Canadians launch platform to defend Internet freedom worldwide

Mobile-adaptive site launched as threats to open Internet access go global August 23, 2012 – In response to the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) process and other threats to Internet freedom, Canadian non-profit Internet freedom organization, OpenMedia, is launching a platform to amplify the voices of the global pro-Internet community

Mobile-adaptive site launched as threats to open Internet access go global

August 23, 2012 – In response to the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) process and other threats to Internet freedom, Canadian non-profit Internet freedom organization, OpenMedia, is launching a platform to amplify the voices of the global pro-Internet community.

Working with Canadians across the country, OpenMedia led the biggest online campaign in Canadian history—Stop The Meter—along with the public outcry that has thus far stopped online spying bill C-30. OpenMedia hosted a multifaceted online campaign—incorporating social media, direct communication with MPs, viral videos, and educational graphics.

Following those accomplishments, OpenMedia joined with a diverse coalition of groups to launch theStopTheTrap.net petition in June of this year, wading for the first time into international waters. This online petition allowed citizens to push back against the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, which contains restrictive binding provisions that could criminalize everyday uses of the Internet. Over 100,000 people from around the world have already signed the petition.

To meet this and a growing list of international threats to the open Internet OpenMedia is launching a new social-media infused website that will be a hub used by citizens around the world, and providing theinternational Internet freedom movement with a platform to pressure leaders everywhere.

OpenMedia Executive Director Steve Anderson says: “We can’t put all our energy into stop-gap measures here in Canada and craft a positive vision for our digital economy while our digital rights are eroded abroad by lobbyists and un-elected trade representatives working in almost total secrecy. That's why we are taking a massive step to launch the OpenMedia International beta website.”

An OpenMedia supporter on Facebook said of the new website recently, “citizens across the world are fighting back and with your help [...] you're giving us that chance and the tools to stop this”.

About OpenMedia

OpenMedia is a grassroots organization that safeguards the possibilities of the open and affordable Internet. The group works towards informed and participatory digital policy.

Contact

Lindsey Pinto
Communications Manager, OpenMedia
1-778-238-7710
[email protected]

Background:

• Large petition against TPP’s Internet trap hand-delivered to negotiations in San Diego
  http://openmedia.ca/news/large-petition-against-tpp%E2%80%99s-internet-trap-hand-delivered-negotiations-san-diego
   
• Find OpenMedia's backgrounder on the TPP here.
   
• Public interest groups have obtained the February 2011 draft of the TPP's Intellectual Property Rights Chapter. In it, we can see that the TPP would drastically increase Internet surveillance, increase Big Media's Internet lockdown powers, and criminalize content sharing in general, with a likelihood of harsher penalties.
   
• See the Electronic Frontier Foundation's analysis to learn more about the ways the TPP increases the threat of litigation from Big Media. Under the TPP, Big Media could come after you in court even "without the need for a formal complaint by a private party or right holder".
   
• See infojustics.org's list of the TPP's effects on the intellectual property law in Canada and Mexico for more information on privacy implications