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<p>So, there are several issues here and the most urgent of them is
the fate of civil society at the Buenos Aires Ministerial. I think
there is a new joint civil society statement coming together about
this, which I'll write back about once there is a draft to share.</p>
<p>About "free flow of information" versus "cross-border data
transfer", well I think we have to speak both languages. Like
many of us, I have a foot in both camps. I have been in the
consumer movement for the last decade, fighting against the use
trade rules to further corporate interests. But I've also been,
for even longer, an Internet lawyer fighting to preserve a global
open, free, and interoperable network. And I happen to think that
when it comes to trade agreements, we may have some common cause
with some of the Internet companies that are pushing for rules
that advance their corporate interests, but which can also advance
human rights. If I didn't believe that, I wouldn't be a part of
this multi-stakeholder Dynamic Coalition.<br>
</p>
<p>We will be debating these issues soon in Geneva. But for now, we
can put some of the differences aside in order to take a strong
joint stand against the exclusion of activists from the
Ministerial, which again strikes me as the most urgent point of
your message.<br>
</p>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 12/09/2017 07:10 AM, Burcu Kilic
wrote:<br>
</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As a trade lawyer, I want to echo
Parminder’s comments, “Trade agreements do not deal with "free
flow of information", if anything they deal with "free flow of
data".
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Trade rules seek to commodify everything —
to turn everything into a form of property — so that it can be
traded. In this case, it is the data, not the information. It
is not even the flow, it is cross-border transfer. “Free flow
of information” is DC policy elite’s terminology, because it
sounds human-rights friendly. Trade negotiators have
particular sensitivities about that terminology. If we are
going to talk about trade agreements, let’s use the right
terminology.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am in Buenos Aires now for the WTO
Ministerial. I have to say promoting “multistakeholder
governance” sounds uber-romantic in these circumstances. We
are losing our ground. NGOs have been de-accredited, people
have been rejected at the border and sent back to their
countries, the NGOs cannot attend the opening ceremony as the
host country doesn’t want them (usually NGOs get 50 tickets).
Argentinians are making clear that we are not welcomed here.
I am afraid this will set a really bad precedent for the
future meetings and negotiations. That’s something we all need
to be concerned about.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div style="border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF
1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">From: </span></b><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">DC-Trade
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:dc-trade-bounces@opendigital.trade"><dc-trade-bounces@opendigital.trade></a> on behalf of
parminder <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:parminder@itforchange.net"><parminder@itforchange.net></a><br>
<b>Date: </b>Wednesday, August 9, 2017 at 1:03 AM<br>
<b>To: </b><a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:dc-trade@opendigital.trade">"dc-trade@opendigital.trade"</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:dc-trade@opendigital.trade"><dc-trade@opendigital.trade></a><br>
<b>Subject: </b>Re: [DC-Trade] Proposal for Dynamic
Coalition document on trade transparency<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<p><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif">Thanks
for this Jeremy</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif">Can
we work on the doc without the preamble part, with which my
organisation may have many issues?</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif">There
are two main ones. One with the sentence "</span><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Source Code
Pro",serif;color:#424242">International trade
agreements that support the free flow of information across
the Internet...... can assist member countries to harness
the potential of the Internet to promote social and economic
development for all."</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt">I am sure you
know the problem that trade justice activists have with
this.... Trade agreements do not deal with "free flow of
information", if anything they deal with "free flow of data".
The two are not identical .... Free flow of information
globally may perhaps be a subject dealt in frameworks like New
World Information and Communication Order (NWICO, that piece
of history!), it could be about media, even about social media
and networks, but that is not at the core of digital issues at
trade talks. The latter deal not with information flows but
with data flows-- as an economic resource, as one of the most
important economic resources. And speaking about, rather
promoting, "free global flow of data" in an unqualified manner
is not acceptable. It speaks to a certain political economy of
data and digital economy... you sure know this stuff.
<br>
<br>
Second issue is with promotion of so called "multi-stakeholder
governance" for global trade negotiations. We have really
never been able to understand what exactly this term means,
and you know this well too, have issues with how many people
and groups employ it in the IG space. We do not look forward,
for instance, to promote models in trade negotiations where
big business has a veto. Replace it is "multistakeholder
participation" and we are fine...<br>
<br>
happy to discuss this further .... parminder <br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">On Wednesday 09 August 2017 03:31 AM,
Jeremy Malcolm wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<blockquote style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt">As we look
forward to the upcoming IGF in December, I am following up
(finally) about one of the outputs that we agreed to work
towards for presentation at the inaugural meeting of the
Dynamic Coalition on Trade and the Internet. As explained
in my original message, a small working group has put
together a document, which is now ready for comments from
this broader group. You can find it below:<br>
<br>
<a
href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Cu2p-gUdAUbPJrHysjWAFQ0SM-CKWabf22D6PGXAgxo/edit"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Cu2p-gUdAUbPJrHysjWAFQ0SM-CKWabf22D6PGXAgxo/edit#</a><br>
<br>
It remains just a draft, and I would like to invite all of
you to express any comments that you may have on it, either
by adding them in the text, or by following up to this
message. Ideally, this should be a document that all
participants in the Dynamic Coalition can endorse—and I
don't think anyone should have trouble in doing so, since it
restates principles that I suspect we all share, and
references many familiar sources.<br>
<br>
Please review the document this month so that, if possible,
we can iron out any wrinkles and have a near-final document
ready for presentation as an output of our Dynamic Coalition
at its inaugural meeting in December.<o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">On 15/5/17 12:21 pm, Jeremy Malcolm
wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<blockquote style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt">
<p class="MsoNormal">Dear all,<br>
<br>
Today my organization the EFF has launched an advertising
campaign around trade transparency reforms, which I would
like to propose as a starting point for a document that
this Dynamic Coalition could produce as an output this
year.<br>
<br>
The advertisements can be seen in POLITICO's Morning Trade
newsletter at <a
href="http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-trade/2017/05/nafta-notification-whats-happening-and-when-220315"
moz-do-not-send="true">
http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-trade/2017/05/nafta-notification-whats-happening-and-when-220315</a>
(you might need to disable your ad blocker to see the
banners, but there are also text messages in the middle
and at the end of the newsletter). The ads link to this
page on EFF's website which summarizes five
recommendations, and the rationales for these:
<a href="https://www.eff.org/trade" moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.eff.org/trade</a>.<br>
<br>
The campaign is targetted at U.S. trade policymakers and
is hence very U.S.-centric (even to the point of sounding
a little jingoistic), and a couple of the recommendations
are specific to the U.S. trade advisory process.
