LawFont.com

Jamie Love on the Huffington Post here.
EFF here.
Howard Knopf here.
Nic Suzor/Electronic Frontiers Australia here.
New Zealand Herald here.
Atlantic here.
The IDG here.
Intellectual Property Watch here.

I would endorse the view expressed in the letter reproduced on the Huffington Post:

The only rationale for keeping the proposed ACTA text from the public is to suppress criticism and critical thinking about the norms that are being proposed. It is Orwellian and an insult to our intelligence to claim that the secrecy of the ACTA text has anything to do with national security concerns, as the term is commonly understood.

A secret process of arbitrary access, conditioned upon signing non-disclosure agreements to block public debate, does not enhance openness and transparency, and does not inspire respect for the norms that will eventually emerge.

We ask that when documents such as proposals for ACTA text are circulated to all governments in the negotiations, and when those documents are shared with dozens of Washington, DC insiders, they also be shared with everyone else.

It’s about time DFAT opened up on this too. With the USTR opening up text to 42 people from various groups, DFAT needs to open up the text: both to expert groups on all sides, and, if they want any credibility at all to the negotiations or their claim to represent the Australian public, to full outside scrutiny. Otherwise they’re allowing a situation where US companies (of various stripes) get all the inside running.