So, for years now, the USTR has fought as hard as possible to keep ACTA a secret, while pretending otherwise. It’s insisted that ACTA wasn’t secret while at the same time refusing to release details of what’s in the document, claiming that it was a national security issue. Later, when confronted about it, the USTR claimed that others would leave the negotiating table if the text was made public. However, as more and more info leaked about ACTA, it became quite clear that it was really the US that was behind the level of secrecy. Of course, as time went on, more and more of the document leaked, the whole “secrecy” angle got pretty silly.
So it’s almost laughable to see the USTR say on Friday that now is finally the time to release a draft — as if everyone who didn’t already want to see it hadn’t seen it.
Overall, therefore, there was a general sense from this session that negotiations have now advanced to a point where making a draft text available to the public will help the process of reaching a final agreement. For that reason, and based on the specific momentum coming out of this meeting, participants have reached unanimous agreement that the time is right for making available to the public the consolidated text coming out of these discussions, which will reflect the substantial progress made at this round.
Yes. That or the massive public rebuke the USTR has been receiving from almost every quarter on this particular agreement. The full document gets “released” on Wednesday, and we expect it to be… well, pretty much like what was leaked last month.
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