Topic: POLITIK - on May 28, 2016 at 11:35:00 AM CEST
Secret New Internet Rules in the Trade in Services Agreement
This week new materials from the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) were released by Wikileaks, revealing that negotiators from around the world have been continuing to craft new rules that will affect all Internet users, without public scrutiny or consultation. One of the biggest surprises that dropped is a document containing new proposals, mostly from the United States, that will apply to all services. Some of these new provisions are relevant to the Internet and digital rights: Article X.3 would prohibit a country from giving preferential treatment to Internet content based on its origin or the nationality of those who created it. This is directed at policies such as the recent European proposal to require Netflix in Europe to carry a certain proportion of European-produced content, mirroring similar existing rules for television broadcasters. We tend to agree that any policy that erects artificial national or regional walls around Internet services is against users' interests. However, seeking to force new international rules on this topic in a closed trade agreement is both quixotic and exclusionary. There is very little likelihood that the other TiSA parties will accept this without exceptions broad enough to swallow the rule. This particularly applies to Europe, where the protection of local cultural diversity, including through film and television quotas, is unwavering. More importantly, any new rules on Internet content quotas would impact the interests of many stakeholders who are excluded from the TISA discussions, including those of creators, consumers, and platforms.
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