Ouch – even the officials didn’t want Section92
Mark has been doing some great digging on Section92. He’s just found and blogged that the Officials responsible for reviewing the Copyright Bill at the time suggested that section 92 be removed as existing arrangements already provided the tools required.
I’m still convinced that Section 92, and the ACTA negotiations, are part of a larger effort preparing the ground for a Free Trade Agreement with the United States. Copyright and Intellectual Property are one of the biggest exports from the US, and they are trying to expand controls globally to protect their interests. This however comes at the detriment of small creative folk that can’t compete with large multi-national organisations. This is clearly indicated in the structure of the complaint process within the new act that favours large organisations and makes it difficult for small copyright holders to make complaints.
These changes in legislation are non-negotiable, and likely a pre-requisite to start more formal Free Tree negotiations with the United States. This would likely explain why both major parties (Labour and National) have been for this bill all the time. They see it as a pill that has to be swallowed with the intent on snagging a United States FTA at the end of it all.