US ‘biggest barrier’ to unveiling ACTA text
p2pnet view P2P | Politics:- The U.S. Trade Representative issued a release just prior to the launch of the New Zealand round of ACTA negotiations that has left no doubt that the U.S. is the biggest barrier to official release of the ACTA text.
The full text of the release is couched in terms of improving transparency, but is really a thinly-veiled shot at the European Union’s public demands for release of the text.
The U.S. statement:
“In this upcoming round of ACTA negotiations, the U.S. delegation will be working with other delegations to resolve some fundamental issues, such as the scope of the intellectual property rights that are the focus of this agreement. Progress is necessary so that we can prepare to release a text that will provide meaningful information to the public and be a basis for productive dialogue. We hope that enough progress is made in New Zealand in clearing brackets from the text so that participants can be in a position to reach a consensus on sharing a meaningful text with the public.”
Note what the U.S. is actually saying – resolving scope of the treaty (the E.U. is seeking a broader scope that includes patents) and removing square brackets (the sources of disagreement) is needed to reach consensus on sharing text with the public.
Yet there is no reason to link ACTA transparency with the substance of the treaty.
The text of the treaty can be released without regard for the level of agreement on substantive issues. Yet unlike most other ACTA countries that have called for transparency without condition, the U.S. has set conditions that effectively seeks to trade its willingness to release the text for gains on the substance of the text.
The only thing needed to reach consensus on sharing the text with the public is for the U.S. to give the go-ahead.
This statement indicates they will only do so for a price.
Michael Geist – Michael Geist’s Blog
[Geist is the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa. He can be reached by email at mgeist @ uottawa dot ca]
..… and identi.ca
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
April, 2010
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April 12th, 2010 at 11:33 am
The ACTA secrecy has always been about keeping the negotiation process secret, so they could then bum rush the completed treaty through the same way the Digital Economy bill got jammed through in England. The last thing they wanted was for provisions like three strikes to get out, as they knew that it would cause a furor and there was a possibility that three strikes and any other odious provisions it had would wind up getting removed from the treaty due to public pressure. Countries wishing for more open disclosure should tell the U.S. to fuck off, no disclosure – no treaty.
April 12th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Not that we didn’t already know the secrecy pact started with the US in the first place.
April 12th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
version after version of the treaty is leaked by some good souls so everyone can know what these parasites are up to before it’s happen.
April 12th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
@Monkey:
Pick a country with any guts to tell the US to “fuck off, no disclosure – no treaty.” None will. None are willing to jeopardize trade negotiations, not are will to jump into economic suicide (except the US), and so none will stand up. Yet all it takes is one to say “I don’t think so, Homey don’t play that!” so the others jump in. Who’s willing to take that risk? It sure as hell won’t be the UK or France or Spain. Maybe Germany? Certainly not Canada, Harper wants to control the US so he is too busy cleverly working the angles.
Wouldn’t that be weird, Canada the next super-power.
April 12th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
LOL “Canada the next super-power”
You wearing rose colored glasses?
(Notice I spelled color correctly?)
Canada, specifically Harper, is an “end receiver” for the US. Nothing more.
April 12th, 2010 at 3:27 pm
@RW ^^^
He’s more clever than you think, unlike Bush’s trying to play dumb, Harper is playing dumb but he’s actually smart.
And it is “colour” damn it!
April 12th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
“Canada the next super-power”
But it doesn’t even have an army strong enough to smack down the US if the need arises.
When the financial system collapses, hungry wolves will be after fat sheep.
April 12th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
@Robert:
“Harper wants to control the US…”
Harper’s been too busy selling us all out to the US and the NWO.
If anything, he’s been working on handing Rockefeller and the Boyz the keys to the country, and trying to enable their hopes of an NAU, hoping they’ll give him a place in its “new administration”.
Harper’s a snake. He took over the NAU agenda, where Mulroney and others before him left off, and still denies the very existence of SPP talks, and the real motivations behind NAFTA, and everything else done in the shadows on the NAU plan, while staring straight into the camera without even a hint of emotion.
And don’t get me started on Harper’s blatant involvement of Canada in the 2 (or more) illegal wars staged by the US, where none of the necessary questions were ever asked (of past or present Presidential Administrations), in the face of massive evidence of US-orchestrated war crimes.
April 12th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
The rose *colored* glasses will be my *savior*.
/me borrows Roberts rose *colored* glasses
aaah everything is so pretty now
even the *rumors* of foul *odors* have gone.
/me wipes the *vapor* off the glasses *vigorously*
Please excuse my *demeanor*
oh yes, Robert, you will adapt.
April 12th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
@RW, you are killing me! LOL
April 12th, 2010 at 5:30 pm
@DA, I know that’s how it appears, but I was hoping there was a layer below, where he was doing something better than what you described. Honestly, I hope he’s not another Mulroney incarnation.
April 12th, 2010 at 7:33 pm
@RW:
While I’m getting a kick out of your flagrant American disregard for correct spelling
, you appear to have gone overboard with your flagging of “vigorously” and “demeanor”, which are just words having no “Canadian spellings”.
