openUReyes - Alternative News Blog

‘Public services in the EU are under threat from transatlantic trade agreements that could endanger citizens’ rights to basic services like water, health, and energy for the sake of corporate profits, according to a new report released today by an international group of NGOs and trade unions.

The study shows how the EU’s Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) deal with Canada, and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) under negotiation with the US, could lock public utilities into irreversible commercialisation and remove governments’ ability to regulate services.
READ MORE: http://rinf.com/alt-news/editorials/new-report-on-secretive-eu-trade-dea...

The whole fucking government is completely out of order and out of control at the moment. The cowards in the mainstream media wont point that out to everyone though.

The High Court in Wellington has found Trade Minister Tim Groser acted unlawfully in the way he rejected requests for information about Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade negotiations.
READ MORE: http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/286864/tpp-requests-groser-acted...

Car hackers, farmers fixing their high-tech tractors, and teenage DVD rippers; all over the world, these digital tinkerers could have their devices seized and destroyed by the authorities thanks to provisions in the newly-minted Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

The finalized copyright chapter of the TPP, leaked on Friday by Wikileaks, reveals that under the agreement, “judicial authorities shall, at least, have the authority to [...] order the destruction of devices and products found to be involved in" any activity that circumvents controls that manufacturers build into their software or devices, known as Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology.
READ MORE: http://motherboard.vice.com/read/white-hat-hackers-would-have-their-devi...

3M Company, Abbott, ACE Group, Advanced Medical Technology Association, Aflac International, American Apparel & Footwear Association, American Automotive Policy Council, American Chemistry Council, American Council of Life Insurers

American Farm Bureau Federation, American Feed Industry, Association American Forest & Paper Association, American Insurance Association, American Legislative Exchange Council

American Meat Institute, American Soybean Association, Amway, APL, Apple

Applied Materials, Archer Daniels Midland Company, American Natural Soda, Ash Corporation

Association of Global Automakers

Biotechnology Industry Organization

Boeing

Business Roundtable

BSA – The Software Alliance

CA Technologies

Cargill

Caterpillar

Chevron

Chubb Corp.

Citigroup Inc

Coalition of Services Industries

The Coca Cola Company Inc

Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA)

Conoco Phillips

Consumer Specialty Products Association (CSPA)

The estranged political classes continued their defiance of democratic practice by signing, again without the involvement of non-trade interests, a document that has been sold as a choice between the rash and the damned. The delegates at the Atlanta round of talks for the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement came from twelve states, and some of them were acutely aware that domestic matters were pressing. The election cycle in the United States is starting to gain steam. Canada faces a close election on October 19. Australia’s new prime minister is hunkering down.
READ MORE: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1510/S00040/binoy-kampmark-imperilled-b...

Intellectual property rights chapter appears to give Trans-Pacific Partnership countries’ countries greater power to stop information from going public.

“The text of the TPP’s intellectual property chapter confirms advocates warnings that this deal poses a grave threat to global freedom of expression and basic access to things like medicine and information,” said Evan Greer, campaign director of internet activist group Fight for the Future. “But the sad part is that no one should be surprised by this. It should have been obvious to anyone observing the process, where appointed government bureaucrats and monopolistic companies were given more access to the text than elected officials and journalists, that this would be the result.”
READ MORE: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/oct/09/wikileaks-releases-tpp-i...

We've pointed out a few times in the past that while everyone refers to the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement as a "free trade" agreement, the reality is that there's very little in there that's actually about free trade. If it were truly a free trade agreement, then there would be plenty of reasons to support it. But the details show it's not, and yet, time and time again, we see people supporting the TPP because "well, free trade is good." The Washington Post, for example, pushed out a ridiculous editorial arguing that the TPP is cause for celebration because it will "slash tariffs and harmonize regulatory regimes."
READ MORE: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20151007/18053032475/once-more-tpp-agr...

History was made this week: 12 nations representing 40 percent of the global economy finalized the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the largest regional trade agreement ever made. While multinational corporations and free-market aficionados are rejoicing, however, environmental and labor groups warn that this was bad history in the making.

“It’s a corporate dream but a nightmare for those of us on Main Street,” remarked Chris Shelton, president of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union. It’s “clear that the TPP remains a bad deal for working families and communities.”
READ MORE: http://www.salon.com/2015/10/07/weve_sold_out_the_environment_and_our_jo...

On Monday, we learned that global “leaders” had come to an agreement on the infamous Trans Pacific Partnership, or TPP. While discouraging, this doesn’t mean the game is over — far from it.

Although politicians have come to a secret agreement, this democracy killing, corporate monstrosity still has to pass the U.S. Congress. So it’s now up to all of us to create an insurmountable degree of opposition and make sure this thing is dead on arrival.

The more I learn about the TPP, the more horrified I become.
READ MORE: http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2015/10/07/how-the-tpp-could-lead-to-worldw...

The TPP, a deal, which blankets, a good chunk, nearly 40% of the world’s economy includes a few ‘controversial provisions’ recently outlined by Andrew Griffin below:

One particularly controversial part of the provisions make it a crime to reveal corporate wrongdoing “through a computer system”. Experts have pointed out that the wording is very vague, and could lead to whistleblowers being penalized for sharing important information, and lead to journalists stopping reporting on them.

Others require that online content providers — such as YouTube and Facebook — must take down content if they receive just one complaint, as they are in the US. That will be harmful for startups looking to build such businesses since they’ll be required to have the resources to respond to every complaint, experts have pointed out.
READ MORE: https://www.intellihub.com/internet-under-attack-hidden-clause-in-tpp-to...