# Is Obama going to hurt digital freedom rights?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-going-to-hurt-digital-freedom-rights/489362>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [March 13, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-going-to-hurt-digital-freedom-rights/489362 "2009-03-13T20:35:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-going-to-hurt-digital-freedom-rights/489362/1 "2009-03-13T20:35:42Z")

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[http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/03/obama-declares.html](http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/03/obama-declares.html)

> [@](#):
>
> President Barack Obama came into office in January promising a new era of openness.
> 
> But now, like Bush before him, Obama is playing the national security card to hide details of the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement being negotiated across the globe.
> 
> The White House this week declared (.pdf) the text of the proposed treaty a “properly classified” national security secret, in rejecting a Freedom of Information Act request by Knowledge Ecology International.

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**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-going-to-hurt-digital-freedom-rights/489362/2 "2009-03-13T20:59:00Z")

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Meh. Treaties under development are generally not released to the public, just like how CSPAN doesn’t televise negotiations between heads of state. Heck, when the Senate debates a treaty, since the beginning of our country those debates have defaulted to being held in secret unless the Senate agrees to lift the injunction of secrecy, which it pretty much always does.

What Obama intends to do about protecting intellectual property, I don’t know, but refusing to release draft documents is a great big nothing.

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**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-going-to-hurt-digital-freedom-rights/489362/3 "2009-03-13T21:56:56Z")

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Ruh roh. This is the first I’ve heard of ACTA, and – since I disagree with the current implementation of IP – I think it (likely) stinks.

But I want to get something straight: is the issue up for discussion ACTA itself or the FOIA denial/national security secret claim?