[AusNOG] Internet Society position on the TPP

[Narelle]

FYI

A number of people and chapters across the Internet Society (ISOC)
both nationally and internationally are deeply concerned about the
apparent direction of the TPP.

Specifically, here in Australia a number of people have expressed
concern to me that
the rights established in court over recent years may be diluted or
removed under this agreement.

The following statement was issued by ISOC (global):

Internet Society Expresses Concern over Impact of Intellectual
Property Rights Provisions in Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
(TPP) Draft

18 November 2013


The Internet Society is concerned that the global Internet may be
harmed if countries adopt Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
provisions contained in the recently leaked Trans-Pacific Partnership
Agreement (TPP) draft.  We do not believe that these provisions are
consistent with basic principles of transparency, due process,
accountability, proportionality and the rule of law.

The leaked TPP Agreement is a complex set of rights and principles
related to IPR and we believe that the current draft reflects a
disproportionate balance of rights in favor of intellectual property
owners.  In addition to other issues, these provisions could also have
important consequences for online privacy, a critical dimension in
light of heightened awareness worldwide about the importance of
protecting the privacy and security of end-users.

In particular, with respect to intermediary liability, some of the
articles appear to assign new levels of responsibility to private
entities and create an environment where content will be subject to
extensive filtering.  Some draft provisions would impose an
unparalleled set of conditions on intermediaries that would allow them
to escape liability and could ultimately lead to content blocking and
affect legitimate speech and online expression.

Such measures are neither new nor original; they have appeared in
similar forms in other national or international contexts. On the
whole, these measures have proven to be inefficient or unworkable.
They have failed to adequately address the stated problems or to
provide sufficient answers to the existing challenges.

The Internet Society has advocated for intellectual property
discussions to adhere to minimum standards of process and substance.
In June 2013, we released a paper in which we called on the
international community to apply standards such as transparency, due
process, accountability and compliance to the rule of law to all
intellectual property discussions that relate to the Internet.
Similarly, we have been vocal in advancing these principles in various
fora, including the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO),
the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and the Organization for Economic
Co-Operation and Development (OECD).

We also joined other organizations1 in a statement made in 2012,
urging the negotiators of the TPP “to make [the] process more
transparent and inclusive, following the multistakeholder model, at
least for those chapters of the agreement pertaining to the Internet.”

Throughout this process, the Internet Society has taken the position
of not commenting on substantive issues based on leaked texts. At the
time, we understood that the leaked texts provided only a snapshot of
the issues while many provisions were omitted.

The most recent leak, released by Wikileaks, appears to be the
complete draft of the TPP’s Intellectual Property chapter and has made
us reconsider our position.

That we feel compelled to comment on leaked versions of the TPP
demonstrates that these basic process standards have been ignored.  In
an era where the global economy depends on information and networks,
we believe that discussions that affect the Internet and its users
should reflect these basic principles of transparency and openness.

Once again, the Internet Society calls upon the TPP negotiators to
abide by standards of transparency as they complete this critical
international agreement that will impact Internet users worldwide. We
also urge the negotiating parties to reconsider the TPP’s intellectual
property provisions and to ensure they don’t have a negative impact on
innovation, creativity, prosperity and market participation.

1 The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), InternetNZ, Knowledge
Ecology International (KEI), Open Media, Global Voices Advocacy and
the International Federation of Libraries and Archives (IFLA)





from:
http://www.internetsociety.org/news/internet-society-expresses-concern-over-impact-intellectual-property-rights-provisions-trans


Thoughts welcome


--


Narelle Clark
President
Internet Society of Australia

president at isoc-au.org.au
www.isoc-au.org.au
The Internet is for Everyone!