New Zealand piracy laws in effect starting tomorrow

[nsane.forums]

Tomorrow is the day that the new piracy laws come into effect in New Zealand. What piracy laws, you ask? You may recall a few months back the New Zealand government pushed through controversial anti-piracy laws overnight under "urgency" which was allowed thanks to the Christchurch earthquake situation. This allowed the government to pass a law that would usually have taken months to create and would require public consulatation to be pushed through within 24 hours and without notification of the public.

Not only is there drama surrounding the actual passing of the law, it turns out that the US government coerced the New Zealand government to create the law in the first place, with the country offering to develop and fund the IP law and enforcement. Ars Technica recently revealed that a UN report that is signed by the US, Sweden and New Zealand condemns the "three strikes" law regimes, which states clearly that "All users should have greatest possible access to Internet-based content, applications and services," and goes on to say "cutting off users from access to the Internet is generally not a proportionate sanction."

The UN has criticized the New Zealand government over the laws, saying that the UN "was alarmed by proposals to disconnect users from internet access if they violate intellectual property rights." The government responded by saying "it will not alter its internet copyright legislation, despite UN criticism that such laws are an attack on human rights."

Today, the day before copyright infringements "start counting" towards infringement notices on September 1, many are not clear on how exactly the law will work, and ISP's still do not have systems in place to handle requests from copyright holders. Businesses and institutes are increasingly worried about the effects on them, as the law doesn't accuse the person who downloaded the material but the connection owner. This means if a student downloads a movie at university, whoever signed the contract in the IT department is accountable for their actions. UniTec said that if it was liable for student copyright breaches it might "have no option but to discontinue the provision of internet access to all library users".

According to the New Zealand Herald, Andrew Cornwell, Sony Pictures general manager said that they weren't targetting the worst offenders, but instead "The whole thrust of it is aimed at middle New Zealand who might do the occasional download." The law only covers peer to peer users, which means many are flocking to direct download sites such as Rapidshare and Mediafire for their downloads.

Originally, the law was provisioned to give users two warnings before a third notice with permanent disconnection of their internet services. However, under the revised law users will be charged up to $15,000 for repeat offenses, with the option for courts to revoke the users connection for up to six months. New Zealand Federation Against Copyright Theft (NZFact) will be actively monitoring torrents, collecting information and notifiying copyright holders about infringments so they may take action.

3Strikes NZ says that "notices can be sent for alleged infringements occurring in the 21 days before the notice," which means that "allegations of infringements from 11 August 2011 onwards count under the new law." Organizations need to be aware that their staff can put them at risk if they use software for Peer to Peer activities, and must mitigate the risk by blocking installation of the software or tracking their users.

The best advice on the new law for home users is to use dilligence with your internet connection. Ensure all members of your household are informed, and don't let anyone use your connection without understanding that P2P software puts you at risk.

Update: For further evidence that the New Zealand government is unaware of what they're doing with the law, watch the video below from parliament last week. At one point, the minister of commerce is asked "What is the government doing to encourage legal sharing or downloads?" and he replies "I have no idea what [Netflix] is."

View: Original Article

[myidisbb]

again another example of one big azz mistake america

please do your part and shit can him

[DKT27]

New Zealand 3 Strikes Begins But Pirate Sabotage Is In The Air

Today marks the start of P2P network monitoring for New Zealand's "3 strikes" anti-filesharing legislation. As the government is criticized for not launching their official information resource until next week, a Reddit user claims to be using a government network to share Miley Cyrus movies. As an ISP account holder itself, will the government get hit with the 3 strikes ban-hammer?

For New Zealand-based Internet users, today is the big day. Although the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Act 2011 doesn't come into force until 1st September, infringements can be back-dated for 21 days so pirates on P2P networks are probably being logged right now.

Those who are discovered uploading copyright material are first sent two warnings via their ISP. On receipt of a third, copyright holders can take Internet account holders to the Copyright Tribunal where they will face fines of up to $15,000 and disconnection.

While it may sound straightforward, the steps in the previous paragraph face problems. At best the evidence gathered by rights holders is only accurate enough to identify an ISP account from where an infringement took place, it cannot identify the actual infringer. The New Zealand government have dealt with this eventuality by making account holders responsible for infringements even if they didn't carry them out.

This situation hasn't gone unnoticed by Reddit user "drunkonthepopesblood" who says he has somehow gained access to the Internet via a government-owned connection (he doesn't say how – could be wireless, he could be a government worker) and is now sharing copyright material.

"I'm officially downloading copyrighted material on P2P protocol on Government ISP. Lets see what happens," he announced.

Several hours later his update read: "6:30am no signs of a dawn raid & thoroughly enjoying all of my newly acquired Miley Cyrus movies and soundtracks."

The clear intention here is for the government to receive 3 strikes warning notices from the entertainment companies' P2P monitoring partners so that they are disconnected from the Internet – to give them taste of their own medicine, if you will.

Gareth Hughes, ICT spokesman and MP for the Green Party has been an outspoken critic of the 3 strikes legislation. Even so, it was quite a surprise to see him pop up during the Reddit discussion.

"Wow that was fast, but not surprising," he said in response to the attempt at framing the government for illicit sharing.

"I asked a series of questions [in] Parliament about this yesterday and have written to the Speaker because I don't think he's considered the impact this will have on him – as [the] account holder responsible for all alleged infringements," he added.

"This law could bring the gears of government to a grinding halt because the holder of the account — Parliamentary Services — provides internet access to hundreds of users anyone of whom could cause infringement notices to be sent," he noted in a separate statement Wednesday.

Hughes also levelled criticism at the government when it was revealed that the official website informing the public of the law's implications won't be launched until next Wednesday, one week after the infringement process begins.

"The Government has a responsibility to ensure that public institutions can navigate around the new law and not run the risk of fines or disconnection," said Hughes.

"By not providing information or advice and relying on InternetNZ, Internet Service Providers, and the media, Mr Power has left schools and universities in a legal grey area."

Hughes raised the issue with Commerce Minister Simon Power during a parliamentary session yesterday (video embedded below) but the question was disallowed.

However, perhaps the most disappointing part of the video comes at 4m 28s as Hughes asks Simon Power what the government is doing to encourage legal downloading, such as the uptake of Netflix.

"That is a good question," said Power, laughing into his response.

"Because I have no idea what [Hughes] is referring to…"

View: Original Article

[toyo]

The situation is so ridiculous is laughable sometimes... but when you remember the poor people paying thousands in settlement fees and being dragged in courtrooms sometimes for years it becomes tragic from comic..

[myidisbb]

this comes from the government that requires to be able to access all game scenes to make sure there is nothing that looks like sex or nude body

[Bizarre™]

Greedy people will remain greedy people :bag: