Although there are a few hold outs, for all practical purposes, the Trans Pacific Partnership treaty is dead. Its ramped up copyright measures would have threatened alternative media practices that are currently legal.
Remember when Congress gave Obama fast track authority to negotiate a trade deal so secret, most lawmakers never got a look at it? Now we can know what’s in TPP thanks to the government of New Zealand. The US Congress still get’s to vote up or down on the matter, but cannot debate the details. One of the big secrets is how TPP would cripple alternative journalism with super restrictive copyright provisions.
The movers and shakers behind the Trans Pacific Partnership treaty are so intent on getting their way that the public is not being adequately consulted. The TPP’s meeting location was recently shifted from one end of Canada to the other. And it seems the text of the developing agreement is only available to backers. If passed, the treaty would favor the Internet interests of big corporations and make life more difficult for low budget websites.
While much of America is distracted by March Madness, Barack Obama is secretly pushing ahead the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. New guidelines covering areas as diverse as fracking and Internet freedom would diminish national control and take away rights for which our forefathers fought.