TPP Could Criminalize Journalism and Whistleblowing

[Octafish]

Last edited Fri May 22, 2015, 02:28 PM - Edit history (1)

250+ Tech Companies and Digital Rights Groups report:

TPP’s trade secrets provisions could make it a crime for people to reveal corporate wrongdoing “through a computer system.” The language is dangerously vague, and enables signatory countries to enact rules that would ban reporting on timely, critical issues affecting the public.

SOURCE: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/05/250-tech-companies-and-digital-rights-groups-tpp-could-criminalize-journalism-and-whistleblowing.html



The sulfur's in the details.

[Fred Sanders]

1. TPP "could" also ban the tooth fairy and make alien invasions of Earth more inviting. So I heard.

Aliens like baby teeth.

So I heard.

These handwringing Chicken Little criticisms of the TPP are like all the GOP/Fox criticisms of Clinton...the never ending looking for scandal is the scandal.

Japan, another high wage, high consumer nation must be horrified at the TPP, right?

[Octafish]

2. That's profound.

Me, I worry about freedom of the press. It's what made American democracy work for 238 years.

Thanks for the heads-up on the alien baby teeth.

[Fred Sanders]

3. I worry about the freedom of the press, also, but trade agreements had nothing to do with the Iraq fail.

Or the Ebola fail, or the Bengazhi fail, or the Manning debacle, or Snowden etc.

The press is being enslaved by Oligarths as we speak, so I do not worry about the press because of trade agreements.

[Octafish]

4. Right. So why bring them up?

TPP contains all manner of crapola that will impact our lives -- yet We the People aren't trusted to see it?

That calls for an investigation.

[Fred Sanders]

5. Obama would not let any of that happen if he thought this one agreement would, by any means. I trust Obama, he

is "the people" and he has seen it and he has the nation's top economists and trade experts advising him so I assume.

Does anyone doubt Obama's bona fides? Does anyone on this side of the political pond think Obama, President Obama, is......lying? Repeatedly lying?

Because that is the implication, isn't it?

[Octafish]

6. I trusted him to arrest the banksters in 2008.

Instead he entrusted them to fashion his economic policies.

I also trusted him to arrest the warmongers who lied America into war.

That he didn't is why I find his position on TPP troubling.

[think]

7. Obama is on the same side as 49 GOP Senators & the multinational corporations on the TPP

fast tracking legislation.

31 Dem Senators voted against it. Only Dem Senators 13 voted for it.

http://politics.nytimes.com/congress/votes/114/senate/1/183

Same scenario as how NAFTA got passed by Bill Clinton where he sided with the majority of Republicans and went against the majority of Democrats.

So please feel free to tell me what the hell Obama is doing.

[deutsey]

28. +1

[marmar]

9. On whistleblowers and press freedom, the administration's record is hardly golden......

..... a quick google search will verify that.

And as far as advisors on the TPP go, perhaps you should read this:
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/05/tpp-elizabeth-warren-labor-118068.html#.VV9QwfAl-DE

and

http://www.citizen.org/TPP

[truebrit71]

25. Um, yes....repeatedly...

..

[djean111]

26. As a matter of fact, you are right!

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/05/15/national/crime-legal/ex-minister-turns-courts-bid-keep-japan-tpp-talks/#.VV9zr7lVikp

More than 1,000 plaintiffs file lawsuit to keep Japan out of TPP

More than 1,000 people filed a lawsuit against the government on Friday, seeking to halt Japan’s involvement in 12-country talks on a Pacific Rim free trade agreement, which they called “unconstitutional.”

A total of 1,063 plaintiffs, including lawmakers, claimed in the case brought to the Tokyo District Court that the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership would undermine their basic human rights under the Constitution.

The lawsuit is led by Masahiko Yamada, 73, a lawyer who served as agriculture minister in 2010 as part of the Democratic Party of Japan government.

“The TPP could violate the Japanese right to get stable food supply, or the right to live, guaranteed by Article 25 of the nation’s Constitution,” Yamada, who abandoned his party in 2012 over then-Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s push to join the TPP talks, said Thursday before the court filing.

The envisaged pact would benefit big corporations but would jeopardize the country’s food safety and medical systems, and destroy the domestic farm sector, according to the plaintiffs.

So yeah, thanks for bringing that up!

[Fred Sanders]

27. Indeed, the heavily subsidized Japanese domestic rice farmer voting bloc is a very strong force there.

The national rice farmer political power and position protective of heavy tariffs on imported rice is generational.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Not surprised

A well informed people is damn dangerous. Yes sir'ee. Can't have that.

