Transparency Pea Soup: The USTR Planned From The Beginning How Not To Be Transparent On ACTA

from the clear-as-mud dept

Fri, Sep 10th 2010 1:18am — Mike Masnick

We've been discussing for a while just how anti-transparent the USTR has been on ACTA negotiations, making totally bogus arguments, such as the idea that negotiators would walk away from the table if they didn't keep the document secret. Of course, it later turned out that it's been the US who has mainly been behind the secrecy. KEI has been pushing for more transparency on ACTA from the beginning, and famously had an FOIA request on ACTA denied due to ridiculously laughable claims of state secrets. However, a more recent request on any USTR discussions about transparency turned up an internal email from Stan McCoy, assistant USTR for intellectual property, entitled "Transparency soup," where he basically acknowledged the new (at the time) administration's request for more transparency, and laid out a "plan" for how to have the USTR pretend to be transparent, without actually being transparent. For the most part, the USTR has followed those plans, showing that it had already dug its heels in to be as opaque as possible, while paying lip service to transparency.

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Filed Under: acta, transparency, ustr

8 Comments

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John, 10 Sep 2010 @ 2:25am

comment
great read, i'm following this because the ACTA could have a real impact on the future of the internet. People should stop being so passive.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Sep 2010 @ 3:48am

Spineless Politicians
Why are the politicians being so spineless? The USTR has just defied their orders to be more transparent. How can it be that there has not been a massive round of firings? Are the elected politicians supposed to be in control or not? Who is really calling the shots here?
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- Adam Wasserman (profile), 10 Sep 2010 @ 5:54am
  
  Re: Spineless Politicians
  Perhaps because if the Obama administration fired the USTR Big Media would fire Obama?
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  - Anonymous Coward, 10 Sep 2010 @ 6:43am
    
    Re: Re: Spineless Politicians
    Except he supports ACTA, so being opaque on this matter is okay.
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Ima Fish (profile), 10 Sep 2010 @ 5:11am

"the idea that negotiators would walk away from the table if they didn't keep the document secret"

I'm still trying to understand how that threat is a bad thing.
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TDR, 10 Sep 2010 @ 6:57am

Then the EFF or whatever appropriate consumer rights group needs to file charges against them if the government won't. And take it all the way to the Supreme Court.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Sep 2010 @ 9:17am

They planned for ACTA to leak, they were being transparent all along.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Sep 2010 @ 6:32pm

Another missive from KEI to keep it from disappearing into obscurity.
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