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Re: REQUEST FOR HELP Obama Admin rules texts of new IPR agreement are state secrets
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:03:51 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Nick Johnson <arachnid () notdot net> Date: March 13, 2009 8:47:34 AM EDT To: dave () farber netSubject: Re: [IP] Obama Admin rules texts of new IPR agreement are state secrets
Dave, For IP, if you would be so kind. I note that New Zealand has committed to soliciting public discussion of the proposed agreement after a draft is formulated, but before it is enacted in New Zealand. This is encouraging, but the process is still distressingly short on transparency, given how much this agreement is likely to affect every one of us in our day to day lives. With that in mind, I'm interested, as a New Zealand citizen, in submitting a documentation request under our own freedom of information legislation, the Official Information Act: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_Information_Act_1982 . However, I don't have any experience with submitting these sorts of requests. While I'm sure some of it is NZ-specific, presumably a lot of the knowledge of how to assemble these requests carries over. Further, half the battle is knowing precisely what to ask for - asking for "all documents relating to ACTA" probably won't fly. Is there anyone out there in IP-land who would be so kind as to give me some guidance in formulating a request? I suspect the answer will be redacted or omitted entirely, but I think it's important to try this in as many of the concerned jurisdictions as possible. Regards, Nick Johnson On Fri, Mar 13, 2009 at 2:02 AM, David Farber <dave () farber net> wrote:
Begin forwarded message: From: Jim Warren <jwarren () well com> Date: March 12, 2009 7:56:45 PM EDT To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>Subject: fwd: [Random-bits] Obama Admin rules texts of new IPR agreement arestate secretsThe government wants to protect monopolies of thought (e.g. drug patents, genetic patents, "business process" patents, algorithm patents, etc.), andhow it wants to do it is a "state secret" (except, probably, from thewould-be monopolists - Microsoft, Big Pharma, Dow Chemical, Big Agri- Biz,financial "innovators", etc.)! --jimAt 5:15 PM -0400 3/12/09, James Love <james.love () keionline org> posted torandom-bits <Random-bits () lists essential org>: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love/obama-administration-rule_b_174450.htmlObama Administration rules texts of new IPR agreement are state secretsJames LoveWe have been seeking access to documents relating to negotiations on animportant new intellectual property enforcement treaty. The agreement,misleadingly named the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, isthought to cover a wide range of intellectual property enforcement issues -- including standards for granting injunctions for alleged infringement of patents or copyrights, damages, seizures of goods in transit, surveillance of Internet digital file transfers, searches of personal property, and a dozen other topics. There are number of outstanding Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for key documents, by groups like EFF, Public Knowledge, and KEI. In one of our FOIA requests, we asked for 7 specific documents,referenced by the exact title and date of the documents. These documentsare the proposals for the text of the agreement. The texts are available to the Japanese government. They are availableto the 27 member states of the European Union. They are available to thegovernments of Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia. They are available to Morocco, and many other countries. They are available to "cleared" advisers (mostly well connected lobbyists) for the pharmaceutical, software, entertainment and publishing industries. But they are a secret from you, the public.Today we received this letter from the White House, Office of the United States Trade Representative. Our FOIA request was denied on the groundsthat the documents are "information that is properly classified in the interest of national security pursuant to Executive Order 12958." Here is a link to a PDF of the denial of the FOIA request. http://www.keionline.org/misc-docs/3/ustr_foia_denial.pdf ... -- James Love, Director, Knowledge Ecology International http://www.keionline.org | mailto:james.love at keionline.org Wk: +1.202.332.2671 | US Mobile +1.202.361.3040 | Geneva Mobile +41.76.413.6584 ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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- Re: REQUEST FOR HELP Obama Admin rules texts of new IPR agreement are state secrets David Farber (Mar 13)