[nfbmi-talk] Fw: Top Five Ways Lobbyists Will Win and We Will Lose If a Major Corporate Trade Deal Goes Through

[joe harcz Comcast]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni at optonline.net>
To: "'Blind Democracy Discussion List'" <blind-democracy at octothorp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2013 6:00 PM
Subject: Top Five Ways Lobbyists Will Win and We Will Lose If a Major 
Corporate Trade Deal Goes Through


>
> Published on Alternet (http://admin.alternet.org)
> Top Five Ways Lobbyists Will Win and We Will Lose If a Major Corporate 
> Trade
> Deal Goes Through
> ________________________________________
> AlterNet [1] / By Noushin Khushrushahi [2]
>
> Top Five Ways Lobbyists Will Win and We Will Lose If a Major Corporate 
> Trade
> Deal Goes Through
> October 18, 2013  |
> Something very important happened last week.
> For the first time, Presidents and Prime Ministers of several countries 
> met
> with industry lobbyists to discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on
> the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 
> summit
> in Bali, Indonesia. Although U.S. President Obama suddenly announced 
> hewould
> not [3]be joining these discussions, industry lobbyists are hoping to push
> through [4]TPP talks to finalize the agreement.
> What exactly is the TPP? It's been called one of the most significant
> international trade agreements since the creation of the World Trade
> Organization [5]- but you'd be forgiven for not knowing about it.
> Discussions about this monumental agreement have been so secret that the
> little we know about the text is from leaked documents [6]- documents that
> show we have grave reason to be concerned.
> One of its most troubling chapters includes an extreme Internet censorship
> plan that could break your digital future. Here are the top five ways the
> TPP censors the Internet and why it should concern you:
> 5.The TPP could criminalize small-scale copyright infringement
> The next time you want to share a song or a recipe online, you'd have to 
> ask
> yourself: Am I a criminal? Interested in writing some fan fiction based on
> your favourite detective series and sharing it online? Ask yourself that
> very same question. That's how TPP provisions could characterize you based
> on what we know about its Intellectual Property chapter.
> According to the leaked drafts, unauthorized small-scale downloading or
> sharing of copyrighted material could result [7] in severe fines and
> criminal penalties. Law enforcement could even seize your computer and 
> send
> you to jail for minor copyright infringement.
> 4. The TPP could prohibit blind and deaf users from breaking digital locks
> to access their content
> Under the TPP, attempts to circumvent digital locks in order to use your
> paid-for and legally-acquired media may become illegal. If you are blind,
> this means you could be criminalized [8] for circumventing digital locks 
> on
> your purchased e-books and other digital materials in order to convert 
> text
> to braille, audio, or other accessible formats. If you are a librarian, it
> may become very difficult to share [9] excerpts of content with students 
> for
> education purposes, lend out material to the public, or even gain full
> access to purchased content; and as a consumer of digital media, attempts 
> to
> [10] make backup copies of that DVD you purchased or transfer your
> legally-purchased e-book on a different device would become unlawful.
> 3. The TPP could lead to excessive copyright terms
> Copyright, which was originally intended to promote the creation of new
> works by giving authors certain exclusive rights for a limited time, may 
> be
> threatened [11] by excessive terms and a rigid system that could stifle
> creativity and innovation under the TPP.
> Under the TPP, excessive copyright terms [10] could be created beyond
> internationally-agreed upon periods; it could also lengthen terms for
> corporate-owned works. Despite the strong and growing body of evidence
> demonstrating the importance of a rich commons [12] in creating new works,
> such a rigid copyright regime would stifle creativity and innovation. It
> would also restrict [13] the limitations and exceptions that member
> countries could enact, ensuring that countries enact compliant laws in 
> order
> to avoid trade sanctions.
> 2.The TPP may regulate temporary copies at the cost of innovation and
> freedom
> Temporary copies, or the small copies that your computer needs to make in
> order to move data around, are being targeted by TPP lobbyists who are
> attempting to redefine the very meaning of the word "copy". The very 
> notion
> of regulating temporary copies is ludicrous given how basic [14] the
> creation of temporary copies of files and programs is to computer
> functioning and the Internet. As the Electronic Frontier Foundation notes
> [14]:
> This proposal may seem absurd to you. It should. Given how crucial the
> storage of "temporary copies" of digital files is to the functioning of 
> our
> devices, the inclusion of unfettered provisions to regulate it is purely
> backward, especially given the supporters' failure to justify a legitimate
> purpose for imposing a burden without a balance.
