Forum Post: Another word on TPP

Posted 10 years ago on May 7, 2013, 5:46 p.m. EST by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN
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Don't Criminalize Our Internet

We now know the controversial international agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), threatens to criminalize your online activity including use of your favorite websites. A new chief negotiator named Michael Froman has just been announced. Will you send him a message at this pivotal moment before Big Media lobbyists get to him?

Take action!

“The Biggest Global Threat to the Internet”: That’s how legal experts describe the controversial international agreement known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).1

The TPP agreement threatens to criminalize use of your favorite websites—including YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and your favourite blog—and even your online comments.

2 But you can stop it if you act now >>>

A man named Michael Froman has just been appointed as the new TPP chief negotiator. Froman now has a unique ability either to put this secretive, global Internet criminalization plan to an end – or to cement it into place for generations.

The question is: Who will Michael Froman hear from in his first week on the job? You, or the Big Media conglomerates that see the Internet as a threat?

Legal experts are now warning that under the TPP, normal online activities “could lead you to be cut off from the Internet, have your computer seized, be fined up to $150,000, or even land you in prison.”3

Will you click here to send a message to Michael Froman at this pivotal moment? We must speak up before Big Media lobbyists convince him to criminalize use of the Internet.

We can do this,

Steve and Josh, on behalf of your OpenMedia team

P.S. After you participate in this time-sensitive action, please help us continue to push this campaign by chipping in whatever you can now—every bit really does help our small team succeed. Thank you for supporting this community in its time of need.

Footnotes

[1] Recent analysis by lawyers at the Electronic Frontier Foundation called the TPP the biggest global threat to the Internet. Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation.

[2] Provisions in leaked drafts of the TPP could prohibit use of “temporary copies”, which according to policy experts at InternetNZ, are crucial: “The Internet—and computing—fundamentally depends on making temporary copies.”

The EFF writes that if this proceeds, “anyone who ever views content on their device could potentially be found liable of infringement”.

[3] The quote comes from the EFF’s Maira Sutton writing in the Daily Dot.

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OpenMedia fights for the open Internet, through OpenMedia.ca and OpenMedia International. We empower people to participate in Internet governance with fresh and engaging citzens' campaigns. Together with the pro-Internet community, we've successfully defended the Internet from threats to neutrality, affordability, privacy, and media choice.

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[-] 2 points by Middleaged (5140) 10 years ago

Froman was a managing director at Citigroup, where he managed infrastructure and sustainable development investments.[9] He also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of CitiInsurance, head of Emerging Markets Strategy at Citigroup and a Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.[6] He also spent much of his career within the United States Department of the Treasury,[6] where he served as Chief of Staff between January 1997 and July 1999, having previously held the role of Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary for Eurasia and the Middle East. As Deputy Assistant Secretary his work related to economic policy towards the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe, as well as economic components of the Dayton Accords.[6] Between January 1993 and December 1995, Froman was director for International Economic Affairs on the National Economic Council and the National Security Council.[6]

Froman and Obama were not in touch after their time at Harvard until Obama's Senate run when Froman volunteered to advise Obama on policy and introduced Obama to Robert Rubin, whom Froman had followed from the Treasury Department to Citigroup after the Clinton administration.[8] He also served on 12-member advisory board of the Obama campaign’s transition team.[3]

Citigroup, Treasury, Robert Rubin,... I don't like this guy.