[raspberry!]
April 12th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
@Robert:
“…I hope he’s not another Mulroney incarnation.”
Harper’s been just as “open for business” (literally!) as Baloney, and just as deceitful.
He was one of the ones working behind the scenes with Bush to have the borders of Mexico and Canada dropped, and run the “SPP Highway” right into Calgary oil country (no surprise there!) and other key Canadian industrial areas.
And, the construction of this behemoth of a highway, which was intended to be the “property” of Big Oil and Big Business *only*, meant expropriation of much private land from thousands of small taxpayers, without recourse or compensation for the loss of housing, business, or other assets.
Much more to this story than I care to type, but all the documentation of it is out there, while only a minute segment of our government will even admit to knowing anything about it. Amazing what the mainstream news outlets (even the CBC!) just don’t bother to mention.
April 12th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
Devil’s Advocate,
Thank you for taking the time to open *dialog*. It will be my *honor* to both *humor* you and *fulfill* your fascination with your own *macaber* language
(Give them an inch and they take a *kilometer*, *ay*.)
I would like to point out to you that *eons* ago our Noah Webster Americanized the spelling of many words. You too have a rather famous canuckian curator of words. It may be found here http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/BritishCanadianAmerican.htm.
In my *defense*, I would like to point you to the words *vigor* and *demeanor*. An *acknowledgment* of the facts before you would relieve the *ton* of pressure from my shoulders.
So whilst the *mold* grows on my new rose *colored* glasses and you excuse my *behavior* for acting like an *ameba*, I would like to point out one last bit of curiosity to you in order to prove to Robert he will comply and adapt. Have you noticed that Air Canada’s website does not use the Canadian language? Please pay attention to the URLs and where they lead to:
Exhibit A) aircanadacenter.com
Exhibit B) aircanadacentre.com
In addition, you may want to note the spelling of *center* on the “aircanadacenter” website. It is indeed Bizarro land.
I have no *ax* to grind and *harbor* no hard feelings. I do hope you have gained from the fruits of my *labor* in this not-so *gray* area of correct spelling.
One other curiosity of note. The owner of this website makes use of a creative Commons *License*. How *savory*.
Robert, Devils Advocate, the writing is on the wall, and it is spelled correctly.
April 12th, 2010 at 11:16 pm
@Robert
Pick a country with any guts to tell the US to “fuck off, no disclosure – no treaty.” None will
Could you please tell me just what are they afraid of?
“None are willing to jeopardize trade negotiations”
I’d laugh at that, if it didn’t make me cry. Just what has the U.S. got left to trade anymore? Giant SUV’s no one wants? America outsourced or just outright dropped most of its manufacturing, I can still remember with rage the pomposity of the politicians and Wall St. money men who bloviated “we don’t need those jobs anymore”, going on about how IT jobs would replace them. Then the dotcom bubble burst, and most of THOSE jobs got outsourced and the same money men and politicians came up with a new mantra, now all the IT people have to “retrain”, as if someone who went to school when they were 18 can afford to do so again when they are older and have a family to support. China was more than happy to absorb all those manufacturing jobs that America “didn’t need” and now they are a manufacturing cash machine running a massive surplus while idiot America is in a never ending recession running a massive deficit. Meanwhile, the money men who got us there get an 800 billion dollar bailout. Maybe if all those people who defaulted on their loans had decent paying manufacturing jobs instead of low paying service jobs there would not have been a “toxic loan” problem in the first place.
Right now the U.S. is a paper tiger that manufactures nothing but worthless money backed by Chinese bonds. There is no reason for other countries NOT to tell the U.S. to fuck off, when it comes to trade, China can make them a better offer.
April 13th, 2010 at 12:18 am
“Could you please tell me just what are they afraid of?”
Easy. American protectionism. They could all of a sudden say, “Oh Steel? We only allow American made steel to build that billion building or highway”, as an example, and as what happened already last year.
Personally I liked Paul Martin, he had a set of brass ones when he said he would sell our oil to China when threats were tossed around.
April 13th, 2010 at 12:37 am
@RW
Protectionism doesn’t work well coming from a country that no longer manufactures anything. As I already pointed out, they could sell that same steel to China, who probably has more of a demand for it than the U.S. does anyway.
April 13th, 2010 at 12:45 am
@RW
China and other low wage countries have basically destroyed our steel industry already, if we were going to get protectionist we would have done it by now, don’t worry it isn’t happening.
The one time I think your referring to (correct me if I’m wrong) was when the stimulus bill was passed with the buy american clause in it. This wasn’t done out of retaliation against anyone, it was just a bill that was designed to help jump start our economy after the financial crisis, and it wouldn’t do a very good job if we just spent all that money in someone else’s economy.
April 13th, 2010 at 2:10 am
@RW, the wordsmith:
While most of that was inarguably creative, I would point out that not everything listing on “Karen’s Linguistic Issues” website is necessarily “correct”, or accepted.
