might be made in the near future to account for various concerns.
A meeting a few weeks later convened a range of people who had been cleared to see the text, and functioned as a roundtable, at this meeting, a slightly altered version was shown, which in some areas was slightly better, in some slightly worse, but without some of the most troubling aspects resolved.
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This is so wrong on so many levels.
Are corporate interests now going to trump the people's right to know?
Reading these news in the morning sometimes makes me wish I die as soon as possible because the world is going into the shitter and normal people can't do anything to stop it. These bastards will do anything to pursue their goals regardless of civil liberties of their citizens, and the sad awareness that this will never stop is really hard to swallow.
42 you say? Douglas Adams would be proud.
"Now"?
You must be new here.
Since when has the US drafted and passed laws in camera?
I thought you chaps had already settled this argument about law being done to you by distant and unaccountable rulers.
No. Secret. Treaties.
Are they absolutely sure that they were dealing with the USTR, rather than some sort of postmodern/absurdist improve comedy troupe? This sounds like the sort of thing that the latter would do...
New band name: "Tosee the Secret Copyright Treaty"
You say you want a revolution... well, you know......
We are all too frickin' lazy to do anything about it.
Seriously! There have been so many breaches to ethics, freedom, etc, but the citizenry will never do anything about it. the closest we get is the EFF. Thank goodness. But the average citizenry... too lazy.
Wasn't one of the reasons Obama was elected was for a more open government, LESS secrecy? This is absurd. I don't blame Obama for this, I blame the Culture of Secrecy that surrounds Washington. Most of what Washington does that they classify as secret has no reason to be. Especially something as important as this. Secrecy makes it easy for Washington to do whatever they want without accountability to us, the citizens of the United States.
The sad part is we have given up. We go day by day through life telling ourselves that we can't change anything. That this is how the United States is and there is nothing we can do about it. I hear this every day from people I talk to, "Can't change it. Nothing we can do."
I for one am sick of hearing "No we can't do anything." - Time to do something about all this nonsense.
@dhalgren I don't know why we shouldn't blame the Obama administration for this. The "national security" excuse came from an Obama appointee in response to a FOIA request filed to the Obama administration.
Is it a matter of national security because once again it is the government protecting the interests of the elite and not the people. Do they fear revolution?
Apparently, pandering to corporate bullies is a now matter of national security.
*Please* people - fill out the contact form on Whitehouse.gov. We need to at least register on the meter for this. If people don't write the administration, they don't even have a way to know that people care.
Not that it should matter, $@#% sick-ass government. As I wrote to the administration, it was a vote against private cabals and "national security" used to protect private interests. Washington is secretive because anyone in power is going to want to be secretive. You're always better off keeping the pie for yourself rather than sharing. That's why our constitutional founders created a system that enforced openness.
More and more, I'm realizing that our government is just old. Governments only last about 200-250 years, and ours is just past due. It's going to be a mess when it goes down, and I have no doubt that we're going to get to experience the kind of stagnation that Britain and Japan have gone through (or worse), but I just don't see any way for our government to come back. It's just too far gone.
Perhaps I state the obvious, but instead of buzzing about the secrecy of this bill, should we not be protesting it as if it openly contained less tempered versions of all the worst things the culture monopolists have tried to foist on us in the light of day over the years? The very secrecy of it makes that a fair inference. This is a new tactic for prohibiting public debate, and notwithstanding posts like this one it seems to be working.
The panicked fear and greed of the people behind this is as unfortunate as the treaty itself.
Whatever the hypocrites might ruin, always remember that they can never actually take from us what they fear and hate the most. The freedoms we enjoy around us are the results of an essential quality of freedom within, and that essence relates to creativity and reason. When they are driven by their corruption to try to seize and control what makes us human beings, they will touch a metaphorical live wire too potent for them to handle, and destroy themselves.
"Most of what Washington does that they classify as secret has no reason to be."
Of course there's a reason for it to be secret. There's every reason for it to be secret. It's an insane, incredibly overreaching treaty that poses a huge threat to civil liberties, privacy, and our right to use information technology with the liberty due to free citizens. And it's also a gigantic boon to one of America's largest industries, one that they hope will save their racket from eventual total destruction.
So...won't fly if anybody knows about it beforehand...benefits big business, so it has to pass...solution? Make it a secret.
All people should have the right to know what their government is up to !!
I understand that this is a very serious treaty that could affect many people...
You cant just randomly select a few representatives to comment on the treaty... this is something that affects the whole world.. so who picked these 42 (why 42?) 'chosen ones'.
It seems Obama has gone back on his word??? more secrecy?
*clears throat*
No taxation without representation!
I'll tell you what, I will not be held the provisions of secret treaties. If they are not open, there no way they are binding.