Two high-tech watchdog groups that filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in 2008 against the U.S. government over a perceived lack of transparency in Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement negotiations have reluctantly dropped their complaint. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge said Wednesday that the Obama administration's decision to support Bush-era concealment policies prompted the move. Federal judges have very little discretion to overrule Executive Branch decisions to classify information on national security grounds and government lawyers recently informed the court that they intend to defend the classification claims on those grounds, officials said.
Negotiating texts and background documents for the trade deal have been made available to representatives of major media copyright owners and pharmaceutical companies yet private citizens have had to rely on unofficial leaks for substantive information about the treaty, EFF International Policy Director Gwen Hinze said in a press release. "This can hardly be described as transparent or balanced policy-making," she said. U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk on Friday announced that representatives from the United States, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Mexico and other countries will meet in Morocco next month to resume ACTA discussions with an eye for completion in 2010.
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