[Fsuk-manchester] Fwd: Time to act on TPP is now

[John Rooke]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256

Recent FSF posting. Perhaps we should be thinking about the
consequences of the European versions of these treaties (TTIP and CETA)?

John


- -------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject:        Time to act on TPP is now
Date:   Mon, 09 Nov 2015 20:51:25 -0500
From:   Free Software Foundation <address@hidden>
Reply-To:       Free Software Foundation <address@hidden>
To:     John Rooke <address@hidden>



Free Software Foundation

Dear John Rooke,

The FSF has been warning users of the dangers of the Trans-Pacific
Partnership (TPP) for many years now. The TPP is an agreement negotiated
in secret nominally for the promotion of trade, yet entire chapters of
it are dedicated to implementing restrictions and regulations on
computing and the Internet. In April of 2015, a leaked draft of the
agreement revealed a whole host of problems
<https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/latest-tpp-leak-shows-systemic-thre
at-to-software-freedom>.
- From extensions to the term of copyright, confusing provisions on
software patents, and spreading the worst aspects of the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act's (DMCA) Digital Restrictions Management (DRM)
provisions beyond the United States, the TPP negotiations were and are
an attack on user freedom. In the U.S. at that time, the battle was to
stop Trade Promotion Authority, which would fast-track passage of TPP in
the U.S. once an accord was reached. We unfortunately lost that battle,
and last month the TPP negotiations ended. On November 5th, the secret
text of TPP was finally officially released to the public
<http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Treaties-and-International-Law/01-Treaties-for-
which-NZ-is-Depositary/0-Trans-Pacific-Partnership-Text.php>.
Because of Trade Promotion Authority, the time we have left to stop TPP
in the U.S. is extremely limited. For U.S. residents, there are only 90
days left before this trade agreement locks users in for possibly
decades. For users in other TPP member countries, the time frame is not
much better. The war wages on and the time to act is now.

One big reveal from the final publication was the addition of the
Electronic Commerce chapter
<http://www.mfat.govt.nz/downloads/trade-agreement/transpacific/TPP-text
/14.%20Electronic%20Commerce%20Chapter.pdf>,
which was not previously leaked. The chapter contains provisions similar
to those found in the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) that we wrote
about previously
<https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/the-many-headed-monster-of-internat
ional-trade-agreements>.
TPP requires that "No Party shall require the transfer of, or access to,
source code of software owned by a person of another Party, as a
condition for the import, distribution, sale or use of such software, or
of products containing such software, in its territory." While
government procurement is exempted from this rule under TPP ("This
Chapter shall not apply to ... government procurement"), it would still
mean that member countries could not pass a law requiring that imported
consumer devices come with source code. The regulation would not affect
freely licensed software, such as software under the GPL, that already
comes with its own conditions ensuring users receive source code. Such
licenses are grants of permission from the copyright holders on the
work, who are not a "Party" to TPP. But even if the rule is limited, it
is clearly an attack on the sharing of software and government policies
to encourage it. This is yet another reason why we must stop TPP.

Unfortunately, as the similar language found in TISA shows, even if we
are successful in stopping TPP, other international trade agreements lie
in wait that would extend these problems all around the world as well as
produce many of their own. Dozens of countries around the world are
ensnaring each other in agreements that threaten user's fundamental
liberty. If you live in a country that is not a member of TPP, now is
not the time for complacency. The short track to TPP approval may be
overshadowing the agreements that are threatening you personally further
down the line, but now is the perfect time to shine a light on them as
well.

TPP, and the ongoing fight against all international "trade" agreements
that threaten freedom, is one of the most urgent issues facing users
today. The work we have done over the years against DRM and software
patents will be set back if we do not stop these agreements from coming
to pass. But we are not alone in this fight. Organizations all around
the world are rallying to the cause to stop TPP and agreements like it.
The first step for now are a series of rallies taking place in
Washington D.C. from November 14th to the 18th. The Electronic Frontier
Foundation will be hosting two days of action
<https://www.eff.org/event/global-week-actions-against-tpp-ttip-tisa>.

  * On Monday, November 16th at 4:30pm EST they will host a march and
    rally to stop TPP at Chamber of Commerce, 1615 H St NW, Washington,
    D.C. 20062.
  * On Tuesday, November 17th at 5pm EST they will host a hackathon to
    develop tools and materials to fight TPP and all international trade
    agreements centrally located at First Trinity Lutheran Church, 4th
    and E Sts., NW, Washington D.C. 20001 and around the world via irc.

We hope that you can join our friends at EFF on November 16th in the
Washington D.C., and on November 17th in Washington D.C. and around the
world. This multi-day rally is just the start of the steps we need to
take to stop TPP. Here's what you need to do:

  * If you can travel to Washington D.C., join the rally to stop TPP on
    November 16th.
  * Join in on the hackathon wherever you are in the world.
  * If you are part of a hackerspace, create a local event to
    participate in the hackathon and post the details on Libreplanet
    <https://libreplanet.org/wiki/Main_Page>.
  * Tell your friends about the upcoming rallies and get them to
    participate.
  * Get your friends to sign up for the Free Software Supporter
    <https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/> to keep up to date on
    the latest actions.
  * Support our work against TPP by making a donation to the FSF
    <https://donate.fsf.org>.

Happy hacking,

Donald Robertson
Copyright and Licensing Associate

/Read online:
https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/time-to-act-on-tpp-is-now-rallies-ag
ainst-tpp-in-washington-d-c-november-14-18/



Follow us on GNU social <https://status.fsf.org/fsf> | Subscribe to our
blogs via RSS <https://fsf.org/blogs/RSS> | Join us as an associate
member <https://www.fsf.org/jf>

Sent from the Free Software Foundation,

51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor
Boston, Massachusetts 02110-1335
UNITED STATES

Unsubscribe
<https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/mailing/unsubscribe?reset=1&jid=138258&qid=1
5263909&h=455958c1ad1372e3>
from this mailing list.

Stop all email
<https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/mailing/optout?reset=1&jid=138258&qid=152639
09&h=455958c1ad1372e3>
from the Free Software Foundation, including Defective by Design, and
the Free Software Supporter newsletter.



-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v2
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=kqmu
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----