Slashdot Mirror
All 12 Member Countries Sign Off On the TPP (freezenet.ca)
Dangerous_Minds writes: News is surfacing that the TPP has officially been signed by all 12 member countries. This marks the beginning of the final step towards ratification. Freezenet has a quick rundown of what copyright provisions are contained in the agreement, including traffic shaping, site blocking, enforcement of copyright when infringement is "imminent," and a government mandate for ISPs to install backdoors for the purpose of tracking copyright infringement on the Internet.
Destroying our lives.
Now any corporation can sure your country, but you can't vote on the selling out of your rights to foreign corporations.
Are you happy yet?
Days like this I wish I'd never helped create the Internet or the tools you use, or let it escape from academia.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Don't forget, we're putting covers on our TPP reports before we send them out now.
TP for my bunghole?
had to be said...
Why else would they be permitted to sue countries/governments over alleged threats to their 'perceived potential profits' due to new laws (such as environment protections laws that might forbid those companies from operating under these new laws) passed by said countries.
AC comments get piped to
It hasn't been ratified though. There are significant benefits to being an original signatory on any international treaty, and every member country is afraid of being left in the dust if they don't. There are provisions requiring signatories to ratify certain provisions, but it has not been ratified yet, only signed, and there is a big difference.
The TPP might actually be a net financial gain for the United States - unfortunately, at the expense of other countries involved. A number of provisions in it give an unfair advantage to the US, because they have demanded that these provisions be put in.
Michael Geist is doing a very good review of all the problems with the TPP, and has been posting daily about it for about a month now. It's a rather Canadian perspective on it, but a good read nonetheless.
"Government is like fire; a handy servant, but a dangerous master." -- George Washington
Would it have been that hard to expand that initialism? I've got far too many TLAs floating around in my head to be able to figure out what context you are talking about. The inability to introduce a topic properly within a slashdot summary irks me more than all the other stuff people always moan about here.
Investor-state dispute settlements here we come
According to The Nation's interpretation of leaked documents in 2012, countries would be required to conform their domestic laws and regulations to the TPP Agreement, which includes provisions on government spending in certain areas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Pacific_Partnership#Investor.E2.80.93state_arbitration_.28ISDS.29
Welcome to shadowrun chummer
The latest economics study on the TPP suggests it will "cause some job losses and exacerbate income inequality in each of the dozen participating nations, but especially in the largest — the United States"
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/02/business/international/economists-sharply-split-over-trade-deal-effects.html
Just give in to the Hollywood studios, world. It's BLISSS.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
I can start respecting copyright at the same level as the average Chinese person does
With utter contempt
This is where it begins.
This is the beginning of the war.
Time to get the popcorm.
Can't eat popcorn you see, someone copyrighted it.
Moderators, please note that many of the comments in this thread are a troll replying to himself to make it appear like a conversation. It's one jackass who posts this type of spam on a regular basis, replying to himself as AC. And, of course, he never says anything of substance, just one line nonsense.
Here's one example: http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=8657315&cid=51359929 (posting about how Republicans want people to die)
Another example: http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=8685139cid=51400945 (making BS claims about Facebook tolerating and promoting gun violence)
Yet another: http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=8700601&cid=51428235 (Claiming that Republicans are always tracking and spying on everyone)
There are others. It's almost certainly one assclown who ought to be banned or at least modded into oblivion. I'm hoping the new owners get rid of some of the shit like this. I don't really mind real trolls that post on-topic stuff. Some of it's actually pretty damn funny. Even some of the old -1 logged-in posters like cyborg_monkey were entertaining. Besides, they didn't waste mod points because they were already at -1 and you could easily avoid reading them. But I'd like to see really stupid nonsense like this go away. As one user said, real trolls would either make us laugh or piss us off; this guy does neither and is just a waste.
According to Michael Geist, TPP requires implementation of a DMCA-style take-down notice system, while eliminating the good faith belief requirement. Oh please oh please let it pass. YouTube? I'm sorry, it infringes. All of it. Vevo? Infringing. Take it down. Redtube? Infringing. Take it down. If TPP is implemented, it is our duty to see to it that no automated take-down system in any of the 12 countries will work anymore. And it will be legal.
Finally all those spam botnets will have a productive use.
We needs to understand something here, international corporations are the vehicles of the billionaire class. A class of people that are stateless. Whether it's Sergey Brin, Elon Musk, Bill Gates or name your own billionaire, their country of residence is pure convenience. Because of their wealth and subsequent power, they enjoy the freedoms, rights and perks that we peons can only dream about even in the land of the free that is the US of A.
And that is what the TPP is about; legislating even more freedoms and rights to the billionaire class.
