A coalition of 25 tech firms asked the help of Democrat Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon to counter proposed measures like the Trans-Pacific Partnership or TPP that could possibly hinder innovation and curtail online freedoms, VentureBeat reported.
The TPP encompasses worldwide trading and the role of government in overseeing those trade agreements. Tech firms and advocacy groups are worried that the TPP would broadly define the meaning of trade that could pave the way for governments to implement copyrights or not. The provisions could also give authorities the chance to brush off established regulations on copyrights, patents and privacy, the report said.
Reddit, Automattic, Imgur, DataFoundry, Fark, Cheezburger Network, ThoughtWorks, NameCheap, BoingBoing and DuckDuckGo are just some of the tech firms that signed the letter. They are specifically asking for Wyden's help because he had fought against detrimental tech policies before like the SOPA/PIPA. In addition, he got recently appointed as the Senate Finance Committee head, which would give him more chances to say his piece against trade policies, the report said.
VentureBeat reported that government insiders are now revising the TPP which if implemented will give authorities loopholes which would allow them to pay no heed to the various laws that are meant to safeguard personal freedoms. Moreover, the group can ask external sources to examine and discuss the provisions of the policy but they are not making the particulars publicly available, leaving regular US citizens out of the process, the report said.
If the TPP will be approved, the tech firms outlined the detrimental effects in their letter saying, "Anticipated elements such as harsher criminal penalties for minor, non-commercial copyright infringements, a 'take-down and ask questions later' approach to pages and content alleged to breach copyright, and the possibility of Internet providers having to disclose personal information to authorities without safeguards for privacy will chill innovation and significantly restrict users' freedoms online."
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