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March 2009 news stories on the denial of access to ACTA documents under FOIA on national security grounds

The following are some of the stories on the denial of the ACTA FOIA request on national security grounds.

March 12, 2009
https://www.keionline.org/blogs/2009/03/12/acta-state-secret/ [1]
Obama Administration Rules Texts of New IPR Agreement are State Secrets
Huffington Post, James Love, March 12, 2009.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10195547-38.html [2]
Copyright treaty is classified for ‘national security’
CNET News – Mar 12, 2009, by Declan McCullagh

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/03/obama-declares.html [3]
Obama Administration Declares Proposed IP Treaty a ‘National Security’ Secret
Wired, By David Kravets, March 12, 2009

http://onthecommons.org/content.php?id=2408
Et tu, Obama? Open Government Suffers Another Blow
Secret intellectual property treaty could profoundly change life on the Internet
On the Commons, by David Bollier, March 12, 2009

March 13, 2009
http://government.zdnet.com/?p=4460 [4]
Obama continues Bush’s secrecy policy on mysterious IP trade deal
ZDNet – ?Richard Koman, March 13, 2009

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090313/1456154113.shtml [5]
Obama Administration Claims Copyright Treaty Involves State Secrets?!?
from the openness,-transparency dept
Techdirt, by Mike Masnick, March 13, 2009

http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2009/03/13/white-house:-copyright-treaty-details-are-%2526quot%3Bnational-security%2526quot%3B [6]
White House: Copyright Treaty Details are “National Security”
Digital Media Wire, by Mark Hefflinger on March 13, 2009

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/03/were-not-releasing-acta-docs-says-us-again.ars
Obama administration won’t release secret ACTA docs either
Despite a change in administration, the US has once again refused to release any documents about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement it is currently negotiating.
Ars Technica, By Nate Anderson, March 13, 2009

http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/03/13/235268/obama-makes-copyright-treaty-a-national-secret.htm [7]
Obama makes copyright treaty a national secret
Computerweekly, by Ian Grant, 13 Mar 2009

http://www.thestandard.com/news/2009/03/13/obama-administration-says-treaty-text-state-secret
Obama administration says treaty text is state secret
The Standard, by Grant Gross, IDG News Service, March 13, 2009.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/161234/obama_administration_says_treaty_text_is_state_secret.html [8]
Obama Administration Says Treaty Text Is State Secret
PCWorld, Grant Gross, IDG News Service, Mar 13, 2009

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/13/1446206 [9]
FOIA Request For Pending Copyright Treaty Denied

Slashdot.Org, KDawson, March 13, 2009

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/03/13/obama-administraion.html [10]
Obama administration: releasing details of secret copyright treaty endangers “national security”
BoingBoing, Cory Doctorow, March 13, 2009

http://futurezone.orf.at/stories/1503285/ [11]
Auch die neue US-Regierung unter Barack Obama hält sich über den Inhalt des Anti-Piraterie-Pakts Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) bedeckt.
Futurezone.orf.at, March 13, 2009.

http://www.heise.de/newsticker/US-Regierung-haelt-Informationen-ueber-geplantes-Anti-Piraterie-Abkommen-weiter-unter-Verschluss–/meldung/134554
US-Regierung hält Informationen über geplantes Anti-Piraterie-Abkommen weiter unter Verschluss
Heise Online, March 13, 2009

http://www.gulli.com/news/usa-acta-bleibt-weiter-unter-2009-03-13/
ACTA bleibt weiter unter Verschluss
Mit Verweis auf die “nationale Sicherheit” gewährt auch die Regierung von Barack Obama keinen Einblick in die Planungen zum ACTA-Abkommen.

Gulli News, March 13, 2009.

http://www.intern.de/news/neue–meldungen/–200903135293.html [12]
Auch unter Obama wird gemauert
Intern, March 13, 2009

http://republicofdogs.net/?p=4351 [13]
Meet the new boss…
Republic of Dogs, by Kevin W. Baker on March 13, 2009

in Digital Douchebaggery, Mechanical Man and Police State

http://www.betanews.com/article/ACTA-shielded-from-sunlight-as-court-rejects-FOIA-claim/1237000169 [14]
ACTA shielded from sunlight as court rejects FOIA claim
Beta News, by Angela Gunn, March 13, 2009

http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/3749/196/ [15]
U.S. Government Says ACTA a National Security Secret
Michael Geist Blog, March 13, 2009.