1) Canada typically uses “demeanor” and “vigor”, as you do. I don’t remember the last time anyone put a “u” in them, save for maybe diehard Brits. Same for “mold”.
2) “defence” and “defense” are mostly interchangeable in Canada, mostly because both Brits and Star Spanglers can’t decide which way they want it.
However, “defence” is only used as a noun, while adjectives like “defensive” must have the “s”. (Which is stupid in any country, when “defend” is the verb!) 
3) “licence” is always the noun, while “license” is always the verb. Since this word has a linear purpose, I would say the 2 versions are probably a constructive idea you Americans just overlooked.
4) As for “center/centre”, it’s been a conundrum in all English-speaking countries. The Air Canada Centre (which IS the way it’s spelled) uses both of those domains to point to the same page. A lot of “centres” that do that, probably because they know people have a problem with the word and just want them to hit the page on the first try.
Interestingly enough, “center” is supposed to apply to a physical location, while “centre” is supposed to apply to a gathering place, arena or theatre. (Hence, it’s always “Ontario Science Centre”, “Eaton’s Centre”, “Convention Centre”, etc., and never the other.)
5) Both Canada and the US has the “optional ‘e’ ” in words like “acknowledgement”, “judgement” and “changeable”. Both versions of these are correct in both countries.
While British, Canadian and American spellings have a few incongruencies between them, none of it can hold a candle to the tenses and verb conjugations of languages like German, French, and some others. At least Canadians and Americans can figure out what the other’s talking about without too much thinking, as the words are virtually the same, in all cases, regardless of the noun/verb/tense combinations being used.
April 13th, 2010 at 7:56 am
@DA
Center — a place, such as Air Canada Center
Centre — the geometric origin
It’s easy to get them backwards.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_%28geometry%29
And we all know it’s just all fun and games while teasing each other because we enjoy a good laugh.
If you really want to be clever, we could say that here, right now, we’re demonstrating how to understand our differences and in fact, poke fun at them and at one another, without getting upset or starting wars (trade or military).
Countries should learn from this! Religious fanatics should learn from this.
April 13th, 2010 at 11:23 am
@Robert
Devil’s Advocate is a planted mole to make you think it’s all fun and games, while at the same time de-promoting your Canadian version of Webster to make your transition easier and happier.
You will be number #6. Present this number when the time arrives at delousing gate #9. We have a job ready for you in an eyeglass factory and the rose colored paint is in is production. Canadian cuisine rations of cheese curds, fries, and gravy will be served daily.
/me hands back the rose colored glasses
Here, you’ll need them more than I.
April 13th, 2010 at 11:53 am
@RW ^^ Have you ever tried poutine in Quebec though? It really is good!
I’d rather work in watch factory, making faces.
April 13th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
@Robert:
Wiki’s actually wrong on this, from a Canadian perspective.
(I have to assume the page was created by/for Brits.)
Canadian schools have been using “center” in the geometric/physical location sense for years. The word was supposedly adopted in Canada, after inheriting “centre” from Britain, to differentiate it from a social hub, for whatever reason.
Note: It’s “Air Canada CENTRE” All Toronto’s “centres” are spelled this way (without the block caps emphasis, as in my example, of course).
______________________
@RW:
LOL!
April 13th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Robert, I have recommended in my reports that you, #6, be given a promotion upon your integration into our planned NAU society. Your future looks bright in our rose colored light bulb factory.
April 13th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
Devil’s Advocate,
Of course wiki is wrong. Of course your canuckian Webster is wrong. Of course this website owners bastardization of the English language is wrong.
It’s all wrong. However, the truth is out there….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8SzPpmaH-M
Now to lay rest to the myth by Devil’s Advocate surrounding Air Canada.
Air Canada uses the proper spelling of center in its webpage URL because Canadians couldn’t find it on the web, per their marketing hired-guns. Thus they chose the proper American spelling of their URL and tossed in the typo of “centre” at the top of the page to warn Americans this was a Canadian site and contained graphic and horrific use of the English language.
The other improperly spelled domain containing the Canadian typo of centre is parked and used by some other outfit to spam ticket sales. It is not affiliated with Air Canada. Never was. Unless Air Canada offered them a nice sum to buy it. This other company thus profited off the Canadian population who improperly spelled center as centre.
Hence, Air Canada’s use of center, centers about the confusion of center and centre and thus it uses center in its’ URL and centre on the top of the page in order to eliminate any confusion.
April 15th, 2010 at 12:10 am
@RW:
“The other improperly spelled domain containing the Canadian typo of centre is parked and used by some other outfit to spam ticket sales. It is not affiliated with Air Canada. Never was.”
I actually didn’t look at it until now.
You’re absolutely right, and that makes things really interesting. This seems to mean that the Air Canada CentRE somehow dropped the ball when it formed, and is operating with a mispelled domain. The spammer took advantage of that by parking the other one, which would certainly get hits from everyone who spells it “correctly”. That’s a laugh when I think about it.