Last October, New Zealand adopted a ‘3 Strikes’ law for pirates, meaning alleged pirates are given two warnings before having their Internet shut off.
The bill, reads as follows:
Internet service provider must have policy for terminating accounts of repeat infringers
(1) An Internet service provider must adopt and reasonably implement a policy that provides for termination, in appropriate circumstances, of the account with that Internet service provider of a repeat infringer.
(2) In subsection (1), repeat infringer means a person who repeatedly infringes the copyright in a work by using 1 or more of the Internet services of the Internet service provider to do a restricted act without the consent of the copyright owner.
This week however, the New Zealand parliament has agreed to “reconsider” the bill before it goes into effect at the end of the month.
Adds Danny O’Brien, the international outreach coordinator at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF): “One of the things about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is that it’s got these rather strong enforcement mechanisms, but U.S. copyright actually has quite a lot of room for maneuvering for normal users. In the U.S., it was assumed that repeat infringers would be people who are tried in the court of law. And in New Zealand, though similar language was transposed, that was not the way it was read. The outcry has been so great that the New Zealand government has said, ‘Look, we’re not going to enforce this, so we’re going to go back and rewrite the law.’”
Result for: 3 strikes
The popular indie band MGMT has accused French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his party of using one of their songs without proper compensation and has threatened to sue the President if the situation is not rectified.
Sarkozy’s party, the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP) confirmed that they paid a €53 fee to France’s music licensing body, but lawyers for the band say the compensation is not enough to cover the amount of times the song has been used, especially on the Web.
The party also admitted to using the track, “Kids” during the national congress speech in January as well as in two online videos and in a few political ads. The politicians offered to give the band €1 for copyright infringement.
Band lawyer Isabelle Wekstein has declined the offer and called it ‘insulting.’
“This offer is disrespectful of the rights of artists and authors. It is insulting,” said Wekstein. “We are dealing with acts of counterfeiting, an infringement of intellectual property.”
Noting the irony of the party’s actions, Wekstein added: “It seems that those who led the charge against Internet users are not the most respectful of copyright.”
The UMP has been pushing hard for a ‘three strikes law’ that would banish pirates from the Internet after two ignored warnings. French legislators are currently readying the 3 strikes legislation for final vote.
Result for: 3 strikes
Originally scheduled to be enforced starting on February 28, New Zealand’s controversial 3 strikes law for disconnecting accused P2P pirates has been suspended until March 27. Meanwhile Prime Minister John Key still backs the plan, even going so far as to make up reasons for its existence.
You have to wonder if Key is aware that people are able to get news from outside the country. He seems to be characterizing the idea of disconnecting people from the internet at the whim of record labels as an international standard.
“One of the challenges is that internationally, the equivalent of Section 92A is emerging around the world,” said Key. “Australia has a version, the UK has a version.”
It’s true UK officials were considering a similar plan, but they announced just last month it would have too many legal problems to be viable. And while discussion started in Australia more than a year ago, nothing substantive has come of it yet.
