VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A group that promotes the freedom of the Internet is warning us that freedom is threatened. OpenMedia.ca is concerned about the Trans Pacific Partnership.

TTP is a trade agreement being negotiated between several countries right now, including China and the US. Open Media is concerned that some common, legal activities will be criminalized, leading to fines and prosecutions against Canadians.

“One major example is if you’re listening to music from an online streaming service, which is basically the equivalent of online radio, and your computer caches a copy of the song, then you could be held liable for making an illegal copy of that song,” says Open Media’s Lindsey Pinto, adding that information created and shared by people on social networking sites could land them in trouble under the terms of this new agreement.

She says the talks have been very secretive and admits, to some extent, they’ve been relying on leaked information. But Canada is joining the table just ahead of the 15th round of negotiations and Pinto says Ottawa has no say in anything that’s been agreed to during the previous 14 rounds.

“We actually don’t know if the intellectual property chapter has been fully agreed to,” notes Pinto. “All of the information we’ve been getting is from leaks and from confirmation of those leaks from the US trade representative.”

“So it’s very difficult to say exactly what Canada is signing onto, it’s completely democratically unaccountable,” she adds.

Pinto is urging people to sign a petition against the TTP.