New Zealand ISP Boss Denounces Bad Copyright Law

from the good-for-them dept

While US ISPs apparently decided to capitulate to Hollywood (while the US government held a gun to their heads), at least some ISPs are speaking up about the ridiculousness of making ISPs copyright cops. The head of New Zealand's TelstraClear has denounced New Zealand's ridiculous new three strikes law.
“TelstraClear respects copyright and supports the ability of rights owners to realise value from their intellectual property. But a business model that has to be propped up by specific legislation in this way is flawed and needs to change,” Freeth said.

The new law will not help copyright owners defend their rights, he added. “It may encourage parents to take more notice of what their kids are doing online, and that’s a good thing. But it won’t stop those who really want content from getting it.”
Furthermore, he points out -- as we have over and over again -- that the way to deal with infringement is to actually compete and provide customers with what they want:
Freeth says that a 2009 TelstraClear survey showed that customers who download copyright content were not only “tired of paying too much, and waiting too long”, but viewed physical distribution models as outdated and out-of-touch.

“These are the opinions of the ‘now’ generation, and the growing population that has never experienced the world without a TV, the internet, and the freedom this offers,” he says.

“New Zealand’s distance from the source of much content has been conquered by online access, but simply making it available online while retaining old price structures and wait times doesn’t work.”
Separately, the study showed that there are ways to "compete" with unauthorized access, such as by "building a stronger direct connection between the artist and end-user to reduce the old-world overheads and online purchase price." Gee, where have we heard that before?
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Filed Under: copyright, new zealand, three strikes
Companies: telstraclear


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  1. identicon
    Crix J Waters, 22 Aug 2011 @ 3:09pm

    Ah, The Greeks Have It

    With all New Zealand has to offer: perfect landscapes for cheesy movies about Greeks, Hobbits, Evil Wizards, and what not. Its really mind blowing to read somebody there talking sense when a lot of their GDP comes from Hollywood...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Aug 2011 @ 4:02pm

    " it won’t stop those who really want content from getting it."

    Replace "content" with "stuff from your house" or "cash from the bank" and you have explained almost every crime there is. Criminals who really want something will obtain it regardless of the costs or the risk involved. Most everyone else respects the door locks, the security cameras, and the law.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Frank, 22 Aug 2011 @ 4:15pm

    Its really mind blowing to read somebody there talking sense when a lot of their GDP comes from Hollywood...

    ---

    No, no it doesnt.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Aleron, 22 Aug 2011 @ 4:15pm

    Copyright police will lead to the death of culture

    He is exactly right to say that forcing an outdated model onto a new distribution environment and asking for the same money, ie a huge increase in actual profit per item is cynical, greedy and alienates the users from the producers.

    The only result is continued abuse of intellectual property by the very consumers it is meant to engage. A farce promoted by out of touch producers and money hungry lawyers. There is a enough for everyone but the producers must change and adapt to attract a new market.

    Copyright police will lead to the death of free creative expression and therefore its value to modern culture. The netflix model of VOD for a very cheap price of $8 per month is actually the only sustainable model to both make a profit, retain DRM and engage consumers. Wake up greedy media moguls of the last century your time is up! change or become irrelevant.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    Trails (profile), 22 Aug 2011 @ 4:20pm

    Re:

    And if you replace "content" with "electrons from the sun" then the sun becomes positively charged, and flings itself apart in a gigantic blast of positively charged scorching gas, killing everything on earth.

    Nice going, freetards...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Aug 2011 @ 4:33pm

    New Zealand is near Australia which reminds me of Darryl and his rants he should be careful people get sacked over there for ranting online LoL

    http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-08-australian-facebook-rant.html

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Aug 2011 @ 4:42pm

    Re:

    Copyright infringement does not equate to theft. This has been addressed and debunked. It sounds to me like you're in need of the latest revision of "Trolling: Building your own Strawman; An Easy How-To Guide for the Outdated and Uninformed"

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Aug 2011 @ 5:27pm

    Re:

    I steal everyday, I watch TV and listen to radio for free and gasp I even record the damn thing :)

    But fortunately I'm not alone there are only 7 billion other people doing the same thing I'm doing.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. icon
    Jay (profile), 22 Aug 2011 @ 6:01pm

    Re: Copyright police will lead to the death of culture

    "Copyright police will lead to the death of free creative expression and therefore its value to modern culture."

