Tournament: Valley - Mid America Cup | Round: 2 | Opponent: Westlake AK | Judge: Chris Castillo
Harker NA - 1AC
1
Advantage 1 is Whistleblowing
European trade secrets protections for medicine chill whistleblowing – that undermines public health and drug efficacy
HAI et al 14 — (Health Action International and a coalition of other NGOs, HAI works to expand health access in Europe, “EU trade secrets directive threat to health, environment, free speech and worker mobility”, 12-17-14, Available Online at https://corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/attachments/statement_-_eu_trade_secrets_directive_needs_amendments.pdf, accessed 9-8-21, HKR-AM)
AMSTERDAM—We strongly...protection the exception.
Current law places the burden of proof on whistleblowers, which reinforces legal uncertainty – empirics prove a lack of accountability for corporations.
Moody 16 — (Glyn Moody, Contributing Policy Editor at Ars Technica. He has been writing about the Internet, free software, copyright, patents and digital rights for over 20 years., “New EU trade secrets law could jail whistleblowers, block drug trial data access”, Ars Technica, 4-14-16, Available Online at https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/04/new-eu-trade-secrets-law-whistleblowers-journalists-drug-trials/, accessed 8-27-21, HKR-AM)
However, the Pirate...of trade secrets."
This burden structure makes intimidation lawsuits inevitable, further deterring whistleblowing.
CEO 17 — (Corporate Europe Observatory, non-profit research and campaign group whose declared aim is to "expose any effects of corporate lobbying on EU policy making"., “Adapting the EU Directive on Trade Secrets ‘Protection’ into National Law”, February 2017, Available Online at https://corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/attachments/trade_secrets_protection_directive_-_a_transposition_briefing.pdf, accessed 9-9-21, HKR-AM)
Indeed, whistleblowers denounce...or even absent.
Effective protections for European medical whistleblowers are crucial to strengthening public health and prevent pandemics – COVID was the test run
Dreyfus and Galizzi 20 — (Suelette Dreyfus, PhD, Researcher at the University of Melbourne, and Bruno Galizzi, part of the Blueprint for Free Speech Spain, “Protect whistleblowers, protect everyone's health”, 5-19-20, Blueprint for Free Speech, Available Online at https://www.blueprintforfreespeech.net/en/news/protect-whistleblowers-protect-everyones-health, accessed 9-8-21, HKR-AM)
The worldwide spread...and human rights.
New diseases cause extinction – uniquely probable due to environmental changes.
Mooney 21 — (Tom Mooney, Senior Communications and Advocacy Manager for the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, “Preparing for the next “Disease X””, CEPI, 2-1-21, Available Online at https://cepi.net/news_cepi/preparing-for-the-next-disease-x/, accessed 9-10-21, HKR-AM)
Disease X represents...epidemics and pandemics.
2
Advantage 2 is Uniformity
EU trade secret regulations are fragmented – lack of clear standards on protection across countries undermine businesses. Uniform trade secret legislation is key – single state exceptions doom growth.
Junge 16 — (Fabian Junge, Law @ Maastricht University, “THE NECESSITY OF EUROPEAN HARMONIZATION IN THE AREA OF TRADE SECRETS”, MAASTRICHT EUROPEAN PRIVATE LAW INSTITUTE WORKING PAPER No. 2016/04, Available Online at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2839693, accessed 9-8-21, HKR-AM)
The EU and...effective enforcement mechanism.97
European consistency in trade secret whistleblowing laws is key – current legal vagueness create uncertainty for whistleblowers and businesses
Junge 16 — (Fabian Junge, Law @ Maastricht University, “THE NECESSITY OF EUROPEAN HARMONIZATION IN THE AREA OF TRADE SECRETS”, MAASTRICHT EUROPEAN PRIVATE LAW INSTITUTE WORKING PAPER No. 2016/04, Available Online at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2839693, accessed 8-27-21, HKR-AM)
Art. 5 (b) in conjunction...Trade Secrets Directive.
The status quo’s minimum harmonization approach is unsustainable – only the plan’s universal and maximal mandate solves
Junge 16 — (Fabian Junge, Law @ Maastricht University, “THE NECESSITY OF EUROPEAN HARMONIZATION IN THE AREA OF TRADE SECRETS”, MAASTRICHT EUROPEAN PRIVATE LAW INSTITUTE WORKING PAPER No. 2016/04, Available Online at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2839693, accessed 9-8-21, HKR-AM)
Notwithstanding the fact...been politically unenforceable.
