TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership)

The TPP, or (Trans Pacific Partnership) is being negotiated in secrecy. While it all seems reasonably good from the surface, it has the potential to compromise the ability of the people to communicate freely on a global scale. Language leaked from the agreement’s intellectual property chapter has been rather worrisome, and the public has no idea what is in the latest official draft, or what the U.S. Trade Representative is asking  for in this agreement. There has been absolutely no transparency at all during this process, which is being hastened to a quick finish. Why the secrecy? Why the hurry? Just what is in this mystery bill?

What’s worse is that the people pushing the bill, the people who actually have access to TPP’s content are the very same industry executives that tried to pass harmful laws like SOPA, PIPA, and ACTA. This is extremely worrisome.  How can we trust this TPP bill, when questionable people like these, who have attempted to infringe on free internet speech before are now trying to pass a new bill, which they are going to great lengths to keep in the dark. Not even the Congressional Committee in charge of such treaties have been permitted to see the bill.  This should tell us something. It can be assumed that it has, at least somewhere in it's language content similar to other bills, such as SOPA, and CISPA. We must demand transparency, and if transparency is not granted, we must assume the worst of the bill and take action to inhibit it's passing.

For more information on internet censorship see "Censoring The Internet "

Country	Status	Date
Brunei	Original Signatory	June 2005
Chile	Original Signatory	June 2005
New Zealand	Original Signatory	June 2005
Singapore	Original Signatory	June 2005
United States	Negotiating	February 2008
Australia	Negotiating	November 2008
Peru	Negotiating	November 2008
Vietnam	Negotiating	November 2008
Malaysia	Negotiating	October 2010
Mexico	Negotiating	October 2012
Canada[35]	Negotiating	October 2012
Japan	Negotiating	March 2013