Section92 Letter to Steven Joyce
To the Honourable Steven Joyce
Minister of Communications and Information Technology
s.joyce@ministers.govt.nz
Re: Copyright Act Section 92
If the current version of Section 92 of the Copyright Act goes live on February 28, I believe that this is going to have significant consequences for the Communications and Information Technology sector in New Zealand.
1. As a small business IT manager, this legislation is going to incur significant compliance costs as it will means trips to two of our three offices to modify firewall rules. This is a risk management approach to tighten the use of the Internet in our business to reduce the risk of being accused of copyright infringement. As our business mainly works for government agencies, this means the costs of complying with this legislation will be passed onto Government in our case. For other businesses they will pass it on to their customers. Also, I don’t believe there is technology that I as a small business IT manager can install that will scan the copyright status of every bit that goes over our office Internet connections, making it very difficult for me to police and monitor our employees.
2. As a photographer that uses the Internet to sell microstock photography overseas to generate some income (and effectively makes me an exporter), this law appears to give little to me in terms of protection against copyright infringement of my works. Rather the law and the draft TCF code appears specifically designed for large multi-national copyright holders rather than the small businesses and individuals that make up the majority of New Zealand business. This is inappropriate for New Zealand, and the law and regulations should be crafted to provide maximum protection to small New Zealand business – not large multi-nationals.
3. The nature of modern information technology – particularly on the Internet – is a lot about ‘mashing up’ content and ideas. This is where data and content from multiple sources are combined to present new and interesting views and manipulative tools. This law will ensure that there is less of this likely to occur, as individuals like myself will be unlikely to risk mashing up data – lest we accidently utilise a data source that was not clearly indicated as copyright.
I urge you to defer the February 28 introduction until such time as far wider and more robust consultation can be undertaken to develop a fair copyright law that is designed for the people and businesses like myself, and not for overseas corporations.
I am disappointed to see that National is supporting this anti-New Zealand business legislation that does nothing to protect individual copyright holders like myself, and is designed entirely for multi-national copyright holders.
Perhaps the one positive consequence this will have for your portfolio if the current law remains in place, is that New Zealanders will give up on the Internet, and you’ll no longer be faced with the challenge of having to get our broadband up to speed as New Zealanders will cut back significantly on their use of the Internet. I know I will, and that will have financial implications for ISPs and many New Zealand businesses that rely on the Internet.
Yours sincerely,
Gavin Treadgold