Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)

While we continue pushing back against government imposed online spying, we want to report back and thank the community members who stepped up recently.

Back in May we sent you an appeal for an ad targeting the lead decision-maker behind the secretive and extreme Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). As you probably know by now, the TPP is an international agreement that threatens to censor your web activity.

I want to personally thank everyone who contributed and enabled us to publish your ad letting TPP chief Michael Froman know that we’re watching him!

Click this link – check out the picture of the ad now, and consider taking the next step with us by becoming an OpenMedia Ally. Read more »

Last week, we told you that an intersessional meeting of the Trans-Pacific Partnership was quietly taking place in Vancouver. At the time, the Canadian government had not told the public or the media that any such negotiation was happening. We only learned about the meeting via Peruvian media. Despite the short notice, trade justice activists from across North America hit the town to express how they feel about this secretive agreement.

You don't have to light up the night sky with messages against the secretive agreement to have your voice heard. Speak out at http://OurFairDeal.org & share this image: Read more »

We’ve just learned that the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations have come to Canada for an intersessional round of talks.

iPolitics is reporting that negotiators are in Vancouver this weekend to discuss the TPP’s investment chapter. These “mini-negotiations” were not publicized by Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade – likely to curb any public protest over the controversial agreement, and to keep citizens and other stakeholders on the outside.

The TPP—known to many as the Internet Trap—is an international trade agreement that is being put together by a group of 600 industry lobbyist "advisors" and un-elected government trade representatives.

But it’s more that just a simple trade agreement: Leaked documents show that the TPP would have a hugely negative effect on the open Internet – the agreement includes an intellectual property chapter that would drastically increase Internet surveillance, increase Big Media's Internet lockdown powers, and criminalize content sharing in general, with a likelihood of harsher penalties. Read more »

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts has called on the current U.S. government to release documents being used to negotiate the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. In her letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, Warren says: "If transparency would lead to widespread public opposition to a trade agreement, then that trade agreement should not be the policy of the United States."

We hope to see more public figures demand greater transprency around the Trans-Pacific Partnership - an agreement that could criminalize your daily use of the Internet. Take a stand: http://OurFairDeal.org/ Read more »

A good trade agreement must be transparent and include public input. Is the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) a good deal? You decide.

Check out our edited version of a produced by our friends at the Electronic Frontier Foundation explaining why everyone should be concerned about the TPP.

Read more »

We just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who donated to our special ad campaign! We are publishing our ad in a key Washington paper in order to urge US Trade Rep Froman to reject copyright proposals that will criminalize our daily use of the Internet.

Thank you again to everyone who donated, and to our generous supporter who provided us with a time-limited matching funds opportunity!

Learn more about how the Trans-Pacific Partnership can affect you at: http://ourfairdeal.org Read more »