Why Trade Agreements are not Setting Information Free: The Lost History and Reinvigorated Debate over Cross-Border Data Flows, Human Rights, and National Security

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (04) ◽  
pp. 671-700 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUSAN AARONSON
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
The United States ◽  
Free Flow ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Digital Rights ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Data Flows ◽  
Free Flow Of Information ◽  
Flow Of Information

AbstractHerein, we examine how the United States and the European Union use trade agreements to advance the free flow of information and to promote digital rights online. In the 1980s and 1990s, after US policymakers tried to include language governing the free flow of information in trade agreements, other nations feared a threat to their sovereignty and their ability to restrict cross-border data flows in the interest of privacy or national security.In the twenty-first century, again many states have not responded positively to US and EU efforts to facilitate the free flow of information. They worry that the US dominates both the Internet economy and Internet governance in ways that benefit its interests. After the Snowden allegations, many states adopted strategies that restricted rather than enhanced the free flow of information. Without deliberate intent, efforts to set information free through trade liberalization may be making the Internet less free.Finally, the two trade giants are not fully in agreement on Internet freedom, but neither has linked policies to promote the free flow of information with policies to advance digital rights. Moreover, they do not agree as to when restrictions on information are necessary and when they are protectionist.

Taking Care of Business

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Schiller
Keyword(s):  
Task Force ◽  
The United States ◽  
Free Flow ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Computing Services ◽  
Internet Policy ◽  
Global Commerce ◽  
Free Flow Of Information ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Flow Of Information

This chapter examines the Commerce Department's free-flow policy as part of its power over internet policy. It first provides an overview of U.S.–centric internet and Commerce's Internet Policy Task Force, established to launch an inquiry into “the global free flow of information on the Internet.” The inquiry's purpose was “to identify and examine the impact that restrictions on the flow of information over the Internet have on American businesses and global commerce.” The chapter also considers Commerce's commodification strategies based in part on data centers and the place of cloud computing services in the department's free-flow inquiry. It shows that the Commerce Department's free-flow policy was a major component of the federal government's overall efforts to keep corporate data flows streaming without restriction as new profit sites emerged around an extraterritorial internet managed by the United States.

scholarly journals Comparison of E-Commerce Regulations in Chinese and American FTAs: Converging Approaches, Diverging Contents, and Polycentric Directions?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Huang
Keyword(s):  
Free Flow ◽  
Digital Products ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Legal Challenges ◽  
The Us ◽  
Free Flow Of Information ◽  
Flow Of Information ◽  
Domestic Law

Insufficient WTO regulation of cross-border e-commerce confronts China and the US with three legal challenges: ambiguous classification of digital products, inadequate consumer and privacy protection, and weak protection of cross-border flow of information. China and the US have adopted converging approaches to address these challenges: inserting e-commerce chapters into their FTAs. However, the substance of these chapters is diverging. Firstly, US FTAs categorise digital products separately from goods and services and provide national treatment and most favoured nation treatment to products and their suppliers. China’s FTAs still offer no solutions to the classification of digital products and their treatment. Secondly, although China’s FTAs still provide weak protection for consumers and privacy, Chinese domestic law has converged towards US FTAs to provide better protection. Thirdly, US and China FTAs are significantly divergent in their regulation of the free flow of information. In the post-TPP era, a polycentric direction will emerge in the regulation of the free flow of information between China and the US.

scholarly journals end of all taxation and censorship using blockchain technology

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (08) ◽  
pp. 604-610
Author(s):  
Tanmay Munjal
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Free Flow ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
Surveillance Technology ◽  
The Face ◽  
History Of ◽  
Free Flow Of Information ◽  
And Control ◽  
Flow Of Information

Large scale censorship and control over the free flow of information on the internet that was already implemented on a large scale in many authoritarian countries in China in the past few decades has started to work its way through the more liberal and western countries including India, US etc. especially in the last decade raising concerns over privacy issues and the possibility of a dystopian future of tyrannical governments empowered by the use of digital surveillance technology to increase their power and make them essentially undefeatable on a level unforeseen in the history of humanity among many great thinkers in our era. In this paper, we wish to outline a method to not only combat but to completely eliminate both the possibility and current usage of all censorship and control over flow of information on the internet, hence heralding an era of free flow of information throughout the world and destroying practically all mind control that tyrannical governments can hold over their people, in essence ending the era of propaganda and tyranny from the face of this earth forever, using blockchain technology.

scholarly journals The UK and Digital Trade: Which way forward?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Jones ◽  
Beatriz Kira ◽  
Anna Sands ◽  
Danilo B. Garrido Alves
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
Digital Economy ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Data Flows ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Uk

