Wikileaks has released the final text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, a "free trade" agreement. The TPP will be in force between the United States and eight other countries.
The text contains an interesting provision in the intellectual property rights chapter and concerns Internet service providers and their obligations towards the copyright holders.
According to the TPP, an ISP is broadly defined:
"Internet service provider" means: (a) The online service provider for transmitting, routing, or providing connections for online digital communication, between two or more user-specified points, and the material that uses. "
By this definition ISP is your Internet Service Provider, but it can also be extended to companies like Dropbox, Mega and others services storage of files hosted in the member countries of the agreement.
This section states that all member countries are required to renew "remedies" for copyright holders to cooperate with ISPs and urges the "unauthorized storage and transmission" of pirated material such as movies, music and other content.
In fact, EFF had previously stated that there is this provision that requires each country to implement a phasing out system similar to the US DMCA procedure according to Wikileaks.
In particular, the TPP also states that Member States should create a legal framework that will require ISPs to expose the identity of the offender to copyright holders in a manner consistent with the agreement.
In some cases, these legal incentives will include an "action" by the ISP to prevent the illegal storage of copyright infringing files as well as their removal.
The TPP also states that these bodies should intervene in the following cases:
If the provider automatically caches content without having the Copyright
Save pirate content if loaded by a user
Users creating links that lead to pirate content
Piratical content transmission without modification
If someone puts next to the TPP along with the DMCA 512 limitations on the text of responsibility, it appears to be a phrased version of the same law that requires ISPs to serve copyright holders and act in accordance with the removal requests .
The EFF has already reported that this method is called "policy laundering", where an unpopular provision is copied and pasted into trade agreements to slip into a broader agreement.
Wikileaks reports that the agreement was signed on October 5 by the United States, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, but the text was not available to the public until today.
The TPP has not been ratified by the local governments of each country but is required before it comes to an agreement.
Information from TNW.
