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Names of Advisors Cleared To Access ACTA Documents

1 a bee writes "With the White House claiming national security grounds for failing to release ACTA related information, including negotiating documents and even the list of participants, the spotlight is now on just who does have access. Turns out, according to James Love, hundreds of advisers, many of them corporate lobbyists, are considered 'cleared advisers.' The list looks a who's who of captains of industry."

25 of 186 comments (clear)

  1. so much for change... by ph4s3 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    weird how things seem to stay the same

    1. Re:so much for change... by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 4, Insightful

      weird how things seem to stay the same

      I was actually willing to give the administration the benefit of the doubt for a while there. I thought to myself that it must be difficult to negotiate a proposed treaty when the press can print every little revision that occurs during negotiations. So I could kind of see the benefit in keeping a treaty's details secret until it was ready to be proposed to Congress.

      But several things have eroded my trust: the apparent inclusion of a anti-rights industry people, the apparent omission of pro-rights people (EFF, etc.), and the "secrets" claim.

      This is like the crap Cheney pulled with energy policy and oil industry groups, but it's arguably much worse because it could become an actual treaty.

      I was hoping that the "Hope I Can Believe In" would make it to the two-month mark, but apparently not. This leaves me really despirited.

    2. Re:so much for change... by oneirophrenos · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I began to doubt the whole "change" thing back when Obama started to stack his administration with people from Clinton's and even Bush's administration. I guess change is a relative thing.

    3. Re:so much for change... by Nursie · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As a jaded cynic I have just this to say -

      You voted for one of the Republicans or the Democrats and you expected a change?

      Ha!!! Best scam ever!!! You were duped my friend.

    4. Re:so much for change... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The "right thing" being whatever it takes to expand the lucrative business of government.

    5. Re:so much for change... by Hordeking · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Stop randomly arguing points that you have no idea of. All the States of the USA are part of the United States of America, so by your (non) argument, I guess they have no autonomy of their own either then?

      The States don't quite have full autonomy, and they haven't since the Civil War (a poor name for it, too). The Federal gov't doesn't exercise explicit control, as that would be unconstitutional. However, it gets what it wants via the tax system (16th amendment): It dangles (federal taxpayer) money in front of the states (usually highway funding), and says "if you don't pass a law requiring/prohibiting such-and-such behavior, we won't give you any money."

      As an aside, the US is only two states away from a constitutional convention. I recommend we get two more states on board and try to retake some power from the federal government. It's already far more powerful than intended.

      --
      Disclaimer: The opinions and actions of the US Gov't are in no way representative of those held by this author or its ci
    6. Re:so much for change... by Hordeking · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Thank you. I always assumed the tech crowd tended to be democrats. You know, with its relations to California and tendency to higher education it seems natural. But judging by this (and other) articles and the way things get modded, I have to come to one of two conclusions: Either the tech crowd isn't as democrat as I thought, or the non-democrat techies abuse their modding privileges more then the democrat techies. I'm not making accusations, I'm just saying those are the only two explanations I can think of. I'll try not to go so far as to extrapolate my assumption to the political world in general.

      Looks like I'm going to burn all my karma on this article. Sigh.

      You may not have thought of a third possibility: That the geek/tech crowd is actively hostile towards both the republicans AND democrats, since they both seem to working against our interests every chance they get. This is to say nothing of liberal vs conservative, which are completely different animals. There really is very little distinction between republican and democrat, if you look at it, and that's why there's so little HOPE(tm) for CHANGE(tm).

      --
      Disclaimer: The opinions and actions of the US Gov't are in no way representative of those held by this author or its ci
    7. Re:so much for change... by Darby · · Score: 2, Insightful

      One of the reasons I haven't believed the 9/11 conspiracy stuff is that is seems to me essentially impossible for so many people to be involved without a single one having a twinge of conscience to come forward. It gives me pause, though.....

      Please for the love of anything holy, I hope you *learned* something real from this experience.