What if the thing that is enabling circumvention is the fact that somebody is smart? Do they destroy every programmable product that person owns, or do they destroy the person?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
We're headed deaper into the world of cyberpunk once more with all its hallmarks, including corporate socialism (corporates reap gain, citziens/taxpayers pay loss). TPP is just another step along the way. ... I wonder when there will be a counter movement. ... Right now everyone get's bored when I try to explain software and algorithm patents to them.Or they simply believe it doesn't exist.
Whatever happens, I want a cyberdeck and Kanedas bike from Akira. ... And a tank with a few clones of me so I don't grow old. :-)
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
the control of their own economy. You'll feel this in a few decades.
wtf is tpp???
A long long time ago
I can still remember when democracy used to make me smile
I knew if I had the chance
I could be free to sing and dance
and we would all be happy for a while
But the TPP made me shiver
With every law it killed with vigour
Bad news from the political left
I just couldn't take one more step
I can't remember if I cried
When I read about how the dollar died
My TSA screener touched me deep inside
The day
Democracy
Died
So bye bye public domain content release is a lie
Took my levy to the heavy but the MAFFIA won't die
And the greybeards drank their whisky and cried
Singing this is the day my rights died,
This was the day democracy died.
TPP is the "Trans-Pacific Partnership" trade treaty that is a massive scam to hand the sovereignty of many nations to multinational corporations. It lets the super-rich move labor and products around tax-free while using that total mobility to escape local laws, regulations, oversight and public scrutiny. There is NOTHING in the thousands of pages to increase democratic functions, and everything that multinationals and the super-rich who have private jets and armed private security and who hang-out at Davos want.
TPP has been a major international and political issue for well over a year (and was being worked-on less-publicly for much longer) so anybody on the half of the planet who is affected and yet does not know about it is a willful idiot who should never be allowed near a voting booth.
Obama quietly signed it (hoping to make the Wall St funders of the Democratic party (and his and Hillary's biggest sources of cash) happy and while it does not become valid until ratified, the current crop of establishment Republican morons in congress will do on this what they have done on all his other actions: publicly complain but then cry and roll-over and play dead, allowing it to proceed and then ion a year from now they will be explaining to their voters haw mad they are to be forced to fully-fund it (just like they do every year with Planned Parenthood, Obamacare, his open-borders policies, his Iran nuke policies, his Cuba policies, his coal industry and Keystone pipeline policies, etc.,/p>
The feckless morons in DC who pretend to be Republicans have made lots of noise over the years but have never actually stopped Obama from doing ANYTHING.
The Democrats in Washington who pretend to be "for the little guy" are similarly not going to do anything to stop it; they have done every damned thing he has asked them to do even as he has driven-up unemployment for blacks, imported cheap foreign labor to compete with American unionized workers, given more control to big business, and in the process has cause the Democrats to lose more seats in the House, the Senate, the state legislatures, and state governor's mansions than any president in recent history.
Nobody but a new president will stop this.
Read the summary as if, like me, you have no idea what 'TPP' is or means.
Editorial fail.
What if the thing that is enabling circumvention is the fact that somebody is smart? Do they destroy every programmable product that person owns, or do they destroy the person?
Well, people have been asking for it, and now, here it is, the Corporate Death Penalty! Coming soon to a city-state near you. We can eliminate threats to Intellectual Property and not tie up the local court systems. We can handle these recalcitrant individuals ourselves. We will have justice for our IP, it has rights, you know, it says so in the TPP. . .
Wait, what!? You wanted the ability to use it on Corporations? Citizen, no! These institutions are the job creators. Destroying them would be hazardous to local and the global economies. You may have victory against us, but in the meantime, you'd have wars, famine, plague, and pestilence because we wouldn't be around to provide for you. You shouldn't want that - no one really wants that. If you do, well, you should see the company doctor. It's provided here, in your wage-slave contract. Don't worry, your contract provides you with six hours of free time per week, with an additional whole day++ off. ++24 hour 'day off' period will typically be surrounded by 2 12-hr work periods. You are expected to sleep a minimum of 6 hours after every 12 hour work period, and at least 6 hours before a 12 hour work period. Remember, a sleepy worker, is an unproductive worker, and unproductive workers will receive only 1/2 pay.
And remember, you cannot destroy us, for we are too big to fail!
This view of your future brought has been brought to courtesy of the TPP, and underwritten by East Asian Motors.
The future is probably going to be a lot more closer to Deus Ex than Akria ... I, for one, welcome our new AI overlords.
I am a bit of a student of history. I am not, by trade, a historian. However, it is my observation that the pendulum swings in (at least) two directions. The further it swings in any direction, the further it swings back.