[Octafish]

16. That's what Democracy needs. It's how we can establish a Republic and Justice.

Otherwise, We the People are just saps, mopes, and cannon fodder.

[WillyT]

10. K & R !!!

[Octafish]

19. Jailing reporters for talking with government employees seems so Nixonian.

But, it's not. Nixon never dared trample on the First Amendment. If this "Trade Pact" passes, and this really is part of the deal, we are more than screwed here in the USA. Planetary freedom of expression, information, and government will be gone. What was that thing called? Oh, yeah. Democracy!

[colsohlibgal]

11. He Lied His Way Into Office

Half the time he came off more populist than Bernie. Once in presto - here comes Summers, Geithner, Emmanuel, etc. here came going after more whistleblowers than W. Here came a guy who actually thought he could work with the crazy right, a guy who bought into the so called Grand Bargain.

I worked to get him elected. I've never been more disappointed in a candidate, he went straight neo once in.

I'm amazed some don't see this. I'm also still amazed to get the blind trust sentiment. That is so dangerous.

Critical thinking is a good thing but still many haven't accessed that memo.

[Octafish]

14. Warmongers and Banksters walk free and Siegelman's in jail.

Proof is in the PNAC pudding running State, which never changes guard from administration to administration. They actively and publicly pushed for war on Iraq, Libya, Syria, Iran, and now Ukraine.

Neocons and Liberals Together, Again

The neoconservative Project for the New American Century (PNAC) has signaled its intention to continue shaping the government's national security...

Tom Barry, last updated: February 02, 2005

The neoconservative Project for the New American Century (PNAC) has signaled its intention to continue shaping the government's national security strategy with a new public letter stating that the "U.S. military is too small for the responsibilities we are asking it to assume." Rather than reining in the imperial scope of U.S. national security strategy as set forth by the first Bush administration, PNAC and the letter's signatories call for increasing the size of America's global fighting machine.

SNIP...

Liberal Hawks Fly with the Neocons

The recent PNAC letter to Congress was not the first time that PNAC or its associated front groups, such as the Coalition for the Liberation of Iraq, have included hawkish Democrats.

Two PNAC letters in March 2003 played to those Democrats who believed that the invasion was justified at least as much by humanitarian concerns as it was by the purported presence of weapons of mass destruction. PNAC and the neocon camp had managed to translate their military agenda of preemptive and preventive strikes into national security policy. With the invasion underway, they sought to preempt those hardliners and military officials who opted for a quick exit strategy in Iraq. In their March 19th letter, PNAC stated that Washington should plan to stay in Iraq for the long haul: "Everyone-those who have joined the coalition, those who have stood aside, those who opposed military action, and, most of all, the Iraqi people and their neighbors-must understand that we are committed to the rebuilding of Iraq and will provide the necessary resources and will remain for as long as it takes."

Along with such neocon stalwarts as Robert Kagan, Bruce Jackson, Joshua Muravchik, James Woolsey, and Eliot Cohen, a half-dozen Democrats were among the 23 individuals who signed PNAC's first letter on post-war Iraq. Among the Democrats were Ivo Daalder of the Brookings Institution and a member of Clinton's National Security Council staff; Martin Indyk, Clinton's ambassador to Israel; Will Marshall of the Progressive Policy Institute and Democratic Leadership Council; Dennis Ross, Clinton's top adviser on the Israel-Palestinian negotiations; and James Steinberg, Clinton's deputy national security adviser and head of foreign policy studies at Brookings. A second post-Iraq war letter by PNAC on March 28 called for broader international support for reconstruction, including the involvement of NATO, and brought together the same Democrats with the prominent addition of another Brookings' foreign policy scholar, Michael O'Hanlon.

CONTINUED...

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/articles/display/Neocons_and_Liberals_Together_Again

That's from Rightweb. They're full of facts, for those who take the time to read and learn. One name to pay attention to is Victoria Nuland, our woman in Ukraine, who is married to PNAC co-founder Robert Kagan. Robert Kagan's brother is Frederick Kagan. Frederick Kagan's spouse is Kimberly Kagan. Brilliant people, big ideas, etc. The thing is, that's a lot of PNAC. And the PNAC approach to international relations means more wars without end for profits without cease, among other things detrimental to peace, justice and democracy.

Before Bush II Iraq Part B, John Kokal ended up dead from a fall the top of the State Department, reportedly just after voicing his reasons to his superiors. Another "suicide" whose sudden, if convenient, passing made it easier for the warmongers and war profiteers to make another killing on yet another day. As it was never covered in the national press, Mr. Kokal's story and death after publicly opposing the Iraq invasion is now largely forgotten. His death should be investigated as a murder. Instead, it's forgotten to history, another "suicide" of those in public service opposed to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

[grasswire]

18. bamboozled

Whoever the power broker was that brought Obama out of relative obscurity, he/she/they was a cynic of the worst kind. Giving Democrats and progressives a black president was so, so cruel as we all thought he would be a true, traditional Democrat. It was a hoax. I shed tears when I voted for him the first time. I was so proud to be an American that day. Hope and change. Yes we can.

Won't be fooled again.

[OnyxCollie]

24. Lieberman 2006: I Will Help Obama "Reach to the Stars"

Lieberman 2006: I Will Help Obama "Reach to the Stars"
http://crooksandliars.com/2008/08/31/lieberman-2006-i-will-help-obama-reach-to-the-stars

"As far as I'm concerned (Barack Obama) is a 'Baruch,' which means a blessing. He is a blessing to the United States Senate, to America, and to our shared hopes for better, safer tomorrows for all our families. The gifts that God has given to Barack Obama are as enormous as his future is unlimited. As his mentor, as his colleague, as his friend, I look forward to helping him reach to the stars and realize not just the dreams he has for himself, but the dreams we all have for him and our blessed country."

[grasswire]

33. OH BARF

Really????

[JEB]

12. TPP sucks.

At least for us peons.

[Octafish]

13. I'm so old I remember when we peons were called Democrats.

We were part of something called "We the People," actually considered the boss of the United States.

LFOL.

[JEB]

15. How our country and world have changed!

By the way what is LFOL....sorry to be so obtuse.

[Octafish]

17. It certainly is a different nation from the one I was born in. It's like the NAZIs won World War II.

Germany invades Hungary and gets the oil. US invades Iraq and gets the oil.

Hitler's the best thing since sliced bread. Bush Crime Family's the best thing since Wall Street was a slave market.

Same things.

--------------

LFOL - laugh fucking out loud. Sorry about the vulgarity. It's just a word I don't use as much as I did when younger -- not just because of the kids, but because of the censors. Lots of software will cut responses out of searches in order to avoid offending people. It also, coincidentally of course, helps reduce the number of people who can learn whatever a post or thread contains.

[Dont call me Shirley]

20. Criminalization of exposing corporate wrongdoing was just enacted in Wyoming. No TPP needed.

Last edited Fri May 22, 2015, 04:51 PM - Edit history (1)

"The Republican-dominated state has adopted a new law, the “Data Trespass Bill,” which outlaws “citizen science,” the collecting of ecological data on private and public lands. Violations can result in a year of prison time and fines of $5,000. It also makes any samples inadmissible as evidence in court, even if they show environmental hazards."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141099826

On edit, double negative, doh!

[raouldukelives]

21. Yep. TPP will just make it worldwide. Cheerleaders could care less. nt

[Dont call me Shirley]

22. ALEC is publicly enthused about the WY law.

Here's their new federal lobbying arm, ironically named "The JeffersonianProject"

http://www.commonblog.com/2013/12/04/alec-taking-cover-from-federal-state-tax-laws/

Wanna place bets that ALEC is HEAVILY involved in the writing of TPP, TTIP, TISA? What is or will be their global acronym?

[Octafish]

30. The criminalization of citizenship.

We the People need to know -- all the time, not just on a need-to-know basis.

Thank you, Dont call me Shirley. The people of Wyoming are better than their legislature.

[annabanana]

23. AutoOctoRec . . . . .n/t

[Octafish]

31. Hundreds of tech companies line up to oppose TPP trade agreement

Letter signed by more than 250 companies demands greater transparency and says ‘dangerously vague’ language would criminalise whistleblowers

More than 250 tech companies have signed a letter demanding greater transparency from Congress and decrying the broad regulatory language in leaked parts of the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership trade bill.

The TPP would create an environment hostile to journalists and whistleblowers, said policy directors for the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Fight for the Future, co-authors of the letter. “TPP’s trade secrets provisions could make it a crime for people to reveal corporate wrongdoing ‘through a computer system’,” says the letter. “The language is dangerously vague, and enables signatory countries to enact rules that would ban reporting on timely, critical issues affecting the public.”

Among the signatories are activist, sci-fi author and Guardian tech columnist Cory Doctorow. “Democracies make their laws in public, not in smoke-filled rooms,” Doctorow wrote. “If TPP’s backers truly believed that they were doing the people’s work, they’d have invited the people into the room. The fact that they went to extreme, unprecedented measures to stop anyone from finding out what was going on – even going so far as to threaten Congress with jail if they spoke about it – tells you that this is something being done *to* Americans, not *for* Americans.”

Also on the list were prominent members of the open source community, including David Heinemeier Hansson, creator of the popular Ruby on Rails web development framework, image hosting company Imgur and domain name manager Namecheap.

[font color="green"]There was a notable absence from the letter of big, international tech companies like Apple, Google and Facebook. Apple and AT&T are part of the president’s International Trade Advisory Committee (which advises the Oval Office on matters relating to industry) and their representatives have presumably been able to read sections of the bill that would apply to their industry.[/font color]

CONTINUED...

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/20/hundreds-tech-companies-oppose-tpp-trade-agreement

PS: Thank you, annabanana! These are the real gangster times The Specials warned us about in "Gangsters."

[deutsey]

29. K&R

[Octafish]

34. I'd rather be jailing.

Public Citizen observes that the TPP would provide big banks with a backdoor means of watering down efforts to re-regulate Wall Street, after deregulation triggered the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression:

The TPP would forbid countries from banning particularly risky financial products, such as the toxic derivatives that led to the $183 billion government bailout of AIG. It would prohibit policies to prevent banks from becoming “too big to fail,” and threaten the use of “firewalls” to prevent banks that keep our savings accounts from taking hedge-fund-style bets.

The TPP would also restrict capital controls, an essential policy tool to counter destabilizing flows of speculative money. . . . And the deal would prohibit taxes on Wall Street speculation, such as the proposed Robin Hood Tax that would generate billions of dollars’ worth of revenue for social, health, or environmental causes.

http://www.alternet.org/economy/how-trans-pacific-partnership-signals-death-republic

That's the kind of observation that could get someone arrested and, once the technology is online, vaporized.

[JEB]

32. K&R for the original post and subsequent informative posts and links.

[Octafish]

35. Big Tech companies in favor of TPP also have enormous wealth offshore.

Just noticed some of the high tech companies who back TPP (in reply #31 above) also happen to have a huge amount of money in offshore banks, coincidentally of course.

U.S. Companies Are Stashing $2.1 Trillion Overseas to Avoid Taxes

Eight of the biggest U.S. technology companies added a combined $69 billion to their stockpiled offshore profits over the past year, even as some corporations in other industries felt pressure to bring cash back home.

Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc., Google Inc. and five other tech firms now account for more than a fifth of the $2.10 trillion in profits that U.S. companies are holding overseas, according to a Bloomberg News review of the securities filings of 304 corporations. The total amount held outside the U.S. by the companies was up 8 percent from the previous year, though 58 companies reported smaller stockpiles.

The money pileup, reflecting companies’ incentives to park profits in low-tax countries, has drawn the attention of President Barack Obama and U.S. lawmakers, who see a chance to tap the funds for spending programs and to revamp the tax code. That effort is stalled in Washington, and there are few signs that tech companies will bring the profits back to the U.S. until Congress gives them an incentive or a mandate.

“It just makes no sense to repatriate, pay a substantial tax on it,” said Joseph Kennedy, a senior fellow at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a policy-research group whose board of directors includes executives from Microsoft and Oracle Corp. “Computing and IT companies especially have a lot of flexibility in where they declare their profits.”

Apple, Google

Microsoft, Apple and Google each boosted their accumulated foreign profits by more than 20 percent over the year, the largest increases by any of the 34 companies with at least $16 billion outside the U.S. International Business Machines Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., Oracle, Qualcomm Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. each added at least $4 billion.

The profits added by the eight technology companies accounted for 45 percent of the net gain in overseas funds among the corporations surveyed. At the same time, firms in some other industries felt enough pressure to meet domestic needs that they chose to take the tax hit by bringing money home.

CONTINUED...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-04/u-s-companies-are-stashing-2-1-trillion-overseas-to-avoid-taxes

Perhaps this is "Why all the secrecy?" The turds plan to loot it and keep it in Switzerland, out of reach of the IRS and where only Phil Gramm and the friends of Jackson Stephens can touch it.

[Wilms]

36. ^