Thanks to Declan McCullagh for bringing to our attention the provision in CAFTA forcing our trading partners to abide by US copyright laws. This provision, surprise, was added at the behest of large, politically powerful, corporations. CAFTA obligates participating countries to criminalize the circumvention of “copyright-protection technology”. CAFTA also requires participating nations to: • Permit software patents. • Extend copyright protection to “70 years after the author’s death.” • Ban the “manufacture” or “export” of any hardware or software that could decode encrypted satellite TV signals. Remind me again, what exactly does CAFTA have to do with free trade?