Category: Transparency

Government and corporation transparency and accountability

“Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement has no economic benefit,” says Pirate Party

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Transparency is a new idea to Australian Government, according to notes taken by Pirate Party Australia Secretary Brendan Molloy at the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) intellectual property meeting in Canberra last Thursday.

According the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), “the Australian Government will pursue a TPP outcome that eliminates or at least substantially reduces barriers to trade and investment” that will “also deal with behind-the-border impediments to trade and investment.”[1]

So far there has been no confirmation on exactly how the TPP will achieve these aims, as there have been no official drafts of the Agreement released, and the negotiators actively refuse to discuss the contents in anything other than vague and evasive statements.

At the meeting in Canberra, stakeholders were invited to participate in a question and answer session with the inter-departmental negotiators. Disappointingly, the negotiating team dodged almost all questions regarding the Agreement, including the impact it might have on the Australian Law Reform Commission’s copyright review. The negotiators also failed to give any definites about what intellectual property (IP) provisions would be included, and did not sufficiently address the concerns of those present.

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Pirate Party Australia Webcast – Episode 3

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In this episode Sam covers some recent news and reads the third installment of The History of Copyright. Subscribe to the feed, or view past episodes.

News:
yeslab.org: TPPA Gate crashers
smh.com.au: Super Warrants
delimiter.com.au: Piracy FOI Request Rejected
dw.de: Pro-copyright Group “We Are The Creators”
aph.gov.au: Joint Standing Committee on Treaties – May 7 Transcript

History Of Copyright:
No Safe Harbour book
Rick Falkvinge’s Blog (links to the 7 original blog entries)

Quote:
“It is poor civic hygiene to install technologies that could someday facilitate a police state.” — Bruce Schneier, http://www.schneier.com/

Podcast (webcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:24 — 10.6MB)

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Pirate Party Australia Webcast – Episode 1

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In our inaugural episode of the Pirate Party Australia Webcast, Sam begins a four-part series of readings from Rick Falkvinge’s “History of Copyright,” and speaks to Simon Frew, Deputy President of Pirate Party Australia, about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. Subscribe to the feed, or view past episodes.

A transcript of the webcast is available here.

Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement:
TPPA Negotiation Farce Must End: Pirate Party
Pirate Party Australia’s presentation to Trans Pacific Partnership Stakeholders Meeting in Melbourne
Electronic Frontier Foundation’s TPPA issues page
Australian Government’s TPPA website

History Of Copyright:
No Safe Harbour book
Rick Falkvinge’s Blog (links to the 7 original blog entries)

Quote:
“When artists and consumers themselves get involved in the debate, a remarkable thing tends to happen: Self-interest largely disappears from the picture. Great art is never created from self-interest. It can only be created when an artist is driven by their creative impulse, and applies discipline to develop their talents. ” – Renai Lemay, Editor of www.delimiter.com.au

Podcast (webcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:08 — 13.2MB)

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TPPA Negotiation Farce Must End: Pirate Party

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Pirate Party Australia are disgusted at reports that the United States plans to cancel the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) stakeholder programme[1].

The Party gave a presentation at a stakeholder’s meeting in Melbourne last month, where they criticised the lack of transparency surrounding the TPPA negotiations, as well as the effect it would have on access to pharmaceuticals in developing nations[2].

“The stakeholders meeting in the Melbourne round was only possible thanks to leaks from concerned negotiators. It was still a puzzle to even know what exactly we were arguing against,” said Simon Frew, Deputy President of Pirate Party Australia.

“This further attack on involvement of civil society exemplifies US belligerence against the citizens of the participating countries. All of the US negotiating positions are wet dreams of Hollywood, the pharmaceutical industry, and a handful of major US corporations who will be the only beneficiaries of this further move toward secrecy.”

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Pirate Party Disgusted By Rampant Government Secrecy

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Pirate Party Australia condemns the actions of Attorney-General Nicola Roxon, who has refused to release documents regarding mass starvation in East Timor, despite the fact that they are up to 37 years old[1].

Revelations that the documents could “reveal Australian complicity in concealing the mass starvation of 100,000 East Timorese” highlights the real need for governmental transparency and accountability that the Party continues to advocate. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is responsible for requesting Ms Roxon deny the release, claiming that it would be contrary to the national interest. The effect the documents would have on ties between Australia and Indonesia are minimal, claims former Army intelligence officer Clinton Fernandes[2].

Pirate Party Australia holds that the continual secrecy and outright refusal of government institutions to release documents is a serious threat to Australian democracy, and must be curbed immediately. They wish to draw attention to the opacity of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) negotiations, where citizens globally were only able to inspect documents that were leaked, and no official drafts have been made public.

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