Could TTIP contain an internet censorship plan?

An internet censorship plan is at present being finalised, with Barack Obama holding secret meetings with political figures and lobbyists in Asia to lock the Trans-Pacific Partnership’s internet censorship plan in place.

Leaked documents reveal that this secret plan would censor the use of the internet and strip away people’s rights.1 If completed, the plan would force internet service providers to act as “internet police,” monitoring our use of the internet, censoring content, and removing whole web sites.2 It would give media conglomerates centralised control over what we can watch and share on line, and give governments the ability to neutralise the internet for political rivals.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is being called a legal “blueprint” for the rest of the world.3 Once the TPP’s internet censorship plans are complete, they will be used to globalise censorship—which brings us back to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the European Union and the United States, which is also being negotiated in secret and whose known components bear a striking similarity to the TPP. It would be a good bet that a similar provision is included in the TTIP, providing another reason why we should be determined in our opposition to it.

1. Wikileaks: “Secret trans-Pacific partnership agreement.”

2. Electronic Frontier Foundation: “TPP creates legal incentives for ISPs to police the internet.”

3. Inter Press Service News Agency: “US ‘bullying’ TPP negotiators amid failure to agree.”