Sen. Ron Wyden was greeted Friday morning at his Umatilla town hall meeting by a 30-foot-long blimp urging him to oppose an upcoming trade pack that critics say could curb internet freedom.
Activists from Fight for the Future — a Boston-based nonprofit that works on a variety of open internet issues — planned to tote its rented blimp around to three other Wyden town halls Friday and Saturday in La Grande, Baker City and Ontario.
For grassroots groups like Fight for the Future, the Oregon Democrat has always been one of their biggest champions in Congress. He’s been with them on everything from fighting government electronic surveillanceto playing a key role in blocking anti-piracy legislation sought by Hollywood and other big content producers.
But they’re worried about Wyden’s negotiations with key Republicansin Congress over a “fast-track” trade bill. The measure is aimed at paving the ground for the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership, a sweeping trade deal involving the U.S. and 11 other Pacific Rim countries.
Leaked versions of the TPP — which has been largely negotiated in secret — include provisions on internet copyright law and other related issues that has activists worried that it could erode the open, freewheeling nature of the internet.
“He has an opportunity here to listen to his base,” said Evan Greer, campaign director for Fight for the Future. “He should be stopping this trade deal.”
Wyden spokesman Keith Chu noted that Wyden has repeatedly said he’d oppose any trade provisions that impinge on the internet freedoms he’s championed.
“He’s been very clear that’s something he can’t support in a trade deal,” Chu said.
It’s as simple as this,” Wyden said in a trade speech last April, “the Internet, which is really the shipping lane of the 21st century, has to be kept open and free.
Greer said she is not so sure about the senator. “While Sen. Wyden is talking a good game about transparency, most of this has has been worked out” in the secret Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, she said.
Maira Sutton, an analyst for the Electronic Frontier Foundation — an internet freedom group that has worked closely with Wyden but has also pressed him on the TPP — said she recognizes that the senator is trying to balance his traditional support for free trade with living up to his support for an open internet.
“The reason why we’re making a lot of noise is because he holds an incredible amount of leverage about the TPP,” said Sutton.  Several analysts have pointed out that Wyden could well hold the key to whether the fast-track trade bill — and the TPP — wins congressional approval.
In the meantime, Wyden also showed he’s still working with his “base” among the activist internet community. On Thursday, Wyden cast the only vote in the Senate Intelligence Committee against a cybersecurity bill that he said didn’t have adequate privacy protections for consumers.