One of the biggest negotiations in tech has been happening almost entirely behind the scenes. Organized as a side letter to the World Trade Organization, the Joint Statement Initiative (JSI) on E-commerce has been developing quietly for more than six years, picking up particular momentum in the last six months. The goal is to codify a new set of rules for international online trade between the United States and 88 other countries throughout Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.

Daniel Rangel is following the negotiations for Rethink Trade, an advocacy group skeptical of corporate influence over international agreements. He told me the agreements had become a kind of back door to affect privacy rules globally. “Basically it would give tech companies an avenue to push the U.S. government to challenge those legal regimes if a country decides to enforce it,” Rangel said.

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