[Infowarrior] - USTR on ACTA secrecy

[Richard Forno]

USTR: We Can't Be Open About ACTA Because We Promised We Wouldn't Be   
(*Lobbyists Not Included)
from the missing-the-point dept
The US Trade Rep apparently has a thing on their website called "ask  
the ambassador" and Robin alerts us that recently a "James from  
Virginia" asked a rather important question:

"If the United States government gives all other governments in the  
ACTA negotiation a copy of a text, what is the rationale for keeping  
this a secret from the American public? Why would a negotiation at  
ACTA be less transparent than negotiations at World Intellectual  
Property Organization (WIPO) or the World Trade Organization (WTO)?"  
The USTR's answer is really a convenient non-answer. It basically says  
that it can't reveal the details because everybody promised not to do  
so. Of course, that doesn't explain why so many lobbyists have such  
detailed access to the info, and why other countries have revealed the  
details of the negotiations. The answer that "this is how we do  
things" isn't particularly reassuring when corporations and diplomats  
are basically negotiating basic civil rights.

http://techdirt.com/articles/20090925/0801256322.shtml