So, if history is any indication as to social, political, or economic events, and I think it is, there will be a backlash and it probably won't be pretty. It's quite likely that it will take some years and some push but the people will fight back eventually.
If you knock someone down in the corner and then keep kicking them, they'll eventually get up and fight back - and be mighty pissed. Well, not everyone. Some folks will not only take it but lick the boots that kick them while asking for more. I'll let you speculate as to whom that might be but, rest assured, they exist.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
It begins. Next is TTIP and TISA. Note that BRICS isn't included in these "deals."
Sanders will lose a near victory over Clinton, but only a near loss in 2016. Clinton will go on to face Trump for the office of president. I can't confirm that Clinton had payed Trump to troll the Republican "base." Those records had been lost after the year from hell. All I can really say is that it happened the same way in my worldline as it is happening in this one.
In late 2018, BRICS moves away from the US dollar. The Western economy collapses, and there are riots in every major city. Martial law will be declared by various Western governments between April through August. There will be no elections in 2020. One popular justification given is to control Muslim economic migrants.
That's not the end of things, however. In 2023, China begins an invasion of Japan. The USA deploys forces, and many things are at a standstill for about a year and a half.
I remember when I was a sophomore at the Michigan Institute of Technology when it finally happened. The Battle of Anchorage had gone badly, and the Chinese forces had pushed south through Granville, conquering Seattle and Portland. They were pressing on to Missoula and Salt Lake.
I am one of the lucky ones, I suppose. My hometown was wiped out before tea time. Over 4 billion lives were lost that day. Another 2 billion were lost to starvation and hypothermia over the 3 year winter we now call the year from hell. That's the best we can guess from the census of 2040. Some refer to that day when fire and brimstone rained from the sky as Ragnarok.
It gets better. We realized that empowering sociopaths was not the way. There is no official law banning sociopaths, at least not among the Confederacy of the Sovereign Sates. We simply recognize them for the destructive power they can conjure. We aren't cruel towards them. They eat daily, but we allow them no political authority.
The walk to the gas station will be for our own good.
Who will now be able to sell dozens and dozens of Kg of sugar to the US, provided it does not compete with US farmers...
Hi KGill. :-)
Some of the things I'm seeing: .bit exist
- Google and Apple, Facebook/Whatsapp not yet cooperating with getting rid of encryption
- lots of open source encryption tools
- slowly but surely we are seeing some more open source hardware projects
- Bitcoin and the follow altcoins exist - some even have some coinjoin system (anonymity)
- OpenBazaar exists (not full anonymity yet) - open trade, no borders
- decentralized DNS with
So at least some of the tools are in place...
New things are always on the horizon
Get over it. It will pass and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. The One Percenters triumph while we can only resign ourselves to the dire times we're about to enter, a steady hellish decline through abject poverty, with only mass graves at the end.
Hello there, Lennie.
You raise some interesting points. All quite true for those - which does overlap in other areas. So, maybe? At least I think I get what you're saying. This might be a bit long but I'll do my best to be concise and articulate.
If you don't mind, and treat these as rhetorical in all or in part if you prefer - though I do welcome a reply, if I ask a question or two?
Do we, as a citizenry, have enough impetus to act?
Will we, in viable numbers, actually act and make changes to our own habits?
Have we reached a point where action is of dire importance?
Are we, as a group, so disenfranchised, disillusioned, and jaded that we are willing to risk persecution?
Bread and circuses (beer and television) go a long ways, Lennie. Throws in some creature comforts, some modicum of freedom (even if only a matter of perspective) of choice, fear, and cowardice (I can think of no better word)... Then, well... Pithy, yes... We've still got tools, we still have options. Will we use those options before it is too late?
The sooner the pendulum can be swung back the better and the less destructive those swings will be. It's a bit like speed-wobbles on a bicycle or a skateboard. It's hard to tell, from my perspective, how far we've come. I'm inside looking inside - not outside and looking in. How much is too much? When do we make use of those tools with an adoption rate large enough to matter? When do we begin the deconstruction process and do we need to? What will that look like? When it comes time to throw stones, which side will you be on?
So, those aren't really rhetorical but you can interpret them as such. Buggered if I've got all the answers. I know that, historically, things like the French Revolution look good on paper but that actually lead to a horrific time and didn't really start to die down until Napoleon. For a while, it was pretty damned crazy - including changing calendar dates, use of shaming, forced adherence to social standards, encouraging spying on ones neighbor, and a whole lot of head removal.
Why do I mention the French Revolution? Well, it wasn't quite like a lot of people expected and it's not really covered well in history. No sides were innocent but one side is a bit better able to whitewash the history because they still had their heads. That leads back to the question - which side will you be on?
