Great news in recent days that the NZ Government may push back the introduction of its 3 strikes legislation following lobbying against changes to the Copyright Act 1984. The law may now come into effect on the 27th March 2009 allowing more time for consultation on a Code of Practice for the disconnection of internet accounts with the Telecommunications Carriers Forum. This follows protests, the delivery of a petition by those advocating against the changes and a plan to change icons on websites hosted in the country to black, to illustrate opposition to the new law - I wrote about these in earlier posts which you can find here and here.
While the delay is only for a few short weeks there remains some optimism that the Government is at least aware of its shortcomings and may be willing to reconsider some aspects of it. Changes being discussed include the introduction of a third party mediator to manage disputes and a counter notice system whereby those that feel they have been falsely accused may respond to a breach notice.
It's interesting to note that any three employees of a large business sharing copyright material may be enough to have the internet connection of the whole organisation terminated. One may well question what would happen to the NZ Government should three government employees share illegal material - could the Government lose its own internet connection? Somehow I doubt it despite the obvious double standards.
Further Reading
Digital Music News, ISP Disconnection Law On Hold In New Zealand... (24 February 2009) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/022309kiwi> at 25 February 2009
Digital Music News, Resnikoff's Parting Shot: The Debate In New Zealand... (24 February 2009) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/022309partingshot> at 25 February 2009
TechDirt, New Zealand Temporarily Backs Down From Controversial Copyright Law (23 February 2009) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090222/2146293855.shtml> at 25 February 2009
ComputerWorld, John Key delays copyright law (23 February 2009) <http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/86D681292534A2CCCC25756600143FD1> at 25 February 2009
ArsTechnica, New Zealand P2P disconnection plan delayed after outcry (23 February 2009) <http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/02/new-zealand-p2p-disconnection-plan-delayed-after-outcry.ars> at 25 February 2009
Slyck, Three Strikes on Hold in New Zealand (24 February 2009) <http://www.slyck.com/story1835_Three_Strikes_on_Hold_in_New_Zealand> at 25 February 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment