USTR is going to use every shred of leverage they have in these negotiations, and as things stand, that includes Europe's desire to have the proceedings opened up. In other words, they don't really care so much about openness (otherwise they'd have taken a harder line against it), but they will trade it for a better position. I think things should be more open already, but given the current reality, this makes a lot of sense for the USTR.

Are the things that US is asking for good of bad?

Because if they are good, it might be worth the tradeoff.

They're probably (almost certainly) bad. They're representing the RIAA, MPAA, etc. But without openness, who can know?

And how do we know if it's good or bad? The details are unknown.

Well, there is this: http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5425059/ACTA_Agreement_leake...

We know they're bad because they're unknown. If there would be no significant protest, mostly passive buy-in, then there'd be no reason to keep it secret.

All dark rocks hide cock roaches.