2009-03-12 Obama Administration Declares Proposed IP Treaty a National Security Secret

2009-03-12 David Kravets Wired \Obama-Biden administration\national security\intellectual property\transparency\Freedom of Information Act\secrecy\Barack Obama/criticism http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/03/obama-declares.html Obama Administration Declares Proposed IP Treaty a 'National Security' Secret Obama Administration Declares Proposed IP Treaty a National Security Secret  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.

"Please be advised the documents you seek are being withheld in full," wrote Carmen Suro-Bredie, chief FOIA officer in the White House's Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

The national security claim is stunning, given that the treaty negotiations have included the 27 member states of the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Switzerland and New Zealand, all of whom presumably have access to the "classified" information.

In early January, the Bush administration made the same claim in rejecting (.pdf) a similar FOIA request by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

If it were Bush doing this, it would be barely a drop in the bucket compared to all the other scary stuff he did. The fact that Obama is doing this is... highly alarming. What in the world about an intellectual property treaty can be so scary that it threatens national security if divulged?

At the very least, the administration should be required to explain the general nature of the threat before invoking national security.

Commentary:
 * 2009-03-14 George Washington's Blog

&ldquo;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.&rdquo;   