Businesses In New Zealand Worry That New Copyright Law Will Kill Off Their Open WiFi

from the can't-have-that-now... dept

Wed, Apr 20th 2011 7:44am — Mike Masnick

With New Zealand rushing through their new three strikes copyright law to kick people off the internet based on accusations (not convictions) of online copyright infringement, some businesses are apparently noting that the law makes no distinctions on business and personal accounts, and any business with open WiFi may suddenly become liable for actions of their users. In other words, the many businesses that offer free and open WiFi to attract customers may have to turn it off to avoid losing all internet access.

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Filed Under: copyright, new zealand, open wifi, three strikes, wifi

22 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 20 Apr 2011 @ 7:47am

You'd think that some countrys would figure out to become more leniet towards these things, as it only serves the corporations.

But nope, they only get tighter on their silly rules.
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David Spira (profile), 20 Apr 2011 @ 8:01am

Maybe this is good
While I'm completely opposed to these three-strikes rules, I think some good can come from New Zealand's passage of this law.

The world needs to see the vast and far reaching the consequences. When public wifi dries up, and businesses lose their connections, the failure will be crystal clear. Fingers crossed, I'm hoping that one or two of the lawmakers who voted for the law will have their connection severed.
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FuzzyDuck, 20 Apr 2011 @ 8:02am

Cost to society as a whole
In other words a cost will be imposed on society as a whole - less convenient and more expensive Internet access - in order to "protect" the profits a a few big corporations.
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Planespotter (profile), 20 Apr 2011 @ 8:10am

If it is anything as bad as the UK DEA then it will be further reaching than just the local coffee shop and pub.

The DEA in the UK has the potential to make schools, colleges, universities, libraries and even local government shut down free open access wifi. A point I tried to raise with both my local MP and the Labour government prior to them pushing through the DEA in the last weeks before the election last year. It is only ISPs BT and TalkTalk that stand a chance of having the DEA or parts of it stricken from law now. Good luck NZ, you're gonna need it!
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Apr 2011 @ 8:18am

looks like some answers from USTR on ACTA are out:
http://www.keionline.org/node/1115
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Josef Anvil (profile), 20 Apr 2011 @ 8:22am

DUH !!! And then the spin...
This one is a big fat DUH!!!

I wonder if the RIAA/MPAA/BSA will figure the loss of business due to this type of law into their calculations for damage to the economy due to piracy. As in, the pirates forced us to lobby for these types of laws that further harm the economy, so now the total cost of piracy is more than a Bajillion dollars to the global economy.
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Nom du Clavier (profile), 20 Apr 2011 @ 8:32am

Re: Maybe this is good
*pictures a few people with Guy Fawkes masks sitting in a car outside the lawmaker's grounds, downloading using his connection ... and the settlement letter that comes as a big surprise to him*

Could happen. Won't be me, though, NZ is a bit out of the way, nor am I a member of that particular group.
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Donnicton, 20 Apr 2011 @ 9:02am

Re: Maybe this is good
Or, instead, it'll be like other issues, where the sheer arrogance of a particular person or group will instead cause them to respond with "Well, they simply didn't do it right. WE can do it better, watch!" despite overwhelming evidence in other countries that it doesn't work.
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Mr. Smarta**, 20 Apr 2011 @ 9:13am

Darn right they will!!!
This isn't about piracy or internet access. This is about one thing, and one thing only. America telling other countries they better start falling into line!! American businesses, senators, representatives, and others at the top of the pyramid are sick to death over other countries NOT DOING WHAT WE TELL THEM!!! Well this is the last straw... So listen up.

Every country out there... YOU WILL DO AS AMERICA SAYS AND YOU WILL DO IT NOW!!! I don't care who you think you are or how *you* want to run your country. You can run it how you want as long as it follow's America's agenda. Three strikes laws, copyrights, patents, ALL OF IT! You will follow suit and you are going to like it. PERIOD!! Now quit the crying and the back talk.

America is your daddy, and you will listen to every word we have to say. GOT IT?? GOOD!!!
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Hiiragi Kagami (profile), 20 Apr 2011 @ 9:17am

As teh Fonze would say...
"Aaaayyyy(t thousand deposited)"

Royalties. What a stupid system. If this is the way they want to play the game, then someone owes me my share at having to put forth the work to watch this series, especially as it started to whine down.

