[Infowarrior] - ACTA hypocrascy

[Richard Forno]

Remember ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement?  Here's the US  
response to FOIA requests to see the deliberation papers, drafts,  
documents, and proposed treaty languages.....IMHO it's things like  
this that give "pirates" or "hackers" the moral high ground in this  
issue when they "circumvent" or "disclose" IP protection schemes made  
under such dubious claims of secrecy.  ---rf


http://techdirt.com/articles/20090129/1955073576.shtml

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Apparently the US Trade Representative is refusing to release most of  
the documents requested under the FOIA claiming (I kid you not) that  
to release such documents could "implicate national security or expose  
the USTR's deliberative processes."

But, of course, the USTR had no problem at all sharing all this info  
with entertainment industry lobbyists. In the few documents that were  
released, it turns out that the USTR met privately with  
representatives of various "anti-piracy" lobbying groups multiple  
times in 2008 -- without bothering to consult with the folks who these  
laws would actually impact. In other words, they're getting one side  
of the story. Even worse, those lobbyists have been called out,  
repeatedly -- by the US government, no less -- for outright  
fabrications concerning the impact of piracy and counterfeiting. So  
why is the USTR only relying on them for determining how this trade  
agreement will work? And why is there no effort to make these  
negotiations more public so that all stakeholders have a say?