ITP V.013 TECH SAVY: SOPA:PROPOSED TO BE A PART OF TRANS PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP? (SIGN THIS PETITION)

Internet anti-censorship, anti SOPA group FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE have stated that SOPA (STOP ONLINE PIRACY ACT) has been proposed to be consolidated with TRANS PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP  (TPP) as we need you to sign a petition against SOPA and online censorship.

SOPA BILL (STOP ONLINE PIRACY ACT) was dropped in early 2012 as the U.S. SENATE has "killed the bill" due to mass online protests and blackouts from various websites, civil liberties groups and user content sites as diverse as EFF, GOOGLE, WIKEPEDIA, WORDPRESS ect.

The Stop Online Piracy Act would criminalize websites featuring "pirated and copy written" material making the Internet fair use policy obsolete. SOPA opponents state that the SOPA bill is to broad as written and could censor the web infringing on first amendment rights, civil liberties and freedom of speech.

ALSO:
Please take heed to this proposal, SOPA (SECTION 201) as it would be illegal to post covers and copyrighted material as this proposed legislation would criminalize (felony) posters. Let's protest this internet censorship, sign this petition:
http://act.demandprogress.org/sign/streaming/?akid=2242.791003.irxXhB&rd=1&t=3


FROM FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE:

They figured it out. The Internet refused to let them pass SOPA as a law, so big media’s lobbyists have pushed to include extreme Internet censorship in a secretive trade agreement known as the Trans Pacific Partnership1. It’s like they’re passing SOPA without a vote.

World leaders will be meeting for the first time as early as this week to solidify this agreement behind closed doors. This could be our last chance to stop Internet censorship. Click here to take action before it’s too late.

We know from leaked drafts2 that the TPP will make the Internet more expensive, censored, and policed. Experts say the TPP could actually kick you off the Internet by implementing a “Three Strikes You’re Out” rule when dealing with possible copyright infringement.3

TPP negotiations have been going on in secret for some time now; there have been 19 rounds of negotiations over the last 5 years.

Officials have stated that they plan to “conclude the TPP discussions” in just a few days.4

More than 70,000 people have done this in just a few days. We need your help to stop Internet censorship; please, send decision-makers a powerful message before it’s too late.

We’re partnering with our friends at OpenMedia in Canada to unite around these demands. By taking action, you send a message to political leaders of TPP countries:    

• Protect the right of everyone to access the Internet in their daily lives.
• Do not force ISPs to act as “Internet Police” monitoring our Internet use, censoring content, and removing whole websites.5
• Preserve the democratic rights of sovereign countries to draft their own copyright laws.    

This could be our last chance to speak out against the huge damage the TPP will do to free expression online. Help us speak out against Internet censorship by clicking here.

Together, we can stop the TPP’s Internet Censorship.

Our public outcry has stopped TPP officials from finalizing the agreement but now powerful interests are pressuring political leaders to ram through their Internet censorship plan.

Thousands of people and over 30 major organizations from across the Trans-Pacific region are working together to keep the Internet open. High ranking politicians from several countries are beginning to ask questions.6

We know that when citizens speak out, decision makers take notice. Click here now to send a powerful message to the 12 political leaders who are about to make a decision that will affect the open internet forever.

Together, we won’t let them take away our digital rights.

For our future,

Tiffiniy, Holmes, and Evan

Fight for the Future

In collaboration with OpenMedia

SOURCES:

1) “Obama to Attend APEC, ASEAN Summits on October Asia Trip” Source: Bloomberg.com

2) Leaked draft of TPP Intellectual Property Chapter. Source: Knowledge Ecology International

3) What’s actually in the TPP? Source: Public Knowledge

4) US Envoy: TPPA talks to conclude next month. Source: FMT Malaysia

5) “TPP Creates Legal Incentives for ISPs to Police the Internet. What is at risk? Your rights.” Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation--

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FROM EFF: 

How does corporate copyright lobbying threaten online freedoms? Journalist Monica Horten's new book "A Copyright Masquerade" has answers.

In "A Copyright Masquerade," Corporate Lobbying Takes the Spotlight

www.eff.org

It's no secret that the copyright lobby exerts an undue influence in shaping Internet policy. But the mechanisms by which that happens—which can include not just the legislative bodies of dozens of countries, but also backroom, off the record dealings

FROM EFF:
resident Obama was scheduled to meet with the leaders of the other eleven countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Bali, supposedly to plan the “end-game” for this massive trade deal. However, he has made a sudden decision to cancel his trip, claiming that this was a casualty of the government shutdown. Obama's announcement adds to the impression that goal of completing TPP at APEC has become unobtainable and reveal how precariously the negotiations are going.

There are reports that the remaining TPP country leaders who will be attending the APEC meeting will still be convening “with the aim of hammering out a framework.” As we've also previously mentioned, smaller issue-specific intersessional meetings have also grown more frequent and gone even further underground. So while the news of his trip getting cancelled is indeed welcome news, the TPP still could be signed even as its contents remain hidden from the public.

We only know what kind of copyright enforcement provisions are in this agreement due to leaks, but what we do know for sure is that this agreement is driven by corporate interests who want to enact their own digital policy standards through an undemocratic, backdoor process. We need to spread the word about the TPP far and wide. It's up to us to force our elected representatives to do their job and ensure that our countries are not binding our laws to secret treaties that shut users out. We've written extensively on our blog about all the different ways the TPP is a threat to the Internet, but media can sometimes be a more effective way to get people to pay attention.

Just this week, Consumers International produced three new videos about the TPP. The first is an animated video for a J-pop song called Everybody Let's Stop the TPP! (みんなでストップTPP!) by Emi Nakada and Citron 178. Consumers International then translated the lyrics and re-recorded the tune in English (it was a good thing they put a CC-BY license on the song!) and even made a karaoke version for people to sing along.    

VIDEO BELOW: "LET'S STOP THE TPP": 


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