South Pacific Island To Use Star Wars Coins As Currency? Or Just As A Publicity Stunt?

from the does-george-lucas-get-a-cut? dept

The islands of the South Pacific have some odd views on currency. In the past, we've discussed how the Island of Yap famously used massive immovable stones as its currency. And now the island of Niue is prepared to recognize collectible Star Wars coins as official currency. Of course, the whole thing seems more like a publicity stunt by the New Zealand Mint, which is making these coins. They're still being sold at collectible prices -- meaning coins with a face value of $1 (New Zealand) will actually sell for $23.50 NZ. So even as they'll be recognized as legal currency in Niue (but not New Zealand), it seems unlikely that anyone will use them as such, as their face value will be significantly below their market value.

Filed Under: currency, new zealand, niue, star wars

Could New Zealand's Parliament Lose Its Internet Connection Under Its Own Three Strikes Law?

from the looks-that-way dept

Ah, those wacky politicians down in New Zealand. Remember the MP who voted for the "three strikes and we kick you off the internet" copyright law just hours after tweeting that she was listening to a compilation made by a friend? After the law passed, various libraries realized they might suddenly become liable, and many are considering shutting off their WiFi.

But you know who else might be liable? The New Zealand Parliament itself! Boing Boing points us to the news that the Green Party has put out a press release pointing out that even the Parliament might run afoul of the new law, and could risk fines or losing its internet connection.

"This law could bring the gears of government to a grinding halt because the holder of the account — Parliamentary Services — provides internet access to hundreds of users any one of whom could cause infringement notices to be sent."

Not only that, but they note that no one in Parliament has set up a plan to deal with any potential infringement notices, which could put them into even greater trouble. Of course, other MPs will likely claim that this clearly doesn't apply to Parliament, which just shows the ridiculous double standard of such laws.

Filed Under: copyright, new zealand, parliament, three strikes

New Zealand Politicians Who Supported Three Strikes Law Two Months Ago Now Worried It Violates Civil Rights

from the now-you-notice? dept

We were both amused and disturbed (though, more disturbed) when New Zealand politicians rushed through a "three strikes" law that they very clearly did not understand. The situation has become even more tragically comic, following the recent UN report that said such laws are a violation of civil rights. In response to that report, it appears that the same political party who was very much in favor of the three strikes law back in April is now arguing that it's a problem and the law needs to be reformed:

In response to the report New Zealand’s Labour communications spokeswoman Clare Curran said it’s “time for a complete review of our copyright laws.” She says that she agrees with La Rue’s conclusions that Internet disconnection violates international law.

Maybe she should have thought of that before her party voted the bill into law... Either way, we're happy that the party has come around and hope that it will, in fact, live up to this statement and look to repeal such a draconian law that was clearly a product of US lobbyists, rather than what was in the best interest of New Zealand citizens and society.

Filed Under: copyright, new zealand, three strikes

US Upset That New Zealand Government Has Too Much Respect For Free Speech

from the can't-have-that dept

Following the leaked cables that showed how the US offered to help write New Zealand's new copyright laws, Chargone points us to the news that the US was equally (if not more) interested in rewriting New Zealand's anti-terrorism laws, which it believed were inadequate.

Particularly galling to the US State Department? The idea that New Zealanders have a healthy respect for free speech (how dare they!):

In the post-9/11 world, one would expect that New Zealand would have an adequate law to deal with foreign as well as domestic terrorism - it does not. Critics of the TSA [Terrorism Suppression Act] say that the law was never envisaged to apply to domestic terrorism, but one wonders if it would have applied to foreign terrorists plotting much the same activities as those leaked by the press. The inherent weaknesses of the TSA underscore that the Labour Party and its minor party partners in government (many of whom are veterans of Vietnam War-era street protests) are not comfortable with legislation that in any way would undermine legitimate political expression. We hope the Law Commission, which will review the law...

Yeah. We come from the country in which we're told that the government "shall make no law," that infringes on our right to free speech... and here that same government is whining that another country has too much respect for free speech. The US ambassador seems upset that New Zealand would dare consider free speech rights to be important. It's stories like these that make the State Department's claims of supporting freedom around the globe ring pretty hollow...

Filed Under: anti-terrorism, free speech, new zealand, us

US Offered To Write New Zealand's Three Strikes Laws

from the but-of-course dept

Leaked cables have already confirmed how involved the US government has been in Canadian copyright reform, Swedish copyright reform and Spanish copyright reform. I think, at this point, it's safe to assume that anywhere in the world where we're seeing new draconian copyright laws proposed, the US is behind them.

How about New Zealand? Yup. The country that just approved a new three strikes law also faced tremendous pressure from the US. As you may recall, back in 2008, New Zealand politicians tried to sneak through a three strikes law, that would kick people offline based on accusations (not convictions) of infringement. A few months later, mainly due to massive public outcry, the government scrapped those plans and actually promised a complete rethink of copyright laws.

But, of course, the US and its entertainment industry interests couldn't have that. It quickly got heavily involved in pressuring the government. In a cable just after New Zealand decided to scrap the proposed law, the US embassy noted that it made it clear a new 3 strikes law needed to be put in place as soon as possible and saying that the US can help them write the new law.

