The Trans-Pacific Partnership


The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, is a massive trade agreement that's being negotiated in secret by 12 countries across the Pacific. It has 29 chapters covering all kinds of regulations, and we only know what's in it based on outdated leaks and government statements.

But last week, we had a huge development. Wikileaks published one of the most controversial chapters of all: the one related to “Intellectual Property” issues. This leaked text, from August 2013, confirms long-standing suspicions about the harm the agreement's copyright enforcement provisions could do to users’ rights and a free and open Internet. This includes terms that would incentivize ISPs to police their users' activities (ISP liability) and enact criminal penalties against people for interacting and tinkering with their devices in new ways. Its monopolistic patent provisions also confirm that the TPP would have tragic implications for people's access to medicine and innovative medical procedures.

The next round of secret negotiations begin today in Salt Lake City and continue through the week. The next big meeting is taking place in Singapore in the beginning of December. Trade negotiators are going to try to finalize it at either of these meetings and pretend like they have a “framework” of agreement even if major swaths of it remain contentious.
So we're here today to answer your questions about everything TPP—the secretive negotiating process, our analysis of the provisions, and what the newly leaked IP chapter shows about how this agreement is a big corporate wish list for Big Content and pharmaceutical companies. We're here to share what we know about this agreement so you can help us stop it.


Source: Reddit

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