The Trans-Pacific Partnership is currently being negotiated in secret without public input. However, leaked documents reveal the TPP may include an Internet censorship plan that would threaten the right to access the Internet freely and affordably.
The plan would compel Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to become Internet police and require them to monitor individual Internet use, censor website content and remove entire websites from citizen access. By forcing ISPs to install costly and invasive surveillance equipment, it would threaten our civil liberties and our right to privacy.
The TPP would also limit accessibility for disabled people since it would criminalize them for circumventing digital locks on any digital materials they have purchased. They would therefore be unable to convert them to braille, audio or other accessible formats.
The added costs of surveillance and policing would make Internet access even more costly than it currently is and threaten the viability of smaller independent Internet providers. Internet access is a right and unelected tribunals operating in secret should not have the power to curtail that right.
Nancy Belmore
Victoria