'Blind agreement' and closed-door deals: Report slams TPP negotiations

[Jefferson23]

With sign-off on the Trans-Pacific Partnership edging closer and critics warning the deal could "attack internet freedoms," a Parliamentary review has slammed the negotiating process for a lack of oversight.

by Claire Reilly
@reillystyley
29 June 2015, 12:58 pm AEST

As a trade deal between Australia and its allies edges closer towards completion, leading critics to warn of an impending "attack [on] internet freedoms," a parliamentary committee has slammed the deal-making process saying it lacks adequate "oversight and scrutiny."

The comments come as Australia engages in closed-door negotiations with 11 other countries over the Trans-Pacific Partnership -- a trade agreement that could change the copyright and piracy landscape in Australia and have major ramifications for the way Australians access online content.

A joint-Parliamentary report on the TPP and other trade deals has declaimed that "not is all right with the current process" and that politicians and key stakeholders are being "kept in the dark" on the negotiation process.

The full text of the TPP has not been made public, with only select unverified chapters surfacing through Wikileaks, including a chapter covering intellectual property and copyright.

in full: http://www.cnet.com/au/news/blind-agreement-and-closed-door-deals-report-slams-tpp-negotiation-process/

[djean111]

1. Don't those Australians blindly trust Obama? Haters. n/t