The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) contains provisions that would legitimise 'spying' by Internet service providers (ISPs) on their customers, warned a researcher today.
Jay Jay Denis said the provisions are meant to deter copyright infringements on the Internet, but end up giving too much power to ISPs.
Among others, ISPs would be given 'legal incentives' to cooperate with copyright owners to deter copyright infringement.
Upon being alerted to an alleged infringement, the ISPs would be required to remove the supposedly infringing content quickly, or disable access to it, and notify promptly the internet user who uploaded the material.
All these, according to Denis, means that Malaysian ISPs would be required to store data about their users that they wouldn't otherwise have kept.
This is already been done by US companies, he said, which is the only country in the world that has such laws in place, namely the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
“ The information collected by our ISPs are very basic in the sense that if you want to have an account with a particular ISP, you purchase their Internet plan and they would have details like your bank account details if you are paying online, your mailing address, your ID, and your name. Nothing more than that.
“ This (TPPA) is taking it so many steps further,” said the policy researcher with the NGO, Monitoring Sustainability of Globalisation (MSN).
Denis was speaking to reporters together with Klang MP Charles Santiago in Petaling Jaya and then by phone to Malaysiakini when contacted for more clarification.
He warned that such collection of data was open to abuse such as unauthorised access by an ISP's employees or contractors.
In addition, he said there was no right for Internet users to be heard if they were accused of copyright infringement and their postings taken down.
He said an allegation of copyright infringement alone was sufficient for ISPs to take down supposedly infringing content.
While the TPPA allows for a system where Internet users can file counter-notices against the allegation to restore the content, this system is optional and is up to each TPPA country to decide whether to implement or not, he said.
“ So privacy is violated, due process absent. Basically it is putting basic rights down the drain,” he said.
Much wider definition
Because of the overwhelming powers that such provisions give copyright holders and ISPs, Denis said the European Parliament had overwhelmingly voted down similar legislation in July 2012.
Under the TPPA, the term 'ISP' does not solely refer to services that
provide Internet connectivity to its users as the term is usually taken
to mean.
The agreement defines it such to also include Internet search engines, online storage services, e-mail services and web-hosting services among others.
Malaysia is one of 12 countries that were part of the TPPA negotiations along with the US, Canada, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Mexico and Chile.
The Dewan Rakyat is due to debate and vote in late-January next year on whether Malaysia should sign the agreement, just ahead of the Feb 6 date when the agreement is slated to be signed.
The agreement defines it such to also include Internet search engines, online storage services, e-mail services and web-hosting services among others.
Malaysia is one of 12 countries that were part of the TPPA negotiations along with the US, Canada, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Mexico and Chile.
The Dewan Rakyat is due to debate and vote in late-January next year on whether Malaysia should sign the agreement, just ahead of the Feb 6 date when the agreement is slated to be signed.
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