Obama's Transparency: Policy Laundering and Secret Treaties

Hey folks, here's what your transparent Obama administration has done for you lately: they've collaborated on an international copyright treaty called ACTA. Not a big deal in itself, except for the fact that the Obama administration has refused to disclose what the treaty says, citing "national security."

Seriously? NATIONAL security, for copyright laws? You mean issues like illegally downloaded MP3s of Britney Spears are at the heart of protecting the republic? National security... Puh-lease! More like JOB security for "intellectual property" lawyers, and politicians who get "campaign contributions" from big media conglomerates.

What does this verboten copyright treaty include? More of the good stuff we, the people, have demanded from our elected representatives:

• More policing of the internet.
• More requirements for internet service providers to babysit everything you do, resulting in unnecessary overhead costs that will be passed on directly to you, the beloved consumer.
• More tools to censor free speech by claiming it "infringes" on something.
• More ways to cut off your internet access, without due process.
• More restrictions on breaking copy-protected technology, even if it's to make content accessible to people with disabilities.

Didn't you vote on the referendum for all that? No? Hmm.

If you are a lowly member of the public, the text is secret. The names of persons who attend the meetings are secret. The titles of the documents are secret. If you represent a big firm or law firm -- pretty much any big firm it seems, the U.S. government will show you documents after you sign a non-disclosure agreement - curbing your right to speak out on the contents of the documents you see...

The entire U.S. tech sector has been publicly silent, as the Obama administration has co-oped them into trading silence for access to the secret documents.
-- James Love, "ACTA: A Patriot Act for the Internet", The Huffington Post

Let's see what Obama has proclaimed as his commitment to "an unprecedented level of openness in Government"...

• "Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing." Unless, of course, that includes things that give big corporations and the Government the tools they need to slap you around with bullshit lawsuits and internet censorship. That totally gets a pass, I guess.
• "Government should be participatory. Public engagement enhances the Government's effectiveness and improves the quality of its decisions." You got to contribute your opinion towards shaping this copyright treaty, right? Oh... No, none of us did. Well, at least we've all got the freedom to request access to the text of the treaty, to at least give ourselves a fair shot at complying with the law we didn't have any say in. Oops, that's not true either. Oh well!
• "Government should be collaborative." Absolutely! That's why the various governments and international organizations, including numerous officials who were not elected by you or the citizens of other member states, got to collaborate very closely on this treaty. What? You thought Obama meant you got to take part in the collaboration? Haha, oh you silly citizens. You crack me up!

Yes sir, this is certainly "unprecedented openness", "accountability", and "transparency" -- all courtesy of the guy I mistakenly voted for, Barack Obama. On the plus side, at least we're going to drag Canada down the toilet with us.

And if you live in China or a third-world country, you can be happy that bullshit treaties like this will force what little innovation remains out of the United States and into your soon-to-be-less-restrictive homeland.

Update: Oops, sorry China, my second home. Looks like you and the other misbehaving countries may end up caught up in this mess as well:

The ultimate objective is that large emerging economies, where [intellectual property rights] enforcement could be improved, such as China or Russia, will sign up to the global pact.
-- European Commission, "The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement Fact Sheet"

Update 2: Big props to Wired for calling out ACTA for the scam it is: policy laundering.

[If] the United States signs and ratifies the treaty, Congress would be obliged to change the DMCA [copyright law] to comply with it, while the administration throws its hands in the air and says, "It wasn’t our idea! It’s that damn treaty!"

That practice is common enough to have a name: policy laundering.

Update 3: Added quote from Huffington Post, above.