The Richmond News received more than a dozen letters Wednesday concerned over news that Canadian officials are negotiating proposed new regulation of the Internet in closed door trade talks in Salt Lake, Utah this week.
We won't be publishing what are essentially form letters, but applaud the effort being mobilized by OpenMedia to throw a spotlight on a series of secret bureaucratic meetings allegedly driven by U.S. interests.
OpenMedia has previously engaged Canadians in campaigns such as StopTheMeter.ca and StopSpying.ca.
Last week, Wikileaks released documents that, according to Open Media, confirm an Internet censorship plan is being negotiated as part of a Trans-Pacific Partnership that, if signed, would require Canada to alter its copyright laws.
If it wasn't for Wikileaks, precious little would be known about what is at stake here; even members of Parliament have been denied access to information about the treaty talks while, according to Knowledge Ecology International, some 700 U.S. corporate "advisers" have been cleared to see the texts.
KEI claims the U.S. is pushing hardest for regulations that benefit industry ahead of the consumer, and that other countries are prepared to compromise in the hopes of a trade deal with the United States. KEI also claims the treaty would limit competition and raise prices for drugs.
OpenMedia's online petition calls on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to pull Internet censorship provisions from the TPP agreement.
How about he just tells Canadians what is going on first?
