Monday 12:13pm (15th June 2009)
InternetNZ call Guilt Upon Accusation law review a "broken remedy"..Stuff.co.nz reports that InternetNZ have come out against internet disconnection as a form of punishment, "The concerns we have are that it looks like it's a pretty quick process and it looks like they are trying to find a better way to do the termination remedy when feedback from the public and the majority of submissions indicated that it's termination that's the problem." The Creative Freedom Foundation share similar concerns. One of the key issues with s92A was its potential to punish innocent people for the actions of others the s92A review expresses a preference for disconnection, saying that a "guiding principle" of the review is for the "process leading to account termination" to be clear. Fines would be much more appropriate. More inside...
There are many alternatives to disconnection, for example royalties or fines. Fines are more targeted than disconnection - punishing the guilty person, but not innocent people who happen to share the connection, and obviously this should be of concern to anyone with a shared internet connection. For artists, royalties or fines have the potential to include payment for copyright infringement, whereas indirect punishments that harm innocent people will simply reflect badly on artists.
Due to New Zealand's geograpical isolation the internet is a vital tool for connecting to the rest of the world, and is also becoming more pervasive with vital services moving online such as parts of government, health care (records, scheduling) and social interaction tools (newspapers, phone, email, social networks). Disconnection may hinder people's ability to pay bills, operate their business or do their job, access banking, education, insurance, etc. Due to this the internet is already a necessary service like other utilities such as the phone and postal systems. With internet use showing no signs of slowing, in future years disconnection will be seen as a shortsighted and increasingly unfair penalty. Last week France moved against disconnection and joined the majority of the European Union who are against this form of penalty. What will New Zealand do?
As we are once again facing the possibility of internet disconnection as the government's chosen punishment for infringement, the CFF strongly recommend that this inventive penalty be ruled out.
