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posted by janrinok on Friday July 31 2015, @02:03PM   Printer-friendly
from the downside dept.

The latest Wikileaks drop is about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, and its probable impact on "State Owned Enterprises." (SOE)

The Analysis of Leaked TPPA Paper for Ministers' Guidance on SOEs, by Professor Jane Kelsey, Faculty of Law, University of Auckland, New Zealand, makes specific reference to public broadcasters as SOEs that could be included under the TPP, and subject to a variety of new, yet undefined, restrictions.

That could mean the CBC in Canada, and likely NPR and PBS in the US. In particular, it's possible that the TPP might insist that governments not provide support (such as funding or protections) for these, and other essential public services.

From the report:

It looks like SOEs are not allowed to get government support or non-commercial assistance – such as capital injections, subsidies, grants, cheaper access to finance, government guarantees and access to land, premises or facilities on preferential terms – if that causes "adverse effects" to another TPPA country. That kind of support is often essential for SOEs that provide public functions that are not proftable or are even loss-making.

{snip} ... it suggests that a postal service, public telecommunications provider or state-owned bank that receives financial support from the government to deliver services into poor areas for social reasons could be challenged by a courier firm, satellite operator or internet bank from another country that says the support is adversely affecting it and hence its country's interests.


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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Friday July 31 2015, @03:22PM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday July 31 2015, @03:22PM (#216334) Journal

    Prima facie it does sound like the TPP will deliver the coup de grace for the corporate takeover of Planet Earth. When is the TPP scheduled to be voted on by Congress in the US? Will it be midnight before everyone leaves town for August vacation? Given the way the government has behaved so far, it sounds hardly likely that the public will have any time to consider the final form of the treaty before it goes to vote.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @04:12PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @04:12PM (#216366)

    PS corporations are people

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @04:27PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @04:27PM (#216371)

      PS corporations are people

      Until you can choke the life out of a corporation with your bare hands, it is not a person. Until a corporation can be given the Death Penalty, it is not a person. Until a corporation can be sent to Federal prison for crimes, it is not a person.

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by hemocyanin on Friday July 31 2015, @06:14PM

        by hemocyanin (186) on Friday July 31 2015, @06:14PM (#216442) Journal

        Corps: All the benefits and none of the downsides of being human. Sort of goes hand in hand with privatizing profits and socializing losses.