[x-pubpol] ISOC: Call for Open and International Dialogue for TPPA

[Joly MacFie]

(Strike while the iron is hot!)

http://www.internetsociety.org/news/calling-open-and-international-dialogue-trans-pacific-partnership-agreement-negotiations

Calling for an Open and International Dialogue for the Trans-Pacific
Partnership Agreement Negotiations

The Internet Society welcomes the European Parliament’s rejection of
the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) as a strong message in
favour of open and transparent processes in negotiations dealing with
policy issues pertaining to the Internet. The vote followed widespread
protests throughout Europe, with Internet campaigners claiming that it
posed threats to online freedoms. ACTA was originally meant to
address, among other things, the issue of online piracy and the sale
or promotion of counterfeit goods via the Internet.

At the same time, the Internet Society expresses its concern over the
negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), which
aim to further liberalize the economies of the Asia-Pacific region.
The thirteenth (13th) round of negotiations is taking place in San
Diego, California, between July 2 -10, 2012.

As no documents have been officially made public, the Internet Society
cannot express, at this point, an opinion on the Agreement’s
substantive provisions. However, since preliminary reports indicate
that the TPPA also seeks to address issues related to the Internet,
the Internet Society calls for an open and inclusive process in line
with the principles adopted by the World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS) recognizing that public issues pertaining to the
Internet should be addressed in an open, inclusive and participatory
process. Also, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) adopted principles for Internet policy-making,
which similarly call for multistakeholder cooperation.

The Internet Society notes that while some room for (limited)
participation has been provided, the various stakeholders have not
been allowed to actively participate in the TPPA’s policy discussions
as is envisaged by the WSIS and OECD principles.

The Internet Society believes that the overall level of transparency
surrounding the TPPA negotiations should be more robust. Deciding how
to appropriately address intellectual property rights (IPR) in an
online environment is a relevant issue for many stakeholders, not just
governments. We believe that the combined insight and experience of
all Internet Governance stakeholders can provide adequate and
well-balanced solutions to some of the issues the TPPA seeks to
address. The Internet Society would be happy to contribute to the
ongoing TPPA policy discussions.




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Joly MacFie  218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast
WWWhatsup NYC - http://wwwhatsup.com
 http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com
 VP (Admin) - ISOC-NY - http://isoc-ny.org
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