I’ve posted a bunch about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a shadowy, secretive trade deal that will have a disastrous effect on the Internet, privacy and free speech, thanks to the brutal copyright provisions the US Trade Rep has crammed into it. But that’s not the whole story.
Michael sez, “You might be interested to know the TPP looks terrible for environmental protection too, due to a proposed mechanism called ‘investor-state arbitration’. Basically this’d allow investors to sue countries for passing legislation detrimental to the financial interests of those investors. Yep, think environmental protections, workers’ rights laws and any other kind of public protection that might reduce a profit margin.
The international climate change group 350.org is starting a new campaign against the TPP on these grounds; there’s a petition and links to further information at the link. The more fronts we expose and fight this thing on the better: the TPP will reduce the power of civil society in all kinds of ways and we shouldn’t let it happen.
