What Do Trade Agreements Do for Open Access—And What Don't They Do? | Electronic Frontier Foundation

“If you can't beat 'em, join 'em” seems to have become the tech industry's attitude towards the current crop of trade agreements, such as the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Their reasoning is just as these agreements can be used by big content to export the most restrictive elements of U.S. copyright law around the world, so too they can be used to export provisions that favor U.S. Internet platforms, such as rules on the free flow of data across borders.

But what about provisions favoring open access? Could trade agreements ensure that U.S. policies on open access, such as the 2013 White House open access memo, are also part of our nation's trade policy?"