Let’s Create An Alternative Copyright Agenda By And For The Users

Maira Sutton | Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) | July 24, 2013

Negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) have excluded public participation from the entire process, while allowing Big Content interests to see and direct the terms of this trade agreement. That is why the Fair Deal Coalition, of which EFF is a member, is launching an open platform to crowdsource alternative copyright proposals that reflect the broad interests of Internet users and businesses that are shut out from the talks. Your Digital Future asks citizens and businesses around the world to consider what kind of rules we need to encourage creativity, participation, and innovation. We’ll take this wide-ranging feedback and bring it directly to policymakers to make sure they listen to the Internet community’s demands.

Negotiators are rushing to close the secretive deal by this fall, despite ongoing conflicts over the terms of the copyright chapter. Some countries are resisting U.S. pressure to enact heightened digital enforcement standards, but this may come to a head if delegates are forced to make difficult compromises to bolster other industrial or agricultural sectors at the cost of Internet users’ rights. [...]