Good progress on Copyright legislation

Good progress on Copyright legislation but concerns remain

While changes to the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill are welcome, work remains to be done to ensure that the final form of any regulations made under the proposed legislation are fair, reasonable and workable, TelstraClear Chief Executive Allan Freeth says.

As New Zealand’s second largest ISP TelstraClear has followed the passage of the Copyright Bill closely, and it is pleased that some of its concerns, and the wider industry’s concerns, were recognised and addressed by the commerce select committee yesterday.

“We opposed the original s92a as it was poorly worded and, if it had become effective in its original form, there would have been a real risk that thousands of New Zealanders could have had their internet connections terminated without proof of copyright abuse,” Mr Freeth says.

“We are pleased the committee has recognised the significance of this issue and has recommended that the decision to include termination of internet access as a penalty should rest with the Minister.

“We are also pleased that there is recognition in the legislation of the need for ISPs to be able to recover costs from rights’ holders for implementing the provisions of the bill,” Mr Freeth says.

“However, TelstraClear still has some concerns that this kind of enforcement model remains untested internationally. Attempts to enact similar legislation overseas have often proved controversial and there is little evidence that these regimes have any positive long term impact on the rates of copyright infringement.

“For these reasons TelstraClear urges the Government to be cautious in finalising the regulations for the proposed regime."

Mr Freeth says as a responsible ISP TelstraClear recognises that Internet piracy is a very real issue and remains committed to working with the Government and industry to achieve a fair, reasonable and workable solution to the problem.

ENDS

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