Independently, whistleblowing protections are key to preserving market dynamics and increasing investment.
Abazi 16 — (Vigjilenca Abazi, Assistant Professor @ Maastricht University, “Trade Secrets and Whistleblower Protection in the European Union”, European Papers, Vol. 1, 2016, No 3, European Forum, Insight of 3 September 2016, pp. 1061-1072, Available Online at https://www.europeanpapers.eu/en/europeanforum/trade-secrets-and-whistleblower-protection-in-the-eu, accessed 9-9-21, HKR-AM)
Whistleblowing is a...in the EU.
European economic decline causes multiple scenarios for global war
Wright 12 Thomas Wright, fellow with the Managing Global Order at the Brookings Institution. What if Europe Fails? 2012. http://csis.org/files/publication/twq12SummerWright.pdf
Yet, verbal warnings...taken earlier on.
Solvency
Plan Text: The member states of the European Union ought to reduce trade secret protections for medicines by requiring that plaintiffs prove that the acquisition, use, and disclosure of the trade secret did not pertain to revealing misconduct, wrongdoing, or illegal activity, or to protecting the general public interest.
The plan shifts the burden of proof from whistleblowers to companies.
Abazi 16 — (Vigjilenca Abazi, Assistant Professor @ Maastricht University, “Trade Secrets and Whistleblower Protection in the European Union”, European Papers, Vol. 1, 2016, No 3, European Forum, Insight of 3 September 2016, pp. 1061-1072, Available Online at https://www.europeanpapers.eu/en/europeanforum/trade-secrets-and-whistleblower-protection-in-the-eu, accessed 9-9-21, HKR-AM)
The most disconcerting...EU Member States.
That expands the whistleblowing exception to trade secret protections by restricting employer discretion, which reduces the extent of trade secret protections.
Vandekerckhove 21 — (Wim Vandekerckhove, Professor of Business Ethics @ University of Greenwich and co-Director of the Centre for Research in Employment and Work, Phd in Applied Ethics from Ghent University, “Is It Freedom? The Coming About of the EU Directive on Whistleblower Protection”, Journal of Business Ethics (2021), Available Online at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-021-04771-x, accessed 9-10-21, HKR-AM)
It is clear...EU Member States.’
Framework
I value morality, the standard is consistency with utilitarianism.
- only it can explain degrees of wrongness- it is worse to kill thousands than to lie to a friend- either ethical theories cannot explain comparative badness, or it collapses
2. existential threats outweigh-
A. Moral uncertainty and future generations
Pummer 15 — (Theron Pummer, Junior Research Fellow in Philosophy at St. Anne's College, University of Oxford, “Moral Agreement on Saving the World“, Practical Ethics University of Oxford, 5-18-2015, Available Online at http://blog.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/2015/05/moral-agreement-on-saving-the-world/, accessed 7-2-2018, HKR-AM) we do not endorse ableist language=
There appears to...acting very wrongly.” (From chapter 36 of On What Matters)
B. prereq to their offense- it forecloses all future value and causes massive structural violence
3. only consequentialism treats agents equally since it values their well-being the same- public officials have special obligations by virtue of their role to benefit its people in an equal manner
4. Actor specificity— this comes first since different agents have different ethical standings.
A. Governments must aggregate since every policy benefits some and harms others, which also means side constraints freeze action.
B. States lack wills or intentions since policies are collective actions.
C. No act-omission distinction—governments must vote on bills, so inaction is an explicit act taken.
D. No intent-foresight distinction—if you can foresee something, it is within your intent when you act.
5 - Reductionism implies util specifically – alternative theories break down
MacAskill and Wilbin 18 – (Will MacAskill, Associate Professor in Philosophy at Oxford University, author of Doing Good Better, and one of the co-founders of the effective altruism community, interviewed by Robert Wilbin, studied both genetics and economics at the Australian National University (ANU), graduating top of his class and being named Young Alumnus of the Year in 2015. He worked as a research economist in various Australian Government agencies, and then moved to the UK to work at the Centre for Effective Altruism, first as Research Director, then Executive Director, then Research Director for 80,000 Hours, “Our descendants will probably see us as moral monsters. What should we do about that?”, 80,000 Hours, 1-19-18, Available Online at https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/will-macaskill-moral-philosophy/#top, accessed 8-26-18, HKR-AM)
Imagine that you’re...to begin with.