USTR's Funny Definition Of Transparency: Next ACTA Negotiations Still Shrouded In Secrecy
from the transparent-as-mud dept
The USTR keeps claiming that it's being as transparent as possible when it comes to ACTA negotiations, but there's simply no evidence to support that at all. It worked hard to keep ACTA secret for as long as possible, and used transparency as a bargaining chip at the last ACTA negotiations (which is why no draft was released -- though it was leaked). For a while now, there have been reports that there was to be a meeting in Washington DC next week between US and EU ACTA negotiators to try to hash out their differences -- which are apparently a key hurdle at this point.However, the whole thing has been shrouded in secrecy. The USTR hasn't even said where the meetings will be held, who's attending or what the agenda is -- things that most other countries hosting these negotiations have released at least a week in advance. The latest report is that, contrary to earlier claims, this meeting will include more than just EU and US negotiators, so it's sounding more like a full negotiation. And yet... no one's really sure, because the supposedly "transparent" USTR isn't saying a word. Of course, as with all things ACTA, the more the USTR stays quiet, the more things leak: so a proposed agenda has leaked, and it certainly looks like a pretty thorough negotiation, rather than just the proposed "hash out EU/US differences" sort of thing. But, it's worth noting that the very last item on the list of things to be discussed (well, before "press release") is "transparency." I guess that's the USTR's version of transparency: don't tell anyone anything, but talk about transparency at the meeting.
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Filed Under: acta, negotiations, transparency
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let me guess
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Re: let me guess
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We know they are ...
Meeting in the plenary room ?? (where)
having lunch at "726 Jackson Place" in DC and one day at the USTR.
Definition - Plenary : entire; complete; absolute; as, a plenary license; plenary authority.
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He went on about China pirating 90% of its Windows installations as a reason for us to be behind ACTA, yet admitted that China is not even at the table. When I asked what would be the consequences toward non-signatory nations he spent 5 minutes talking about anything except that question.
Don't expect anything good from him.
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