Google Public Policy Blog: The Trans-Pacific Partnership: A Step Forward for the Internet

It’s not surprising that big data companies like Google are no opponents of CETA or TPP/TTIP. What’s more surprising is that Google now takes a firm stand on supporting TPP. With bloodcurdling logic they argument why it would be a step forward for the internet: “But Internet restrictions — like censorship, site-blocking, and forced local storage of data — threaten the Internet’s open architecture.” None of these issues would disappear with TPP except for local storage (which is a feature that the EU finally enforced last year in its fight to protect users’ privacy). TPP instead enforces copyright protections, can do nothing to prevent non-TPP-partners from blocking parts of the internet, and actually does a lot of harm to existing privacy, to existing laws and to countries’ courts as it gives companies the possibility to bring matters to arbitral courts — a fact that helps corrupt, capitalistic companies gain more power while normal citizens are at a disadvantage. You can see how much influence private companies already have on politicians in the excellent Netflix series “House of Cards”.