Slashdot Mirror
Leaked TISA Documents Reveal Privacy Threat
schwit1 writes with some Wikileaks-enabled news at Forbes about the Trade in Services Agreement, a treaty currently under negotiation between the U.S., the European Union and nearly two dozen other parties. Wikileaks' release of 17 documents from the negotiating countries puts some bad light on some of the provisions being considered: From the Forbes report: Under the draft provisions of the latest trade deal to be leaked by Wikileaks, countries could be barred from trying to control where their citizens' personal data is held or whether it's accessible from outside the country. ... These negotiating texts are supposed to remain secret for five years after TISA is finalized and brought into force. Like TTIP and TPP, TISA could be sped through Congress using Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), also known as fast-track authority, which has been passed by the US Senate and may be taken up in the House this month. Under TPA, Congress is barred from making amendments to the trade deals, and most simply give yes-or-no approval.
But even that's making the assumption there was ever some innocence to be corrupted, which could perhaps be restored. In reality, while money's certainly changed hands it's mostly just a matter people liking those similar to themselves. A CEO and a senator understand each other since they both pursue and wield power. They're part of the ruling class. Even if they were both full of honest, incorruptible pure pureness and good will towards man, they'd still have much more in common with one another than with Joe Average.
This is true everywhere. Of course the bigger the pyramid of power the farther the top is from the bottom, so it shows up especially badly at EU and US federal level. However, Joe Average looks down on Joe Unemployed with exactly similar attitude his betters look at him. It's the hierarchy itself that needs to go. Democracy was a good start, but as this very article demonstrates, it's not sufficient. It makes the pyramid lower, but it's still there. I imagine the next step would need to be to guarantee economic independence for everyone; we'll likely have to resort to citizen pay anyway to keep the economy from crumbling as automation eliminates jobs, and money is the single greatest manifestation of inequality of power in all Western societies, so it makes a good next target.
Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.