Pacific trade deal prompts security concerns over ban on source code audits

The recently signed Trans-Pacific Partnership is raising concerns among civil liberty groups and data-security lawyers over provisions that prohibit requiring the transfer or access of source code in consumer and other mass-market products.

The little-noticed provision is in the “electronic commerce” section of the massive TPP deal that largely focuses on tariff reductions for various goods and services. The “source code” provision would prohibit the United States or other TPP member states from requiring that companies to reveal how the...