From the WTF files.
From Wired:
President Barack Obama came into office in January promising a new era of openness.
But now, like Bush before him, Obama is playing the national security card to hide details of the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement being negotiated across the globe.
The White House this week declared (.pdf) the text of the proposed treaty a “properly classified” national security secret, in rejecting a Freedom of Information Act request by Knowledge Ecology International.
“Please be advised the documents you seek are being withheld in full,” wrote Carmen Suro-Bredie, chief FOIA officer in the White House’s Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
How is a proposed treaty, that would make it criminal for P2P sharing and allow iPod searches at the border, be a national security secret? Oh right. Someone might sue them. Or even worse people might rally to pressure governments (incl. Canada) to shelve this IP treaty document.
If anyone has more information on this trade agreement that would like to share it anonymously you can send it to “tips SHIFT 2 liquidmatrix.org”
(thx to John for the link)
Well I, for one, am shocked that a politician isn’t living up to his promises of more openness and accountability in government. Oh, did I say shocked? I meant not surprised at all.
It’s too bad that there’s still a massive national love-affair with Obama because very few people, especially the media, will make a big deal about this.