Okay, now that I’ve pushed my memory for high school French to its limits, we’re talking about despite his promises, Obama has been no better than Bush on many things. In this case, ACTA and transparency.
James Love, Director of Knowledge Ecology International, writes:
The Obama Administration has again blocked the public release of the text of an important intellectual property enforcement agreement. The White House has made the completion of the agreement a high priority, which it will describe as something to protect U.S. jobs — and hopes to complete the global pack in time to influence the November 2010 Congressional elections.
The “Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement,” known as ACTA, has been shrouded in controversy since its inception in the Bush Administration, because of the secrecy surrounding the negotiations, and the suspected anti-consumer, anti-civil rights, and anti-innovation measures that were thought to be included.
Read more on Huffington Post.
If ever the text of an agreement needed to be leaked, this is one of those times. Shame on the Obama administration who promised transparency but engages in the same old, same old secrecy games that involves lobbyists having greater input to the process than “we the people.”