Govt rejects calls to alter internet law
The new "guilt by accusation" law would result in internet service providers (ISPs) being forced to take on the role of gatekeeper by blocking online access to anyone accused of flouting copyright laws and illegally downloading films and music.
Telecom, Vodafone and TelstraClear have spoken out against the law, joining calls by Internet NZ for the Government to repeal section 92A of the Copyright Act, due to come in on February 28.
The law says ISPs must disconnect internet service to anyone "repeatedly accused" of accessing copyrighted material online.
Communications and Information Technology Minister Steven Joyce acknowledged concerns about the law's implementation, but stopped short of saying it would be reviewed.
"We will keep a close eye on how the new law works in practice. We are prepared to look at further changes if they prove necessary."
Internet NZ executive director Keith Davidson said ISPs would play the role of "judge, jury and executioner", and the law would negate the assumption that users were innocent until proven guilty.
He said he believed an alternative model used in Canada and Japan by which people who believed their copyright was being infringed were put in touch with the alleged perpetrator, would provide a better solution.
"Internet service providers shouldn't step in and become middlemen. We are a democracy ... it goes against having an open and uncapturable internet."
Vodafone spokeswoman Alison Sykora said: "We believe the Government needs to re-examine this as it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to enforce."
TelstraClear spokesman Mathew Bolland called the legislation appalling and said it appeared to have gone through "in the dead of the night" despite the commerce select committee deleting the controversial section last year.
"We won't break the law, but we won't be hammering our customers."
Telecom spokesman Mark Watts said the company did not believe section 92 in its present form was the best solution.
"It should not fall to ISPs to monitor our customers' behaviour or decide whether infringement has occurred."
- © Fairfax NZ News
Sponsored links
Newest First
Oldest First
Congratulations. The architects of this incompetent and ill-conceived law have single-handedly dismantled any vestiges of trust between ISPs and their customers. The ordinary internet user is now a criminal until proven innocent. And our gutless ISPs have stood by and allowed this absurd "Bushian" piece of legislation to happen.
It is a well documented fact that the world's largest torrent site The Pirate Bay actually reports thousands of IP addresses as using the tracker when they are not.
http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-tricks-anti-pirates-with-fake-peers-081020/
If an anti-piracy agency sees a New Zealand IP address using the tracker software it will contact the NZ ISP and send through a notice of copyright infringement. It is questionable how thoroughly these agencies test whether or not IP addresses are actually using the tracker or sharing any files (read: actually breaking the law).
http://torrentfreak.com/ip-harvesting-filesharers-guilty-until-proven-innocent/
http://torrentfreak.com/study-reveals-reckless-anti-piracy-antics-080605/
NZ ISPs will find themselves in a sticky situation if they are forced to disconnect thousands of users who do not even know what a torrent site is.
As per usual New Zealand law is so far behind technology I am ashamed to live here. The law has not taken into account the relative ease with which every person reading this article could be accused of sharing copyrighted files and has forced the power of decision upon the ISPs!
Why is Steven Joyce not listening to the experts and the public? Does he intentionally want to subject law abiding citizens to allegations of theft that have no way of being substantiated?
We can't believe this is happening in a democratic country, we would expect this from Labour, but not our newly elected Government!
Shame! Mr Joyce, your ignorance is your own but your inaction reflects on the National Party and insults the voting public of New Zealand who put you in office to make intelligent decisions .. this is not an intelligent decision!
Is this really going to work? Encrypted Downloads and a private torrent site..An ISP Watching our every download? Is this not a job for the Police? This is likely to increase the cost of Internet as well. Protest anyone?
They will never be able to fully enforce this, Telecom will be "forced" to cut off half its customers.
How do they plan to catch the smart people? If i am downloading 200gb a month on Go-Large, do i get kicked off? just for having a high downloaded amount? Or will they go as far as to intercept packets and sniff around them?
Good luck sniffing encrypted FTP packets telecom.
Best of luck.
Let me get this right ...this law which seems to block freedom in the internet has actually been passed? Where was the media story on it?
Can we accuse the government of downloading music illegally and have their internet connection disconnected?
They should not be watching what we do in the first place. Most of the methods they (record companies etc) use to track us are illegal in the first place.
This law is absurd. How is the ISP supposed to distinguish the ones and zeros belonging to infringing material from the ones and zeros belonging to non-infringing material?
What about copyrighted work which can be distributed freely - such as open source software like Linux? Is the ISP supposed to block that too? How could ISPs carry out their obligations under this law without having to review every copyright and other licence for every file on the internet?
Our lawmakers have forgotten that the original purpose of copyright was to encourage the distribution of works into the public domain for the good of the community. Big media companies have twisted this into nothing more than a money making scam for them (witness the actions of the RIAA in USA). Shame on our government for caving-in to them!
One dead after SH1 crash near Wellington
Christchurch cricket bat murder admitted
Man burnt at Whittaker's chocolate factory
Second Megaupload co-accused bailed
Woman crushed, friend watched 'helplessly'
Kiwis' confidence in police soars
Pike's electrical system had 'design flaws'
Seagull plague riles neighbours
Voting on New Zealand's electoral system
One dead after SH1 crash near Wellington
Driver charged over Allan Hubbard crash
Police find woman's body in Manawatu
Adele's the big winner at Grammys
Proteas expect fiery series against Black Caps
Boxer Richard Tutaki enters guilty plea
Toxic soil fears five years before residents told
Pat Lam still mum on Piri Weepu's Blues role
Qantas grounding 'good for brand'
Seriously ill man found on beach
NZ's best farm land 'already sold off'
Dotcom accused van der Kolk 'flabbergasted'
One dead after SH1 crash near Wellington
Adele's the big winner at Grammys
Body found in Sydney tree identified
Police find woman's body in Manawatu
Woman crushed, friend watched 'helplessly'
Houston died in bathtub - coroner
Tainui leader ousted from board
Second Megaupload co-accused bailed
Top 10 anti-Valentine's Day flicks
'Mondayising' could cost $200m
ANZ, Westpac can bank on their brand
Politicians showing their age, probably none of them know how to use email, let alone know what p2p, torrent or DivX mean. Yet they are making decisions on this issue.