Imagine a world where you could be dragged to court and receive a large fine for simply clicking on the wrong link, where service providers would hand over information about your online activities without privacy safeguards, and where online content could be removed by big media conglomerates at will.
This scenario could become a reality before we know it. In just a few days, a group of 600 lobbyist “advisors” and un-elected trade representatives are scheming behind closed doors to decide how the Internet will be governed, including whether you could get fined for your Internet use. Instead of debating this openly, they’re meeting secretly to craft an Internet trap through an international agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Our government just signed Canada onto this arrangement, without our consent.
In short, it appears that it will be big-media lobbyists -- not citizens -- who get to decide whether Canadians will be fined as suspected copyright criminals. Please help us raise a loud call before it’s too late. Visit: http://stopthetrap.net
We know from leaked documents that industry lobbyists intend to blanket these new restrictions and laws around the world, without us having any say in the matter. How can they do this?
Instead of an open, public process, they’ll use international tribunals to go around domestic judicial systems. And once the trap is set, there’s no going back. That's why OpenMedia.ca and SumOfUs are launching this campaign today.
Here are the details -- the TPP’s Internet trap would:
- Criminalize some of your everyday use of the Internet,
- Force service providers to collect and hand over your private data without privacy safeguards, and
- Give media conglomerates more power to fine you for Internet use, remove online content -- including entire websites -- and even terminate your access to the Internet.
We deserve to know what will be blocked, and what we and our families will be fined for. If enough of us speak out now, we can prevent the Canadian government from slow-walking us into an Internet trap. Make your voice heard today.
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