At any rate, the tools are there. Some people are not actively abetting and those people have some sway - but how hard will they push when push comes to shove and the pendulum swings a bit further still? The less the pendulum moves, the less force it has when it swings back. Entropy is the natural thing - it will swing back for the foreseeable future. For all our pomp and circumstance, I can think of no greater arrogance than that displayed by those who believe we are at the pinnacle of morals and education. Well, except maybe that displayed by those who would deem themselves your master.
During WWII and the Siege of Stalingrad, it was not uncommon for roving groups of young men to gather in groups to accost the old and feeble. They'd do so simply to steal their bread. One journalist, from that time, retells a story about a lady who came upon such a lad, by himself that time, who'd done such a thing. When she came across him, he was down on the ground and being beaten to a pulp by the witnesses. She realized what was happening and joined in with the group who was beating that boy. Somehow, in the mix, she managed to get that piece of bread - small, some 50g, in her hands and she did not recollect how. Then, again without knowing how - while still a part of the group kicking the thief, she proceeded to stuff that purloined bread into her mouth and eat it - others noticed and where aghast but, seemingly, unsurprised. Which side will you be on when the stones are thrown?
It's all rather complex, I'd say. The less swing to the pendulum, the better and more prosperous the society seems to be. That can be extrapolated to those who advocate
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
Now we only have to wait a little for the Trans-Atlantic Partnership to be signed off to finally establish the Weyland-Yutani Corporation.
What's a republic of the people, for the people, by the people?
It is missing in action.
Insomniac ? I hope you don't have that regularly, if so I suggest you do something about that. Less caffeine and less stress ?
OK, I'll be the first to admit it. I'm no expert, I suggest you talk to one.
I'm also not completely sane at this moment, this is the morning after a night on the town, their is still a lot of alcohol in my body. ;-)
Anyway, about the topic at hand...
Yes, I do think about it like a pendulum as well and about how far it can or will be pushed in one way (maybe even multiple pendulums). I think most people would really want to avoid full on revolution. Because it's hard to predict the outcome. Take for example the Arab spring. Also look at ISIS/IS/ISIL/Daesh they came out of the chaos largely created by the US (but that is a whole different topic).
Maybe I'm wrong, but I think at least some people in government get it.
Sometimes when I see police in countries like the US get more and heavier arms, I'm thinking someone is preparing for that future in a very negative way.
But let's look at the positive.
Let's take for example the people that claim that automation will take our jobs:
https://www.technologyreview.c...
Maybe they are wrong, but one thing is correct, technology can cause a lot of change and it probably will. Maybe even accelerate.
When talking about that, you'd always keep in mind what Voltaire said: Work saves us from three great evils: boredom, vice and need.
Then you look at what people in some governments are trying to do:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
From a US perspective you'd think it's some kind of socialist system, but a lot of the ideas behind that came from the US from people like: Friedrich Hayek, Richard Nixon and Milton Friedman. Or as Andrew McAfee likes to say with a big smile: frothing-at-the-mouth socialists ;-)
In Europe we now have a bunch of organisations, countries and cities looking seriously into this and testing it in real life again.
From a pure technology perspective, I can see technology solving the need problem.
If energy prices do really keep falling like they have with capturing the energy from wind and solar light and heat then it will get easier (=cheaper). Take for example the Sahara Forest Project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Energy storage is also still improving too: http://rameznaam.com/2013/09/2...
They seem to be on a Moore's Law like trajectory.
They might claim to be the first:
http://inhabitat.com/worlds-fi...
But automatic milking also has been doing very well for how long ? over 10 years now ?
If you combine: cheap energy, cheap clean water, cheap electronics/communication, cheap energy storage, cheap food production
you get a very potent mix to solve a large part of the problem of need that Voltaire talked about. In the documentary I linked they also talk about cheap health care (I hope so). Those are some very positive trends.
Cheap technology also seems to create a more decentralized future, so maybe in that sense Bitcoin/OpenBazaar and solar panels are similar.
I'm from Europe, I personally don't see the state as my enemy like some people in the US or some in Bitcoin do. For example I think of the government as the biggest VC funder/risk taker of them all. Who would spend more than 10 years on fundamental research with a high amount of risk of failure and then give it away for free (simple example: Internet, funded by ARPA now called DARPA. I don't know if it was considered a risky endeavour at the time, but it's an ex
New things are always on the horizon
Awesome news! This is an historic and profitable day!
Now I will put forward my plan to sell mini-sized cigarettes to children and when the government doesn't allow me to sell them, wham! I'll hit 'em with the ISDS and I'll be a millionaire at least by the end of the week.
Thanks gubment you dumb assess