What is the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)?
The Trans Pacific Partnership, or TPP, is a trade agreement among 12 countries – the United States, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, Canada, Mexico and Japan. Its goal is to “deepen economic ties” among these nations to foster trade and boost growth.
Why don’t I know about it?
The document has remained largely private and not publicly available, despite the fact it’s been in the works for over 10 years. The US government has shared an outline, and Wikileaks also revealed two chapters. Some of the agreement’s elements are:
- Create favorable conditions for companies doing businesses in the TPP partner countries
- Intellectual property
- Environmental regulations
What does a trade agreement have to do with online privacy?
The TPP has been mentioned in conjunction with conversations about online privacy. Many privacy advocates express concerns over the details of the TPP that were leaked:
- Intellectual property regulations go too far
- New demands on ISPs to “police what their users access on the internet”
- No transparency into the agreement and regulations
- Internet censorship
You can read more about privacy concerns expressed by the EFF, check out a petition against the TPP launched by Fight for the Future, and stay tuned for future updates.