The internet and digital technologies are upending global trade. Industries and supply chains are being transformed, and the movement of data across borders is now central to the operation of the global economy. Provisions in trade agreements address many aspects of the digital economy – from cross-border data flows, to the protection of citizens’ personal data, and the regulation of the internet and new technologies like artificial intelligence and algorithmic decision-making. The UK government has identified digital trade as a priority in its Global Britain strategy and one of the main sources of economic growth to recover from the pandemic. It wants the UK to play a leading role in setting the international standards and regulations that govern the global digital economy. The regulation of digital trade is a fast-evolving and contentious issue, and the US, European Union (EU), and China have adopted different approaches. Now that the UK has left the EU, it will need to navigate across multiple and often conflicting digital realms. The UK needs to decide which policy objectives it will prioritise, how to regulate the digital economy domestically, and how best to achieve its priorities when negotiating international trade agreements. There is an urgent need to develop a robust, evidence-based approach to the UK’s digital trade strategy that takes into account the perspectives of businesses, workers, and citizens, as well as the approaches of other countries in the global economy. This working paper aims to inform UK policy debates by assessing the state of play in digital trade globally. The authors present a detailed analysis of five policy areas that are central to discussions on digital trade for the UK: cross-border data flows and privacy; internet access and content regulation; intellectual property and innovation; e-commerce (including trade facilitation and consumer protection); and taxation (customs duties on e-commerce and digital services taxes). In each of these areas the authors compare and contrast the approaches taken by the US, EU and China, discuss the public policy implications, and examine the choices facing the UK.

scholarly journals The International Trade Regime and the Quest for Free Digital Trade

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 671-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shamel Azmeh ◽  
Christopher Foster ◽  
Jaime Echavarri
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Trade Regime ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Internet Age ◽  
Data Flows ◽  
Previous Decade

Abstract The global economy is experiencing the digitalization of production, exchange, and consumption of goods and services. The internet and cross-border data flows are becoming important channels of trade as more products are traded through the web or integrate features that rely on digital connectivity. Reflecting the autonomy states have to enact such policies, national variations in internet governance have expanded over the previous decade, with states increasingly looking to use internet and data policies for economic and trade objectives. These dynamics are having important implications on the international trade regime through challenging existing trade rules and creating demands for new rules. This has resulted in growing debates in the trade arena around “digital trade,” as a number of states, led by the United States, push for rules as a way to discipline national internet policies and support trade in digital goods and services. This paper examines the political economy of this campaign. We argue that the objectives of this campaign go beyond updating rules to better fit the “Internet age” into achieving further liberalization of trade in goods and services. We highlight the technological contingency of existing international rules and show how technological shifts have been a driver of competitive regime creation and forum shifting contributing to processes of fragmentation of the international trade regime.

scholarly journals The Press, National Security, and Civil Discourse

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 419-451
Author(s):  
Jenna Johnson
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
Free Flow ◽  
Press Freedom ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Shield Law ◽  
The Press ◽  
Reporter's Privilege ◽  
Security Concerns ◽  
Free Flow Of Information ◽  
Flow Of Information

The Constitution expressly provides protection for the freedom of the press. Yet there is one area in which the press is not so free: the freedom to refuse disclosing confidential sources when subpoenaed by the federal government. Currently, there is no federal reporter’s privilege. The Supreme Court has held the First Amendment provides no such protection, and repeated congressional attempts to codify a reporter’s privilege in a federal shield law have failed. Arguments against a shield law include national security concerns and the struggle to precisely define “journalist.” Such concerns were evident in the most recently proposed shield law, the Free Flow of Information Act of 2017. This Comment advocates in favor of passing a federal shield law. Specifically, this Comment analyzes the Free Flow of Information Act of 2017 against the backdrop of a post-9/11 America where “fake news” runs rampant. Though far from perfect, the proposed law was a step toward balancing national security concerns with press freedom. Legislators can and should strike an effective balance between these two tensions by accurately defining terms like “national security” and “properly classified” to prevent government overreach. Finally, this Comment argues that a federal shield law is necessary to combat the recent national security concerns raised by “fake news” and thereby reaffirm media credibility.

scholarly journals Online privacy regulation in a decentralized, unbounded context: Internet Governance and multi-stake-holder initiatives as regulatory mechanisms

Iuris Dictio ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugo Fernando Aguiar Lozano
Keyword(s):  
Online Privacy ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Internet Governance ◽  
Regulatory Structure ◽  
Privacy Regulation ◽  
The Right To Privacy ◽  
Stake Holder ◽  
The Right ◽  
Free Flow Of Information ◽  
Flow Of Information

The present paper analyzes the right to privacy in the context of the Internet. The multi-stake- holder initiatives are an alternative that has already provided a regulatory structure on various aspects of the Internet, be it security, free flow of information or online privacy. Although there are elements that make it not a total solution, this paper analyzes some reasons why online privacy should be regulated by mechanisms of Internet Governance and by entities that do not respond only to governments or only to private firms. In this work, a general look at this alternative is given, without neglecting other approaches that should be applied to the topic of online privacy.

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