> If lobbyists have their way, anyone viewing content on any device could
> potentially be committing copyright infringement. Companies like Wikipedia
> and Connexions would face serious difficulty [14] in hosting and storing
> user-generated content. Ultimately, this provision could make it more
> expensive for you to access licensed content, make you more vulnerable to
> liability, require you to purchase licenses from copyright-holders for
> transactions, and hinder your ability to use and create online content.
> 1.    The TPP could kick you off the Internet
> The TPP will place the burden [15] of monitoring copyright infringement on
> your Internet Service Provider (ISP), potentially resulting in the 
> blocking
> of entire websites. Your ISP would have to institute what's called a
> "three-strike rule [15]" - a rule that would kick you and your whole 
> family
> off the internet after three infringement accusations by copyright 
> holders.
> It would also force websites to police user-contributed material.. Not 
> only
> would this mean added financial burden [16], which could lead to the
> stifling of technology startups, it would also result in websites having 
> to
> actively monitor for banned links - forcing the creation of a stringent
> Internet censorship regime. If ISPs are incentivized to remove content
> because of the resource-heavy nature of investigating copyright 
> infringement
> complaints, such immediate takedown could censor time-sensitive news,
> including information to facilitate social organization, protest, and
> community-building.
> It would also break your right to privacy [17] by forcing your ISP to 
> share
> your private sensitive information with law enforcement in order to
> investigate your alleged copyright crimes.
> Here's the bottom line: The TPP is a secretive and extreme agreement that
> could break our digital future. It could change how we behave online,
> threaten our freedom of expression by promoting an extreme Internet
> censorship plan, and invade our privacy. The TPP will stifle creativity 
> and
> innovation, hinder our ability to access information and organize, and
> criminalize our Internet use. The TPP is an affront to global Internet
> freedom.
> Over 100,000 people have said no [18] to the TPP's extreme Internet
> censorship plan and several thousand have put forward their vision of a 
> fair
> digital future [19]. Join them and make your voice heard - the time is now
> [20].
> See more stories tagged with:
> internet [21],
> tpp [22],
> censorship [23]
> ________________________________________
> Source URL:
> http://admin.alternet.org/civil-liberties/top-five-ways-lobbyists-will-win-a
> nd-we-will-lose-if-major-corporate-trade-deal-goes
> Links:
> [1] http://alternet.org
> [2] http://admin.alternet.org/authors/noushin-khushrushahi
> [3] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24424552
> [4]
> http://www.freeenterprise.com/international/us-chamber-s-donohue-trade-deal-
> good-pacific-economies-video
> [5]
> http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/opinion/obamas-covert-trade-deal.html?_r=1
> &
> [6]
> http://keionline.org/sites/default/files/tpp-10feb2011-us-text-ipr-chapter.p
> df
> [7]
> http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=117
> 9&context=njtip
> [8]
> http://publicknowledge.org/blog/failing-understand-needs-21st-century-tpp%E2
> %80%99s-f
> [9]
> http://www.academia.edu/4255123/Digital_locks_and_Canadian_research_library_
> collections_Implications_for_scholarship_accessibility_and_preservation
> [10]
> https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/08/all-nations-lose-tpps-expansion-copyri
> ght-terms
> [11] https://openmedia.org/blog/copyright-creativity-not-criminalization
> [12]
> http://whiterabbitisme.wordpress.com/tag/why-is-creative-commons-important/
> [13]
> http://www.dailydot.com/opinion/international-trade-agreements-threaten-inte
> rnet/
> [14]
> https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/07/temporary-copies-another-way-tpp-profo
> undly-disconnected
> [15]
> https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/08/tpp-creates-liabilities-isps-and-put-y
> our-rights-risk
> [16]
> https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/05/copyright-provisions-tpp-would-stifle-
> innovation-and-impede-economy
> [17]
> http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/03/secret-copyright-treaty-wants-to-make-isps
> -liable-for-piracy/
> [18] https://openmedia.org/Censorship
> [19] https://openmedia.org/DigitalFuture
> [20] https://openmedia.org/censorship
> [21] http://admin.alternet.org/tags/internet-0
> [22] http://admin.alternet.org/tags/tpp
> [23] http://admin.alternet.org/tags/censorship
> [24] http://admin.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
>
> Published on Alternet (http://admin.alternet.org)
> Home > Top Five Ways Lobbyists Will Win and We Will Lose If a Major
> Corporate Trade Deal Goes Through
>
> AlterNet [1] / By Noushin Khushrushahi [2]
>
> Top Five Ways Lobbyists Will Win and We Will Lose If a Major Corporate 
> Trade
> Deal Goes Through
> October 18, 2013 |
> Something very important happened last week.
