Fwd: Time to act on TPP is now: Rallies against TPP in Washington D.C. November 14-18

[Jeffrey Walton <noloader () gmail com>]

FYI...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Free Software Foundation <info () fsf org>
Date: Mon, Nov 9, 2015 at 5:42 PM
Subject: Time to act on TPP is now: Rallies against TPP in Washington D.C.
November 14-18
To: Jeffrey Walton <noloader () gmail com>


[image: Free Software Foundation]

Dear Jeffrey Walton,

The FSF has been warning users of the dangers of the Trans-Pacific
Partnership (TPP) for many years now. The TPP is an agreement negotiated in
secret nominally for the promotion of trade, yet entire chapters of it are
dedicated to implementing restrictions and regulations on computing and the
Internet. In April of 2015, a leaked draft of the agreement revealed a whole
host of problems
<https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/latest-tpp-leak-shows-systemic-threat-to-software-freedom>.
> From extensions to the term of copyright, confusing provisions on software
patents, and spreading the worst aspects of the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act's (DMCA) Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) provisions
beyond the United States, the TPP negotiations were and are an attack on
user freedom. In the U.S. at that time, the battle was to stop Trade
Promotion Authority, which would fast-track passage of TPP in the U.S. once
an accord was reached. We unfortunately lost that battle, and last month
the TPP negotiations ended. On November 5th, the secret text of TPP was
finally officially released to the public
<http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Treaties-and-International-Law/01-Treaties-for-which-NZ-is-Depositary/0-Trans-Pacific-Partnership-Text.php>.
Because of Trade Promotion Authority, the time we have left to stop TPP in
the U.S. is extremely limited. For U.S. residents, there are only 90 days
left before this trade agreement locks users in for possibly decades. For
users in other TPP member countries, the time frame is not much better. The
war wages on and the time to act is now.

One big reveal from the final publication was the addition of the Electronic
Commerce chapter
<http://www.mfat.govt.nz/downloads/trade-agreement/transpacific/TPP-text/14.%20Electronic%20Commerce%20Chapter.pdf>,
which was not previously leaked. The chapter contains provisions similar to
those found in the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) that we wrote about
previously
<https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/the-many-headed-monster-of-international-trade-agreements>.
TPP requires that "No Party shall require the transfer of, or access to,
source code of software owned by a person of another Party, as a condition
for the import, distribution, sale or use of such software, or of products
containing such software, in its territory." While government procurement
is exempted from this rule under TPP ("This Chapter shall not apply to ...
government procurement"), it would still mean that member countries could
not pass a law requiring that imported consumer devices come with source
code. The regulation would not affect freely licensed software, such as
software under the GPL, that already comes with its own conditions ensuring
users receive source code. Such licenses are grants of permission from the
copyright holders on the work, who are not a "Party" to TPP. But even if
the rule is limited, it is clearly an attack on the sharing of software and
government policies to encourage it. This is yet another reason why we must
stop TPP.

Unfortunately, as the similar language found in TISA shows, even if we are
successful in stopping TPP, other international trade agreements lie in
wait that would extend these problems all around the world as well as
produce many of their own. Dozens of countries around the world are
ensnaring each other in agreements that threaten user's fundamental
liberty. If you live in a country that is not a member of TPP, now is not
the time for complacency. The short track to TPP approval may be
overshadowing the agreements that are threatening you personally further
down the line, but now is the perfect time to shine a light on them as well.

TPP, and the ongoing fight against all international "trade" agreements
that threaten freedom, is one of the most urgent issues facing users today.
The work we have done over the years against DRM and software patents will
be set back if we do not stop these agreements from coming to pass. But we
are not alone in this fight. Organizations all around the world are
rallying to the cause to stop TPP and agreements like it. The first step
for now are a series of rallies taking place in Washington D.C. from
November 14th to the 18th. The Electronic Frontier Foundation will be
hosting two days of action
<https://www.eff.org/event/global-week-actions-against-tpp-ttip-tisa>.

We hope that you can join our friends at EFF on November 16 in the
Washington D.C., and on November 17th in Washington D.C. and around the
world. This multi-day rally is just the start of the steps we need to take
to stop TPP. Here's what you need to do:

   - Join the rally to stop TPP on Monday, November 16th at 4:30pm EST they
   will host a march and rally to stop TPP at Chamber of Commerce,1615 H St
   NW, Washington, D.C. 20062.
   - Join in on the hackathon on Tuesday, November 17th at 5pm EST they
   will host a hackathon to develop tools and materials to fight TPP and all
   international trade agreements centrally located at First Trinity Lutheran
   Church, 4th and E Sts., NW, Washington D.C. 20001.
   - Tell your friends about the upcoming rallies and get them to
   participate.
   - Get your friends to sign up for the Free Software Supporter
   <https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/> to keep up to date on the
   latest actions.
   - Support our work against TPP by making a donation to the FSF
   <https://donate.fsf.org>

Happy hacking,

Donald Robertson
Copyright and Licensing Associate

*Read online:
https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/time-to-act-on-tpp-is-now-rallies-against-tpp-in-washington-d-c-november-14-18
<https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/time-to-act-on-tpp-is-now-rallies-against-tpp-in-washington-d-c-november-14-18>*

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