It is a truth universally acknowledged that every ambitious twenty-first century trade agreement is in want of a chapter on electronic commerce. One of the most politically sensitive and technically challenging issues is personal privacy, including cross-border transfer of information by electronic means, use and location of computing facilities, and personal information protection. States are learning to solve the problem of state responsibility for something that does not respect their borders while still allowing twenty-first century commerce to develop. A comparison of the Canada–European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) allows us to see the evolution of the issues thought necessary for an e-commerce chapter, since both include Canada, and to see the differing priorities of the US and the EU, since they are each signatory to one of the agreements, but not of the other. I conclude by seeking generalizations about why we see a mix of aspirational and obligatory provisions in free trade agreements. I suggest that the reasons are that governments are learning how to work with each other in a new domain, and learning about the trade implications of these issues.

中文翻译：

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了解数字贸易：CETA 和 TPP 中的隐私和电子商务

众所周知，每一个雄心勃勃的 21 世纪贸易协定都需要一个关于电子商务的章节。最具政治敏感性和技术挑战性的问题之一是个人隐私，包括通过电子方式跨境传输信息、计算设施的使用和位置以及个人信息保护。各国正在学习解决国家对不尊重其边界的事情的责任问题，同时仍然允许 21 世纪的商业发展。比较加拿大-欧盟全面经济和贸易协定 (CETA) 和跨太平洋伙伴关系协定 (TPP)，我们可以看到电子商务章节认为必要的问题的演变，因为两者都包括加拿大，并看到美国和欧盟的不同优先事项，因为它们都是其中一项协议的签署国，而不是另一项协议的签署国。最后，我试图概括一下为什么我们在自由贸易协定中看到了理想和强制性条款的混合。我认为原因是政府正在学习如何在一个新领域相互合作，并了解这些问题对贸易的影响。