[ComputerWorldUK] TTIP Update XI

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Because of the absurdly and unjustifiably secret nature of the TAFTA/TTIP negotiations, piecing together what is going on is a matter of looking for scraps of information wherever they can be found, and then trying to see the bigger picture. In my last two updates, I analysed some interesting attacks that the European Commission made on articles that dared to be sceptical about TTIP. In this one, I’ll examine another important source: meetings with those that are privy to the negotiations. […]

Enforcement was one of the most contentious issues in ACTA, and was one of the reasons that the European Parliament killed it off last year. So the big question is: what is going on here? Was De Gucht simply trying to mislead us? Or is one of his staff taking the initiative on his own, and undermining De Gucht’s statement that TTIP will not be ACTA by the back door? Presumably we will find out as more information leaks out. But Pettersson’s report on this meeting highlights a number of disturbing issues. […]

After all, once they have been revealed to the US negotiators, tabled documents are no longer secret. That’s not least because the US negotiators are believed to share everything with hundreds of companies and lobbyists, which means that the well-connected (and those with good spies) can easily find out what’s going on. The only people that are kept in the dark by this process are the ordinary people in whose name the negotiations are theoretically being conducted. That’s just unacceptable in an age where transparency and openness are rightly taken for granted.

http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2014/01/ttip-update-xi/index.htm