https://www.keionline.org/blogs/2009/03/13/who-are-cleared-advisors/ [16]

Who are the cleared advisors that have access to secret ACTA documents?
Knowledge Ecology Notes, By James Love, on March 13th, 2009

March 14, 2009
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/03/14/partial-list-of-corp.html [17]
Partial list of corporate lickspittles who are allowed to know what’s in the secret copyright treaty the Obama administration claims is a matter of “national security”
BoingBoing, by Cory Doctorow, March 14, 2009

http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/84m4w/remember_that_acta_treaty_obama_said_was_too/

Remember that ACTA treaty Obama said was too confidential to release to the public as a matter of national security? Obviously it’s not too confidential for a bunch of Washington lobbyists [list] (keionline.org)
Reddit, by ElGaucho56, March 14, 2009.

http://blog.wired.com/sterling/2009/03/these-guys-saw.html [18]
These guys saw what the Internet did to the intellectual property in newspapers and music
Wired, By Bruce Sterling, March 14, 2009

http://www.bitsbook.com/2009/03/say-it-aint-so-barack/ [19]
Blown to Bits, Say It Ain’t So, Barack, by Harry Lewis, March 14th, 2009

March 16, 2009
http://punto-informatico.it/2576365/PI/News/acta-segreto-proteggere-usa.aspx
ACTA è segreto per proteggere gli USA
Punto Informatico, Gaia Bottà, lunedì 16 marzo 2009

http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/03/16/report-video-game-biz-lobbyist-cleared-secret-ip-treaty-info
Report: Video Game Biz Lobbyist Cleared for Secret IP Treaty Info
Game Politics, March 16, 2009

http://www.numerama.com/magazine/12325-La-protection-de-la-propriete-intellectuelle-est-elle-Secret-Defense.html [20]

La protection de la propriété intellectuelle est-elle Secret Défense ? – posté dans Société 2.0
Numerama, Guillaume Champeau – publié le Lundi 16 Mars 2009

March 17, 2009
http://blog.cdt.org/2009/03/17/ustr-misses-the-transparency-memo/ [21]
USTR Misses the Transparency Memo
PolicyBeta, by Heather West, March 17th, 2009

http://techdirt.com/articles/20090317/0144084145.shtml [22]
Since When Did We Give Lobbyists From The Tech, Entertainment And Pharma Industries Security Clearance? from the the-RIAA-gets-national-security-clearance? dept
Techdirt, by Mike Masnick, March 17, 2009

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2238597/copyright-national-security [23]
Copyright is a national security issue, says US. Unless you’re a lobbyist, it seems
Vnunet.com, Iain Thomson in San Francisco, 17 Mar 2009

http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2009/03/16/white-house-declares-copyright-treaty-state-secret [24]

White House Declares Copyright Treaty State Secret
Pro Web News, By Jason Lee Miller, March 17, 2009.

March 18, 2009
http://ictsd.net/i/news/bridgesweekly/43452/ [25]
Obama Administration Denies Request to Release ACTA Docs
Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest, Volume 13, Number 10, 18 March 2009


Debate in other countries

See also: European Parliament debate on transparency of ACTA documents [26], and the debate in Canada [27].


Older stories
There are many other news reports and blogs about ACTA secrecy, going back to 2007. I’ll add more later. Here are a few:

http://fringethoughts.wordpress.com/2008/04/06/verbal-sparring-over-acta-ustr-secrecy-at-fordham-ip-law-and-policy-conference/ [28]
Verbal sparring over ACTA, USTR secrecy at Fordham IP Law and Policy Conference

Aaron Shaw’s weblog, April 6, 2008.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love/the-counterfeit-treaty_b_104831.html
The Counterfeit Treaty
Huffington Post, James Love, June 3, 2008

http://www.essentialaction.org/access/index.php?/archives/173-Secret-Counterfeiting-Treaty-Public-Must-be-Made-Public,-Global-Organizations-Say.html [29]
Secret Counterfeiting Treaty Public Must be Made Public, Global Organizations Say
Essential Action, September 15, 2008

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/02/dazed-and-confused [30]
Dazed and Confused: Do New Obama Policies Affect Bush Era Cases?
EFF Deep Links, by Marcia Hofmann, February 17th, 2009


This is not complete, and I am happy to add links that people suggest.

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