BREAKING: NAFTA disaster
- Details
- Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00
- Written by editor
Paov,
The Trump administration just announced the details of their revised NAFTA deal with Mexico, and it's a disaster for... free expression and the open Internet.
Under this deal, corporations would get massive new power to force websites to be taken down. U.S.-style copyright rules would be forced on Canada.1 It's the worst of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), brought back from the dead.
Now Trump is trying to ram these awful provisions down Canada's throat, without even including us in the negotiations.
Before today, the public didn't even know that the intellectual property issues contained in this deal were even being discussed. Now, it's as if the worst parts of TPP have been copied and pasted into NAFTA.
Here are two of the worst elements of Trump's deal:
Internet censorship: The deal would force Canada to adopt a “notice and takedown” regime for the Internet, allowing corporations to force webpages to be taken down over frivolous claims of copyright infringement.
Art and music kept out of the public domain: Under the agreement, copyright power is extended to a minimum of 75 years for works like songs and films. This is a 25-year increase over current law in Canada, and these barriers to information will stagnate culture and hinder people's ability to innovate.
And that's only what they're telling us – who knows what else is in the details? One thing's for sure – there will be many more giveaways to corporations at the expense of the public.
Now, Trump thinks he can ram this down Canada's throat by announcing it as a done deal, and we have to "take it or leave it."
This is exactly what happened in the TPP. And we saw firsthand what a disaster the TPP was for digital rights and our democracies.2 But after 5 years of fighting, we won that battle — because of our pressure, Canada rejected the IP Chapter that contained these dangerous provisions.
After that victory, we can't afford to just give it away now in NAFTA. We need to make sure that our trade representative knows that the people of Canada refuse to be bullied by Trump and his corporate buddies. But we don't have much time, and we're fighting back now.
Will you chip in to help demand that Canada's trade representative rejects Trump's terrible NAFTA giveaway?
STOP TRUMP'S TERRIBLE NAFTA GIVEAWAYThank you for all that you do,
Laura, and the whole team at OpenMedia
Footnotes:
[1] UNITED STATES–MEXICO TRADE FACT SHEET: Modernizing NAFTA to be a 21st Century Trade Agreement: Office of the United States Trade Representative
[2] Send the Let’s Talk TPP report to your MP and tell them to commit to open, progressive trade: Let's Talk TPP
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