Pirate Party Australia recommends caution be exercised in regards to the establishment of a global digital market that would involve ceding sovereignty of data to the United States or other jurisdictions with poor data protection legislation and records.
The Party’s warning bells were triggered by an opinion piece from Jeffrey Bleich, US Ambassador to Australia, published in the Sydney Morning Herald two days ago[1]. Mr Bleich’s opinion piece states that the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) may be used to eliminate what he refers to as “cloud protectionism”.
“It’s alarming that they would be even considering such a thing, when the Dutch are currently wondering whether the US can access their confidential health records[2] under the PATRIOT Act[3],” said Brendan Molloy, Secretary of Pirate Party Australia.