    I agree with your sentiment, but I don't agree with this. Yes, there will be a lot of businesses taken down. But death of culture seems extreme. I believe that newer methods will continue to replace and usurp those that depend on law and litigation for their profits.

    This is the lesson of Thomas Edison's patents on film.
    The same lesson is learned through James Watt's steam engine.

    Those that depend on regulatory capture for easier methods of making money can't sustain themselves for the long term. Culture will continue to be produced, it just won't be through the ones using enforcement.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    IronM@sk, 22 Aug 2011 @ 6:36pm

    Re: Ah, The Greeks Have It

    [citation needed]

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Aug 2011 @ 9:48pm

    Re: Re:

    dumbass, you aren't stealing - you are paying for it with your attention. I can't imagine anyone being so stupid as to think they aren't paying for it.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. icon
    G Thompson (profile), 23 Aug 2011 @ 12:20am

    Re: Ah, The Greeks Have It

    If you really believe Movies (Hollywood) are New Zealand's main source of foreign investment and/or revenue I have a nice little island off the coast of Australia to sell you..

    It is not that populated, very scenic and Hollywood thinks they own the rights to the Devil's name that lives there.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. icon
    G Thompson (profile), 23 Aug 2011 @ 12:29am

    Re:

    Will all respect to Darryl, his rants are not aggressive, highly threatening, or very vitriolic.

    Instead they are just swirling masses of random illogical thoughts that make any normal persons major intestines, in a desperate bid to save their owner from the drivel (that could be contagious.. you never know), try to jump up and throttle their owners brain.

    [hattip to HHGTTG & Vogon poetry]

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. icon
    CJ (profile), 23 Aug 2011 @ 12:35am

    Ok the problem is...

    You are promised a nice product, and when you get it the thing is junk. Too many today want you to spend a fortune for APPS, etc and it turns out it may have bugs, crashes, has crappy features, or doesn't do everything it claims it can. Sometimes you end up with a APP that has more than one problem. Then you are stuck with something that you spent fifty bucks on, and most the time you can't get your money back.

    I have come across several Apps that never should of been released to the public in the first place. Chances are you also get the sham when you ask for help with the product, or they don't even reply to your request for help. I am pretty good on the computer too. I don't mind using the command line on a Windows box or a Linux box.

    Now add to this crap that if you bought a CD/DVD of their product most stores don't want the CD/DVD back, and if you insist they take the CD/DVD back some even want a restocking fee. Because unfortunately you didn't know until you tried to install the APP that the APP was pure crap, and their makers wont even offer you support, or good support. I don't even like trying new software, and now tend to just stick to certain companies for what i need.

    As for music I wouldn't mind so much buying music by song only, but not albums. Albums today are a rip off. You buy 8-10 songs on the album your lucky to like 3-4 songs on it. It is also I believe if you leave the place that you are buying the music from, you are expected to delete all of that music. Maybe they changed this rule, i don't know if they did, or not. I don't care either because I get open source music. I have grown tired of the RIAA BS. I own lots of CD's. All dated to the 90's then i stopped in 2000. I can't stand a company that wants to slap the hand that feeds it. I am still waiting for them to get their chit together. I have no intentions on holding my breath until that happens. I just moved on to open source music.

    To me copyright is just another way for a company to hurt the consumer. They say you are purchasing the rights to use the product. But in reality it is just a way for them to stick it to you, take your rights away, deny you as a consumer to try their product, Legally can destroy your computer and they don't have to fix it, can leave your computer less secure, take your privacy away, and charge you out the butt to use their product. It is all about corporate America now. The consumer has no way to dispute a EULA because just opening the package in the corporates eyes means you agree to it. No one seems to want to fix this crap. The consumer is forced to agree with the corporations. Consumer rights are gone. Taken away... The copyright is tied to the EULA which now days reads like a book. For what it is worth it is sometimes three or four times longer than my post here. Some even longer.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. icon
    mike allen (profile), 23 Aug 2011 @ 1:44am