      Now, I'm not saying that 9/11 conspiracies are valid, just that your reasons for rejecting them were silly, and borderline insane.

      But you really need to have learned that your previous attitude was stupid, ignorant, delusional, and completely unacceptable in an adult and especially in a citizen. It's hard for a lot of people to have even the scraps of integrity it takes to take an honest look at themself and apply those terms to their decisions, but without having the courage, decency, and integrity to do so, you will never stop doing the same damn thing repeatedly for the rest of your life.

      I hope you come away from this experience having learned and grown and realized that this *is* how the world works, this is how it has always worked, and most likely it will always work this way unless you and most of the rest of the people grow up, wake up, and start paying attention.

      You've taken a great step forward. I hope you have the courage to continue, but you will absolutely have to come to terms with how you were able to be so easily duped for so long, how you took an active part in duping yourself and trying to help dupe those around you and support the scum pushing crap like this because you were too stupid to recognize it. I'm not trying to insult you, but unless you can somehow build up the courage to look in the mirror and call yourself out for being that incredibly, amazingly foolish, you will never be able to grow past it. You will rationalize it as "an isolated incident", or some master plot that would have fooled anybody.

      These things are not isolated, they happen damn near every day.

      It's not some master plot, it's every day corruption that you didn't have the courage to look in the eye and call out for what it was.

      I very much hope you have the courage to look at yourself in the mirror and be honest with yourself. The only way you will ever be able to recover your honor and integrity and avoid falling for the same old shit next time around, is to realize and admit to yourself how truly naive, stupid, and ignorant your previous attitudes were.

  2. So Obama failed us then ? by unity100 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    all that transparency, all that pro internet attitude, and even declarations of support for net neutrality to the extent of making full definitions of it on his website, getting support and donations through the net and actually succeeding to amass the budget needed to beat mccain through those donations and all that, and ...

    so he fails us in the most important thing, at the most important moment, in almost half of those he promised us then ?

    1. Re:So Obama failed us then ? by a09bdb811a · · Score: 2, Insightful

      False hope in a president is your failure, not his.

  3. It's spelled Democracy by DrugCheese · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's pronounced Corporate Oligarchy

    --
    *DrugCheese rants*
  4. ACTA is more than copyright by langelgjm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As I pointed out the other day, ACTA is about so much more than copyright. This "counterfeiting" treaty will almost certainly include provisions for stricter controls on generic pharmaceuticals, amongst other things.

    Just take a look at some of the companies that are represented on that list: Eli Lilly, Merck, Monsanto, Schering-Plough... I guarantee they're not there because of pirated CDs.

    Just to clarify, I don't think that changes the fact that the "national security" claim is bogus. It's just further proof of the enormous democratic deficit that exists at the international level.

    --
    "Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
  5. Re:Let me use a quote I've heard a lot lately by Rogerborg · · Score: 2, Insightful

    To be fair, it's hardly a "secret" society. We know exactly who the Barons are, and which fraternities they were in.

    --
    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  6. Re:Bypassing government via international treaty by Verteiron · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yes, and the ratification will pass buried deep inside the Save the Children and Orphans act. Anyone who opposes it will be labeled a child and orphan hater. Probably a terrorist and pedophile, too.

    Sorry, Monday mornings make me cynical.

    --
    End of lesson. You may press the button.
  7. Don't hold your breath by Quila · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is the same president who hired two **AA attack lawyers to top Department of Justice positions. That wasn't old, entrenched bureaucracy. That was new Obama-picked bureaucracy and we saw what way he swings.

  8. Don't waste your time complaining by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Instead of screaming fury from your computer chair, you should be organizing from your computer chair and screaming in the streets. Things will never change so long as people sit back and take it. You don't have to get violent but you need to be persistent. Protests are held against copyright abuse, but they bring in a few hundred people out of millions.

    And don't bother giving examples of why people don't care, start giving solutions to make them care. We need to increase the visibility of the problems this poses. Plaster signs on walls, try to take out ads in news papers / websites, door to door campaigning, conduct nationwide surveys with the right questions, so on and so forth. The public can't form an opinion if they don't know what they are talking about and they certainly can't form an opinion over a situation they may not even know exists.