Embassy will continue to stress with GNZ officials the need for a shorter rather than protracted timeline for the redraft and will ascertain the details of a notice and comment period for public submissions once released by GNZ. During this hiatus we've proposed holding DVC(s) between NZ and U.S. interlocutors to possibly help with drafting and as a public diplomacy tool to dispel public misperceptions about proper role of IPR protection. U.S. agencies have the benefit of 10 years worth of experience in enforcing the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act that may serve useful to New Zealand officials in their effort to implement section 92A.

Yes, you read that right. Not only did the US say it would help write a foreign country's laws, it also planned to use its 10 years of experiences with the failed DMCA (as described by the guy who wrote it), as a guide for how to pass bad legislation in New Zealand.

The cables turned up a few other interesting tidbits from a bit further back, including the fact that a program -- run by the Recording Industry Association New Zealand (RIANZ) to set up a website and get people to snitch on their friends, reporting them as infringers -- was funded by the US government. Yes, the US government handed half a million dollars (New Zealand dollars) to the recording industry to get people to turn in their friends for copying music. Lovely.

Separately, the US warned New Zealand that exceptions in copyright law (including those found in US law under fair use) should not be allowed in New Zealand because:

these exceptions to copyright protection would send the wrong message to consumers and undermine efforts to curb unauthorized copying of CDs in New Zealand. They would cost the industry in revenue and profits and discourage innovation.

They admit that this info comes from industry lobbyists themselves, but the embassy still seems to think it's valid. This is a complete joke, of course. As many copyright scholars and experts will tell you, it's those exceptions that are important to keeping new content coming and vibrant. The idea that concepts like fair use would "send the wrong message to consumers" is laughable, and the US government shouldn't be pushing such garbage on other countries.

None of this is a surprise, but it is a clear reminder of how much the entertainment industry's completely debunked arguments not only influence US policy on these matters, but they're also pushed by US diplomats on other countries around the globe.

Filed Under: copyright, diplomats, new zealand, three strikes, us

New Zealand Politican Tweets How She's Violating Copyright Law Night Before Supporting Three Strikes Copyright Law

from the you-did-what-now? dept

This is just bizarre. Andrew Dubber points us to the latest on the debate in New Zealand's Parliament over the draconian new three strikes law, in which people will get kicked off the internet after accusations (not convictions) of file sharing. Dubber points us to the speech from Parliament Member Melissa Lee discussing her support of the new law. You can see it here: All well and good... except the night before this debate, she posted the following to her own Twitter account:

Ok. Shower... Reading ... And then bed! listening to a compilation a friend did for me of K Pop. Fab. Thanks Jay.

Now, to be fair, in her speech, she does say she gets that sharing a DVD or a CD can be sensible. She even references the "Korean Wave" of k-pop and says that it happened because of file sharing (directly contradicting US VP Joe Biden's lies from yesterday).

In the end, then, she seems to have no logical consistency at all. She's happy to infringe on copyright when she gets to listen to good music. And she knows that infringement helped get artists attention and built up things like the Korean Wave of successful musicians... and yet New Zealand still needs to pass draconian copyright law to outlaw these things that she admits aren't so bad. Say what now?

Filed Under: copyright, melissa lee, new zealand

New Zealand Uses Earthquake As An Excuse To Sneak 3 Strikes Law Through

from the well-isn't-that-nice dept

You may recall that a few years back, New Zealand politicians tried to sneak through a "three strikes" proposal to kick people offline based on accusations (not convictions) of file sharing. When lots of New Zealanders complained, the Copyright Minister first got angry that anyone wouldn't accept this, but eventually the government was forced to back down. Of course, that was only temporary, as last year the plan came back, with a sneaky provision that said they'd only really implement it if file sharing didn't decrease. The argument was that you couldn't say the law was about kicking people off the internet, because it wouldn't start doing that for a few years.

Of course, that proposal hadn't been touched since last December... and yet suddenly it's being pushed through quickly, to the surprise of many New Zealand politicians who had no idea it was even on the docket. Even more nefarious? Supporters are trying to attach it to an emergency bill related to earthquake recovery efforts in the wake of the Christchurch earthquake. Of course, no politician wants to be seen holding up an earthquake recovery bill. This is the ultimate in underhanded moves by politicians, at the behest of the entertainment industry, to ram through broken policies by attaching it to a separate bill. Update: Good explanation in the comments showing that this bill wasn't "attached" to the earthquake bill, but rather just put through the same process in parallel.

Filed Under: copyright, earthquake, new zealand, three strikes

New Zealand's New Three Strikes Policy Avoids Being Called A Three Strikes Policy By Only Triggering It Later

from the sneaky,-sneaky dept

For a few years now, we've covered the fight in New Zealand about implementing a three strikes policy. The latest version includes a special "copyright tribunal" to review the various cases... and also a bit of a sneaky way to pretend it's not really a three strikes proposal. That's because three strikes will only kick in at a later date, if it's determined that warning letters alone didn't decrease file sharing. Of course, that seems unlikely, so it will likely still be a three strikes policy, but this way they can pretend it's not really about three strikes. Sneaky. Also, it's worth pointing out that the law appears to still hold account holders liable for any actions done on their local network, which seems pretty ridiculous.

Filed Under: new zealand, three strikes