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[Jezzoc]

In New Zealand the “ Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment act was passed on April 13 2011 and has been law since September 1 2011. This widely unpopular law was passed while our government still had “emergency powers” following the then recent February 22 Christchurch Earthquake that killed 181 people.

The provisions of this bill make it easier for copyright holders to identify and prosecute anyone they suspect of violating copyright. The law generally penalises people who download torrents through P2P software like “Gnutella”, “Bit torrent”, and “uTorrent” but it also extends to people simply file sharing copyrighted content.

But what makes this law highly odious is that “any” person accused of breaching copyright is automatically presumed guilty. The accused has to present evidence that they did not breach copyright while the copyright holder can accuse on mere suspicion. There is no other law in my country that presumes someone guilty until proven innocent.

This law functions under the principle of the “three strikes and you’re out" concept.

Strike 1: you receive a notification letter from you ISP that you have been suspected of downloading “copyrighted content”.

Strike 2: is essentially a threat letter from your ISP advising you to cease downloading copyrighted content or face consequences.

Strike 3: This is the business end of things. Essentially this is the “enforcement” notice. It allows the copyright holder to take you to the Copyright Tribunal. If found guilty you can be fined from NZ$275 up to NZ$15,000 all of this is payable to the copyright owner.

In short this law sucks and the politicians who were vigorously in favour have little idea of how the internet works in a practical sense. This law isn’t as extreme as SOPA or future legislation that may resemble it. It does however threaten New Zealand’s Internet neutrality and sets a bad precedent for equally narrow minded politicians internationally.

I support all efforts by the online community to keep the Internet neutral and free. Basically I like the fun and freedom that Internet neutrality protects.

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[samsummers]

I completely agree with you. In America it looks like there going to pass the CISPA (which is basically SOPA) with all the support its getting.