Tech companies lining by hundreds to oppose TPP
Letter signed by more than 250 companies demands greater transparency and says ‘dangerously vague’ language would criminalise whistleblowersMore 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.”
...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.
The letter’s signatories also criticized the fast-track bill – known as the Trade Promotion Authority – which is being discussed in Congress this week. If passed, the TPA would give Obama a yes or no vote on the trade pact without the ability for legislators to amend it. The fast-track bill needs to be passed to even give the TPP a shot at approval.
And they express concern for keeping the internet open and accessible.
“The future of the internet is simply too important to be decided behind closed doors,” said Evan Greer, campaign director of Fight for the Future. “The Fast Track/Trade Promotion Authority process actively silences the voices of internet users, startups, and small tech companies while giving the biggest players even more power to set policy that benefits a few select companies while undermining the health of the entire web.”
It's okay for the big guys with money to read the parts that will affect them. It's not okay for the rest of us to learn what parts will harm us.
In my mind there can be no "fence-sitting" or "maybe I will talk about it later", or wavering. I think Bernie Sanders was right about that.
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Tech companies have no issues with off shoring jobs and decimating tech workers here in the US. 
I've worked for a few game companies smaller than EA and a lot of other studios and I remember as soon as Nafta hit one of them immediate set up a dept. for outsourcing.
Now there are hundreds of people applying for the same job.
It hasn't gotten any better and the white collar slavery is still rampant. Your getting a 40 hour a week salary but working 60 to 80 consistently. It's what I love to do and know the best but I can't physically deal with anymore because I have a family.
Wish companies didn't abuse the "salaried" pay, but they will always do it until something is done, and I'm thinking at the Federal level because they won't voluntarily do it.
Just saying the workers don't matter but if the CEO and the Board feel threatened, well now that's a whole different story.