> For the first time, Presidents and Prime Ministers of several countries 
> met
> with industry lobbyists to discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on
> the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 
> summit
> in Bali, Indonesia. Although U.S. President Obama suddenly announced 
> hewould
> not [3]be joining these discussions, industry lobbyists are hoping to push
> through [4]TPP talks to finalize the agreement.
> What exactly is the TPP? It's been called one of the most significant
> international trade agreements since the creation of the World Trade
> Organization [5]- but you'd be forgiven for not knowing about it.
> Discussions about this monumental agreement have been so secret that the
> little we know about the text is from leaked documents [6]- documents that
> show we have grave reason to be concerned.
> One of its most troubling chapters includes an extreme Internet censorship
> plan that could break your digital future. Here are the top five ways the
> TPP censors the Internet and why it should concern you:
> 5.The TPP could criminalize small-scale copyright infringement
> The next time you want to share a song or a recipe online, you'd have to 
> ask
> yourself: Am I a criminal? Interested in writing some fan fiction based on
> your favourite detective series and sharing it online? Ask yourself that
> very same question. That's how TPP provisions could characterize you based
> on what we know about its Intellectual Property chapter.
> According to the leaked drafts, unauthorized small-scale downloading or
> sharing of copyrighted material could result [7] in severe fines and
> criminal penalties. Law enforcement could even seize your computer and 
> send
> you to jail for minor copyright infringement.
> 4. The TPP could prohibit blind and deaf users from breaking digital locks
> to access their content
> Under the TPP, attempts to circumvent digital locks in order to use your
> paid-for and legally-acquired media may become illegal. If you are blind,
> this means you could be criminalized [8] for circumventing digital locks 
> on
> your purchased e-books and other digital materials in order to convert 
> text
> to braille, audio, or other accessible formats. If you are a librarian, it
> may become very difficult to share [9] excerpts of content with students 
> for
> education purposes, lend out material to the public, or even gain full
> access to purchased content; and as a consumer of digital media, attempts 
> to
> [10] make backup copies of that DVD you purchased or transfer your
> legally-purchased e-book on a different device would become unlawful.
> 3. The TPP could lead to excessive copyright terms
> Copyright, which was originally intended to promote the creation of new
> works by giving authors certain exclusive rights for a limited time, may 
> be
> threatened [11] by excessive terms and a rigid system that could stifle
> creativity and innovation under the TPP.
> Under the TPP, excessive copyright terms [10] could be created beyond
> internationally-agreed upon periods; it could also lengthen terms for
> corporate-owned works. Despite the strong and growing body of evidence
> demonstrating the importance of a rich commons [12] in creating new works,
> such a rigid copyright regime would stifle creativity and innovation. It
> would also restrict [13] the limitations and exceptions that member
> countries could enact, ensuring that countries enact compliant laws in 
> order
> to avoid trade sanctions.
> 2.The TPP may regulate temporary copies at the cost of innovation and
> freedom
> Temporary copies, or the small copies that your computer needs to make in
> order to move data around, are being targeted by TPP lobbyists who are
> attempting to redefine the very meaning of the word "copy". The very 
> notion
> of regulating temporary copies is ludicrous given how basic [14] the
> creation of temporary copies of files and programs is to computer
> functioning and the Internet. As the Electronic Frontier Foundation notes
> [14]:
> This proposal may seem absurd to you. It should. Given how crucial the
> storage of "temporary copies" of digital files is to the functioning of 
> our
> devices, the inclusion of unfettered provisions to regulate it is purely
> backward, especially given the supporters' failure to justify a legitimate
> purpose for imposing a burden without a balance.
