Yes - although any treaty can be unilaterally denounced if the signatory claims that another party has failed to carry out its obligations. The German Reich used this approach in 1935 to denounce the Treaty of Versailles. Otherwise, unilateral renunciation may result in penalties, although that would require a supra-national body to enforce them.
That's depressing but not surprising. It also seems unlikely that TIPP will be scuppered by the EU because EU trade policy is largely controlled by the ECM, even if the European Parliament was minded to object which on the whole it isn't.
These pacts are largely about deregulation and the free movement of capital. The problem comes when something goes wrong with the economic environment and capital begins to move violently from one market to another, like cargo shifting in a ship during a storm.
Analogy: The first recorded example of bulkheads was in 1119, when a Soong Dynasty writer described their use on junks. The advantages of not sinking by regulating the movement of cargo and water proved irresistable to people from Marco Polo to Benjamin Franklin. But so far, the need for international financial bulkheads to prevent similar financial disasters seems totally unrecognized. And the prediction is that it will remain unrecognized until yet another massive economic crisis and the sinking of a few more sovereign ships. That's sad, but stupidity and willful ignorance have a high price. As they say in aviation, safety always looks expensive until you have a crash.
Regrettably the BBC has nailed its colours to the mast by running with this story unchecked, as fact. Watching the utter bollox being repeated deadpan was like seeing an old friend on Thorazine. At the same time, and conspicuous by its absence, was any mention of the more recent Chinese mass hack into US security personnel data. Apparently the Licence Fee threat was enough to whip Aunty into cowering submission.
What's sad is precisely that governments are systematically making encryption for ordinary purposes like commercial in-confidence so visibly risky that we either use a different media or a more complicated encryption technique. Book codes offer a good alternative for short communications, and the Gutenberg Project provides lots of e-books to use. An app to book-encode a message automatically using a specified e-book could be an almost uncrackable (and almost un-noticeable) encryption approach.
Not when we can feel sorry for ordinary citizens who inherit this car crash of a law enforcement system. What the state can get away with in dealing with unpopular and unsympathetic offenders rapidly becomes the norm for all of us.
I agree, but the problem is that criminal law is not about 'sending messages' but about fair trial and consistent sentencing for defined offences. Sending messages is a political task. When judges start adapting legal procedure to suit political expedience, not only does it create injustice, it also damages public support for the judicial system.
The discussion of value vs price assumes a stable but finite supply. It is also typically based on a cost of production. If the cost of production is zero and the supply is infinite, the value is zero. The seller attempts to control supply in order to justify a profit. This is by no means an absolute right even in anti-socialist regimes since it may be deemed a restraint of trade, public domain, an unenforceable contract, fair use or contrary to the public interest. The other extreme is where the supply is zero at any price. Clearly there is no loss of business income if there is no product, but we see endless cases where rips from vinyl over 40 years old are removed from Youtube (for example) despite the fact that the IP holder has repeatedly refused to make a commercial release available. In this case the loss of business is the supplier's choice and copyright has not been enforceably infringed.
Adding to @cypherspace's comment about GOP's unexpected willingness to support Obama on TTIP, in the UK we notice that the Tory objection to everything European stops suddenly when it comes to working with the European Council of Ministers' International Trade commission to push TTIP approval, bypassing consultation and public disclosure in the process. Strange bedfellows all around, and a growing conviction that the corporate fix is in.
On the post: Fast Track Moves Forward And Now The Fight Is On TPP Directly
Re: Re:
On the post: Fast Track Moves Forward And Now The Fight Is On TPP Directly
TPP
These pacts are largely about deregulation and the free movement of capital. The problem comes when something goes wrong with the economic environment and capital begins to move violently from one market to another, like cargo shifting in a ship during a storm.
Analogy: The first recorded example of bulkheads was in 1119, when a Soong Dynasty writer described their use on junks. The advantages of not sinking by regulating the movement of cargo and water proved irresistable to people from Marco Polo to Benjamin Franklin. But so far, the need for international financial bulkheads to prevent similar financial disasters seems totally unrecognized. And the prediction is that it will remain unrecognized until yet another massive economic crisis and the sinking of a few more sovereign ships. That's sad, but stupidity and willful ignorance have a high price. As they say in aviation, safety always looks expensive until you have a crash.
On the post: The Pulitzer Prize In Bullshit FUD Reporting Goes To... The Sunday Times For Its 'Snowden Expose'
Yest another Snowden smear
On the post: Encrypted Messaging Service Stops Answering 'Warrant Canary' Questions, Suggesting FBI, Others Are Seeking User Info
Re: Encryption
On the post: Silk Road Mastermind Ross Ulbricht Sentenced To Life In Prison
Re: Legal truth
Not when we can feel sorry for ordinary citizens who inherit this car crash of a law enforcement system. What the state can get away with in dealing with unpopular and unsympathetic offenders rapidly becomes the norm for all of us.
On the post: Silk Road Mastermind Ross Ulbricht Sentenced To Life In Prison
Re: send a strong message
On the post: Why Is Consumers' Research Pushing For Anti-Consumer Trade Deals, And Bad Intellectual Property Laws?
Re: Re: Re: Re: "Value"
On the post: Trade Agreements Should Protect An Open Internet, Not Kill It
Re: Trade agreements should
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