    A open note to all who want copyright.
    I write a script for a radio show I "perform" that script.
    I get paid.
    I get a news interview I record it I get paid it gets played on a lot of stations I don't get paid.
    the show gets repeated I DON'T get paid why the f**k should you get paid each time someone plays a song in public it don't make seance. copyright is wrong and should be discontinued and you would then have the innovation to make more good music instead of crap and sitting back watching the checks roll in.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. identicon
    Prisoner 201, 23 Aug 2011 @ 2:00am

    Re: Re:

    This got a good laugh out of me. Does this mean I am some kind of science nerd?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    Prisoner 201, 23 Aug 2011 @ 2:04am

    I got one too

    And if we replace "restriction to distribute copyrighted material", i.e. copyright, with "restricting the blood flow to the brain" we can all agree that unconciousness and death are horrible things, and therefor, according the Law Of Horrible AC Analogies, we must abolish copyright and put anyone trying to copyright things in prison.

    It makes sense. Totally.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. identicon
    Prisoner 201, 23 Aug 2011 @ 2:08am

    Re: Re:

    I think we can safely assume that said throttling has already occured, and that his posts are now not-so-firmly concieved by his lower intestine.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  19. icon
    ThatAVGuy (profile), 23 Aug 2011 @ 2:58am

    Re: Ah, The Greeks Have It

    since when did a lot of GDP come from hollywood??? need something to backup this statment!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  20. identicon
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 23 Aug 2011 @ 3:37am

    Re: Replace "content" with "stuff from your house" or "cash from the bank" and you have explained almost every crime there is.

    Replace the above sentence with “I am a copytard with no idea what ‘stealing’ really means” and you have explained almost every copyright-maximalism defence there is.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  21. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Aug 2011 @ 4:45am

    Re: Re: Re:

    So...why can't that work the same way for "pirated" stuff?

    I'm paying with my attention right? Or does that only work with TV and radio? I also pay for internet connection and paid for my computer. That's like 100 CD's worth of spending right there...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  22. identicon
    Jose_X, 23 Aug 2011 @ 11:42am

    More wonderful logic

    >> Replace "content" with ["freedom"] and you have explained almost every crime there is. Criminals who really want something will obtain it regardless of the costs or the risk involved. Most everyone else respects the door locks, the security cameras, and the law.

    One example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolutionary_War

    Those criminal revolutionaries then went and put "copyright monopolies" into the books. Criminals.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  23. identicon
    Jose_X, 23 Aug 2011 @ 11:51am

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    There is a rumor that some large firms pay out of their own pockets to hire artists and technical people of various sorts to produce funny entertaining material. Guess what they do with this afterward? They go pay more out of pocket to someone else to go and show this material to anyone willing to watch!

    Now, I don't know about you, but if you pay pay pay pay pay pay for all of this creative content and then you give it away for .. I mean, then pay for others to see it... you clearly will be losing a fortune. This unsustainable model for the enjoyment of paid freeloaders will clearly mean the end of creativity in America.

    Paid freeloaders must be brought to justice. The airwaves must be patrolled. Anything less than 10 years and 10 million per paid hour of their time is an injustice to creatives everywhere.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  24. identicon
    Jose_X, 23 Aug 2011 @ 12:03pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    >> There is a rumor that some large firms pay out of their own pockets

    OK. I forgot to post that my initial investigations turned up some evidence of these activities: http://www.pg.com/en_US/brands/index.shtml . I'm sure the shareholders of this "P&G" will have something interesting to say.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  25. icon
    Chargone (profile), 23 Aug 2011 @ 6:12pm

    Re: Re: Ah, The Greeks Have It

    well, enough might that there was some controversy about law changes specifically to support that.

    far more comes from milk though.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  26. identicon
    Jose_X, 26 Aug 2011 @ 12:24pm

    Mimi-Eunice idea

    mimi: Buy content ..Buy airtime
    eunice: ..Sue freeloading audience
    mimi: Profit!

    link to this | view in thread ]


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