> If lobbyists have their way, anyone viewing content on any device could
> potentially be committing copyright infringement. Companies like Wikipedia
> and Connexions would face serious difficulty [14] in hosting and storing
> user-generated content. Ultimately, this provision could make it more
> expensive for you to access licensed content, make you more vulnerable to
> liability, require you to purchase licenses from copyright-holders for
> transactions, and hinder your ability to use and create online content.
> 1. The TPP could kick you off the Internet
> The TPP will place the burden [15] of monitoring copyright infringement on
> your Internet Service Provider (ISP), potentially resulting in the 
> blocking
> of entire websites. Your ISP would have to institute what's called a
> "three-strike rule [15]" - a rule that would kick you and your whole 
> family
> off the internet after three infringement accusations by copyright 
> holders.
> It would also force websites to police user-contributed material.. Not 
> only
> would this mean added financial burden [16], which could lead to the
> stifling of technology startups, it would also result in websites having 
> to
> actively monitor for banned links - forcing the creation of a stringent
> Internet censorship regime. If ISPs are incentivized to remove content
> because of the resource-heavy nature of investigating copyright 
> infringement
> complaints, such immediate takedown could censor time-sensitive news,
> including information to facilitate social organization, protest, and
> community-building.
> It would also break your right to privacy [17] by forcing your ISP to 
> share
> your private sensitive information with law enforcement in order to
> investigate your alleged copyright crimes.
> Here's the bottom line: The TPP is a secretive and extreme agreement that
> could break our digital future. It could change how we behave online,
> threaten our freedom of expression by promoting an extreme Internet
> censorship plan, and invade our privacy. The TPP will stifle creativity 
> and
> innovation, hinder our ability to access information and organize, and
> criminalize our Internet use. The TPP is an affront to global Internet
> freedom.
> Over 100,000 people have said no [18] to the TPP's extreme Internet
> censorship plan and several thousand have put forward their vision of a 
> fair
> digital future [19]. Join them and make your voice heard - the time is now
> [20].
> See more stories tagged with:
> internet [21],
> tpp [22],
> censorship [23]
>
> Source URL:
> http://admin.alternet.org/civil-liberties/top-five-ways-lobbyists-will-win-a
> nd-we-will-lose-if-major-corporate-trade-deal-goes
> Links:
> [1] http://alternet.org
> [2] http://admin.alternet.org/authors/noushin-khushrushahi
> [3] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24424552
> [4]
> http://www.freeenterprise.com/international/us-chamber-s-donohue-trade-deal-
> good-pacific-economies-video
> [5]
> http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/opinion/obamas-covert-trade-deal.html?_r=1
> &
> [6]
> http://keionline.org/sites/default/files/tpp-10feb2011-us-text-ipr-chapter.p
> df
> [7]
> http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=117
> 9&context=njtip
> [8]
> http://publicknowledge.org/blog/failing-understand-needs-21st-century-tpp%E2
> %80%99s-f
> [9]
> http://www.academia.edu/4255123/Digital_locks_and_Canadian_research_library_
> collections_Implications_for_scholarship_accessibility_and_preservation
> [10]
> https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/08/all-nations-lose-tpps-expansion-copyri
> ght-terms
> [11] https://openmedia.org/blog/copyright-creativity-not-criminalization
> [12]
> http://whiterabbitisme.wordpress.com/tag/why-is-creative-commons-important/
> [13]
> http://www.dailydot.com/opinion/international-trade-agreements-threaten-inte
> rnet/
> [14]
> https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/07/temporary-copies-another-way-tpp-profo
> undly-disconnected
> [15]
> https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/08/tpp-creates-liabilities-isps-and-put-y
> our-rights-risk
> [16]
> https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/05/copyright-provisions-tpp-would-stifle-
> innovation-and-impede-economy
> [17]
> http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/03/secret-copyright-treaty-wants-to-make-isps
> -liable-for-piracy/
> [18] https://openmedia.org/Censorship
> [19] https://openmedia.org/DigitalFuture
> [20] https://openmedia.org/censorship
> [21] http://admin.alternet.org/tags/internet-0
> [22] http://admin.alternet.org/tags/tpp
> [23] http://admin.alternet.org/tags/censorship
> [24] http://admin.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
>
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> Blind-Democracy at octothorp.org
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