Nevertheless, I believe that the core concepts should find
broad agreement amongst members of this Dynamic Coalition
and that we ought to be able to fashion a consensus
document that at least finds inspiration from the five
recommendations made here.<br>
<br>
I won't repeat the complete rationales for the
recommendations here because you can read them for
yourselves at
<a href="https://www.eff.org/trade" moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.eff.org/trade</a>,
but the headlines are:<o:p></o:p></p>
<ol start="1" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0
level1 lfo1">
Publish U.S. textual proposals on rules in ongoing
international trade negotiations
<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0
level1 lfo1">
Publish consolidated texts after each round of ongoing
negotiations <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0
level1 lfo1">
Appoint a "transparency officer" who does not have
structural conflicts of interest in promoting
transparency at the agency
<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0
level1 lfo1">
Open up textual proposals to a notice and comment and
public hearing process <o:p>
</o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0
level1 lfo1">
Make Trade Advisory Committees more broadly inclusive<o:p></o:p></li>
</ol>
<p class="MsoNormal">One of the items in this Dynamic
Coalition's 2017 action plan is "To develop a
multi-stakeholder approach to facilitating the
transparency and inclusiveness in international trade
negotiations and the domestic consultation processes".
Although that's open-ended, it could include the
development of a consensus document containing a set of
principles that generalises from the above five
recommendations, and that's what I'm proposing. At this
point, I am asking for your feedback on the idea.<br>
<br>
If there is broad agreement on the idea, the next step
would be to form a drafting subcommittee that would
propose a strawman text for further discussion by the full
Dynamic Coalition. If you support the idea of us
developing such a document, are you also interested in
being part of the drafting subcommittee?<br>
<br>
Thanks and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the
above.<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<pre>-- <o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre>Jeremy Malcolm<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre>Senior Global Policy Analyst<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre>Electronic Frontier Foundation<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre><a href="https://eff.org" moz-do-not-send="true">https://eff.org</a><o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre><a href="mailto:jmalcolm@eff.org" moz-do-not-send="true">jmalcolm@eff.org</a><o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre><o:p> </o:p></pre>
<pre>Tel: 415.436.9333 ext 161<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre><o:p> </o:p></pre>
<pre>:: Defending Your Rights in the Digital World ::<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre><o:p> </o:p></pre>
<pre>Public key: <a href="https://www.eff.org/files/2016/11/27/key_jmalcolm.txt" moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.eff.org/files/2016/11/27/key_jmalcolm.txt</a><o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre>PGP fingerprint: 75D2 4C0D 35EA EA2F 8CA8 8F79 4911 EC4A EDDF 1122<o:p></o:p></pre>
</blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<pre>-- <o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre>Jeremy Malcolm<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre>Senior Global Policy Analyst<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre>Electronic Frontier Foundation<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre><a href="https://eff.org" moz-do-not-send="true">https://eff.org</a><o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre><a href="mailto:jmalcolm@eff.org" moz-do-not-send="true">jmalcolm@eff.org</a><o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre><o:p> </o:p></pre>
<pre>Tel: 415.436.9333 ext 161<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre><o:p> </o:p></pre>
<pre>:: Defending Your Rights in the Digital World ::<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre><o:p> </o:p></pre>
<pre>Public key: <a href="https://www.eff.org/files/2016/11/27/key_jmalcolm.txt" moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.eff.org/files/2016/11/27/key_jmalcolm.txt</a><o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre>PGP fingerprint: 75D2 4C0D 35EA EA2F 8CA8 8F79 4911 EC4A EDDF 1122<o:p></o:p></pre>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br>
<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<pre>_______________________________________________<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre>DC-Trade mailing list<o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre><a href="mailto:DC-Trade@opendigital.trade" moz-do-not-send="true">DC-Trade@opendigital.trade</a><o:p></o:p></pre>
<pre><a href="http://opendigital.trade/mailman/listinfo/dc-trade" moz-do-not-send="true">http://opendigital.trade/mailman/listinfo/dc-trade</a><o:p></o:p></pre>
</blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<br>
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<br>
<pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
DC-Trade mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:DC-Trade@opendigital.trade">DC-Trade@opendigital.trade</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://opendigital.trade/mailman/listinfo/dc-trade">http://opendigital.trade/mailman/listinfo/dc-trade</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Jeremy Malcolm
Senior Global Policy Analyst
Electronic Frontier Foundation
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://eff.org">https://eff.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:jmalcolm@eff.org">jmalcolm@eff.org</a>
Tel: 415.436.9333 ext 161
:: Defending Your Rights in the Digital World ::
Public key: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.eff.org/files/2014/10/09/key_jmalcolm.txt">https://www.eff.org/files/2014/10/09/key_jmalcolm.txt</a>
PGP fingerprint: 75D2 4C0D 35EA EA2F 8CA8 8F79 4911 EC4A EDDF 1122</pre>
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