Image: Flickr/Stop Fast Track
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Aside from constitutional concerns, leaked drafts of the bill suggest TPP would also prohibit the temporary storage of works in electronic form. Practically speaking, this would mean that YouTube videos, for example, wouldn't play properly, as temporary downloads of video files onto computers allows for faster and smoother viewing. Indeed, temporary files—from cached web pages to files stored on user browsers—are vital to viewing nearly any type of internet content. If enacted, it would be hard to predict exactly what type of legal effect TPP would have on internet users.Other TPP provisions would extend copyright terms from the life of the author plus 50 to 70 years; implement a three-strikes policies requiring ISPs to terminate user internet access without conviction of copyright infringement; and force ISPs to filter any content that could be seen as violating copyright. So much for due process.Laura Harrison from GSM Nation, one of the letter's signatories, believes that the most troubling aspects of TPP are its potentially negative effects on freedom of speech, open internet usage, and technological innovation. "The fast-tracking of this legislation, and the fast-tracking of any legislation in general, limits the ability of citizens and their representatives to debate and revise laws prior to passing them," she said. "This is a fundamental step in the democratic process, and its removal cripples the system of checks and balances that we as a country have worked to establish.""You know that legislation is really, really bad when it's opposed by major tech companies as well as nearly every labor, environmental, and Internet freedom group in the country."
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