    It's time for society to start standing up for itself again.

  9. yes it is by unity100 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    because copyright/ip is the modern, hard to defend excuse to implement all kinds of controls on public. FISA ? you already have a lot of arguments against it, and you already have strong public opinion shaped against it. you know what it is, you know how they do it, you know how you can stop it.

    but copyright is the new excuse. with it, they can push for implementation of 'controls' that will allow for deep packet inspections of all traffic ( puts fisa to shame ) to 'throttling' of various protocols and even banning certain individuals or organizations off the internet through usage of stuff like 'three strikes'.

    in middle ages, there was religion to use as excuse for controlling the people. in 19th century, it was the nation's interests. in 1950s, there was the commies. the world society has grown out of most of these excuses - they hardly pass as valid nowadays.

    today we have copyright and child porn as the acceptable excuses to push for suppressing public freedoms. public doesnt know what these are yet, cant shape an opinion. and therefore they are the best excuses to use for pushing self centered agendas of interest groups.

  10. Re:Bypassing government via international treaty by Duradin · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Don't worry, the President will just issue an executive order stating that the treaty was ratified.

    Really, I don't know why we keep congress around. They just slow down legislation and we've got the President to make laws for us.

    </sarcasm>

  11. Deja Vu by Legion303 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

  12. Re:Bypassing government via international treaty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sorry, Monday mornings make me cynical.

    I think you misspelled "realistic".

  13. Re:Bypassing government via international treaty by dwiget001 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, our current Senate will rubber stamp anything, including passing a bill to grant a representative to Washington D.C, in complete violation of the U.S. Constitution (on and on top of that, TARP, Stimulus, Omnibus spending, etc.)

    Don't expect the current Senate to do anything that might possibly weaken their power and political contribution base.

    For quite some time now, the Congress and Senate have not served the good of the U.S. citizens. And, they have constantly violated their sworn oath to "support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic...."

    Next election cycle: Each and every Democrat and Republican currently in office should A) not be re-elected and B) neither of the major parties candidates should be voted into office to replace them, vote "some other party or candidate" into office. The Democrats and Republicans are hell bent on completely destroying this country. Wake up people.

  14. Re:I remain confused about all this though by Chyeld · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Actually most of the people who painted him as the Dark Lord of Evil are now the ones complaining about the rest of us treating him as the Second Coming. See, they are so invested in the idea that having a black/Democrat/non-neocon president running things will be the end of the world, that they've assumed the only way the rest of us could vote for him was if we had the same level of opposite worship.

    In reality, we picked him because having lived through eight years of the Dark Lord's reign while the neocons praised him as the Second Coming responsible for revitalizing the American Empire, we just wanted change.

  15. Re:Bypassing government via international treaty by wealthychef · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Actually, to really understand them, you should give up stories like "The Democrats and Republicans are hell bent on completely destroying this country." What they are really hell bent on is just staying in power. So yes, vote them out of office. But we need a new conversation to replace the old one, or the "new boss will be the same as the old boss," as I believe the old Who song goes.

    --
    Currently hooked on AMP
  16. Re:Bypassing government via international treaty by Garrett+Fox · · Score: 2, Insightful

    A few people, notably Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, have been trying to start a movement to oppose current abuses of power. To some extent they're still wedded to the Republican Party, which has not shown itself to be a friend of small government or the Constitution.

    Because the Congress is in fact doing whatever is necessary to buy votes, it's hard to unseat anyone even if they're violating their oath of office. For that reason, it's time to start considering a wider range of (peaceful) options.

    --
    Revive the Constitution.
  17. Re:Bypassing government via international treaty by Man+On+Pink+Corner · · Score: 2, Insightful

    A few people, notably Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, have been trying to start a movement to oppose current abuses of power.

    Social conservatism is probably the worst abuse of power the US has ever seen.