Someone owes *me* for having to work to sit through the episode the Fonz jumped the shark.
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Peter Dow (profile), 20 Apr 2011 @ 9:26am

Re: Maybe this is good
If a simple accusation is all it takes, then find the names and get busy accusing everyone who voted for this law, and all the people who lobbied for it, etc. Get them kicked off asap.
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Dave Reed, 20 Apr 2011 @ 9:34am

I laugh!
Senator Smith and Minister Jones can download movies day and night and they will not get cut off. They are INSIDE. We are OUTSIDE. The RIAA and the MPAA for all the arrogance will not bitch-slap a senator.

The Senator (Minister, etc) needs to be able to say, with a straight face, "I have never been kicked off the net for infringement. It's not a problem, just pay for your music and movies!"

You think ISPs and the MPAA don't understand this game? If the Senators, et al, got kicked off for downloads they would change the law.

You don't think the teams in conflict are Creators and Consumers, do you? Heck, we're all on the same team. Creators want to create and get paid for it, Consumers want to consume and support the creators. The conflict is between the powerFUL and the powerLESS. Note: the RIAA, the MPAA and the Senate are ON THE SAME TEAM.

No, I'm not suggesting back room deals or vast conspiracies. They are simply all from the same socio-economic class. The rest of aren't. It really is that simple.
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A Dan (profile), 20 Apr 2011 @ 9:34am

Re:
Digital Economy Act, not Drug Enforcement Agency, just in case anyone else was confused.
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Planespotter (profile), 20 Apr 2011 @ 10:20am

Re: Re:
Thanks for that...
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el_segfaulto (profile), 20 Apr 2011 @ 12:38pm

Re: As teh Fonze would say...
I think you're in the wrong thread, but I find your argument compelling nonetheless.
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Jay (profile), 20 Apr 2011 @ 2:10pm

Probably should point out the law doesn't actually let them shut down your access on three accusations.

I'm no expert in the new law yet but it would still take a conviction in court for them to do that (or at least once they implement the part of the law which lets them kick you off, which they havent yet).

In court an unchallenged accusation is to be assumed to be evidence of guilt - thats the crappy part you're referring to. What's not clear to me is whether to remove that burden of assumed guilt you just have to challenge the accusation or actually disprove it.

My gut feeling is the court will be reluctant to interpret it in a way which overly prejudices the defendants long standing rights to presumption of innocence. But a good law should never be this unclear.
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Rich Cohen, 20 Apr 2011 @ 3:22pm

Corruption and the end of the pure play Republic.
I was planing on moving my company to NZ given their affirmed stance on banning purely Software (idea/process) Patents. This makes me think they're not as independent as they would lead us to believe. There can be no doubt that a conspiracy is being executed in every nation which can possibly have such a law (read not the US, though circumventing the constitution via civil liability is on the table).

If anything, this underscores the flaws in Republics or Representative Democracy. We the people MUST establish a means to veto laws passed through corruption. Buying a few political whores is cheap. The laws they impose on their alleged constitutes is anything but.
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Dave Cortright (profile), 20 Apr 2011 @ 6:17pm

Open access won't matter, will it?
Even if a business has closed wifi, the people with the key could still be accused of violations. Heck, even if no one uses the access point at all, copyright holders can still accuse. The only difference is that arguably you'd have a better defense if your access point was closed.
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Chargone (profile), 20 Apr 2011 @ 8:27pm

Re: Re: Maybe this is good
NZ gets a lot of stupid laws this way.
also a fair number of 'see? it worked in this compleatly different place that is nothing like NZ, so surely it will work here without any modification!' type plans.
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Chargone (profile), 20 Apr 2011 @ 9:05pm

Re:
i'd have to reword it, but if i remember rightly they managed to decouple the three strikes and the 'you get kicked off' bit.

three strikes then it goes to arbritration, or some such, and at least some ISPs plan on being rather obstructionist about this.

however, kicking you off requires a court order, which, as the thing was presented when i read about it, didn't actually involve the rest of the process at all.
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Chargone (profile), 20 Apr 2011 @ 9:16pm

Re: Corruption and the end of the pure play Republic.
represenative democracy, much like the corporation, mostly provides a get out of jail free card when it comes to responcibility for screw ups. at least with a dictator one knows who to shoot to get things changed :S

not that i'm exactly a fan of dictatorships, they're far more prone to going off the rails.... but far easier to fix too. like efficiancy, stability is not inherantly a Good thing... or at least, it has a maximum beyond which it becomes problematic. representative democracy is not at all about the will of the people. it's about preventing revolt and sudden shifts.
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Nom du Clavier (profile), 21 Apr 2011 @ 3:41am

Re: Re: Re: Maybe this is good
The solution to that is to hand them a bajonet fitting lightbulb and an E17 socket and tell them not to leave the room until they see the light.
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