In a twist that will come as a shock to everyday users of the Internet, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) could permanently close down the websites of newspapers across the World Wide Web.
“The problem is the very broad language of the intellectual property chapter,” explained Senator Ron Wyden, who finally received a transcript of each round of negotiations thus far last week. “It doesn’t talk about ‘copyright infringement’, but instead speaks of ‘copyright theft’.
If that phrase was to be taken literally, then any website which claims in its terms of service that its members automatically give it ‘a worldwide, perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable licence (with right to sub-licence) to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform [user-generated] content’ could be shut down for their de facto stealing of their members copyrights.
Since the New York Times itself has such over-broad, grasping terms of use, can you imagine the chaos that will result if the TPP is passed? Especially if an automatic waiver of moral rights is included, as it is on some UK websites.”
This reporter, for one, can imagine it and is horrified. If the TPP has the capability of shutting down purely informational websites, then what hope for those who create fanworks and torrenters of Open Source Freeware?
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Any story with a lead photo that good deserves a read… [reads article]… well now I'm just annoyed. They overreach so consistently with their attempts to reign in the free exchange of information that it ends up being a real disservice to humanity at large. Usually they are defeated, but they throw so much crap at the wall, even though only a small amount of it sticks, the sum effect is crippling. We need younger legislators. Ones who actually know, understand and use the web. They can be the arbiters of change towards a reasonable intellectual property future.