The copyright laws in New Zealand are in danger of drastically changing to a “Guilt Upon Accusation” format. Which means:

Over the past fifteen years Copyright law has seen drastic changes in favour of Copyright holders and against artist reuse through Fair Dealing (known as Fair Use in the United States). In 1995 you could sample 5% of text for educational reasons but by 2000 this was reduced to 3% and now, online, this right can be removed entirely with DRM (Digital Restrictions/Rights Management). In New Zealand you are not allowed to sample for the purpose of parody or satire. If you buy a CD in New Zealand you are allowed to make one single copy to your mp3 player for free but if you buy a DVD you’re not allowed the same right. You are allowed to sample and reproduce portions of text but you’re not allowed to sample audio or video or images (unsurprisingly, this law was made before home computers were popular!).

Stranger still –in the name of protecting artists who are Copyright holders– the latest proposed change to New Zealand Copyright law is based on Guilt Upon Accusation. This would force the termination of internet connections and websites without evidence, without a fair trial, and without punishment for any false accusations of Copyright infringement. As former Minister Judith Tizard stated, they will “cut off anyone who might be breaking the law”. This law, called Section 92, is so far-reaching that accusations can cut off a hospital or school’s internet connection without a trial.

To find out more about New Zealand’s Section 92a and what you can do to help prevent it from happening. Please check out http://creativefreedom.org.nz/ and Join the Internet Blackout Protest. (By the way, Section 92a has just been delayed to March 27th.)