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New Zealand Three-Strikes Law To Be Tested

Dangerous_Minds writes "Next month, tribunals will begin for the first people receiving their third strikes in the New Zealand 'Three Strikes Law.' In all, 11 people will have their cases heard, including one who said that her connection was used without her knowledge. Freezenet notes that there has been a long history of controversy for the law from the Internet blackout protests of 2008 to the cablegate leak which revealed that the law was financed and pushed by the United States."

60 of 77 comments (clear)

  1. That's about the size of it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "the law was financed and pushed by the United States"
    New Zealand, control those music listeners, or we send in the marines.

    1. Re:That's about the size of it by 88Seconds · · Score: 5, Interesting

      "the law was financed and pushed by the United States"

      and pushed through on the back of legislation for assisting those affected by the Christchurch earthquake. So anyone opposing this bit of the bill would also be denying help to those who really needed it.

    2. Re:That's about the size of it by coma_bug · · Score: 2

      and pushed through on the back of legislation for assisting those affected by the Christchurch earthquake

      link? there are no riders in NZ..

    3. Re:That's about the size of it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Here are some details about the circumstances under which the law was passed

    4. Re:That's about the size of it by Rockoon · · Score: 1

      "the law was financed and pushed by the United States"

      Heaven forbid the Kiwis take responsibility for the laws they enact...

      The guilty party is the government for trading legislation for favors/money/etc.

      (yes, Americans should also take responsibility for the laws they enact instead of blaming corporations)

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
    5. Re:That's about the size of it by Gr8Apes · · Score: 2

      Disingenuous at best, since both parties flagrantly do this as a standard practice. The going broke aspect is because one party in particular believes that we can spend and lower taxes. If they truly wish to lower the spend rate, they could start by removing all congress people from federal payrolls. Since they're supposedly employed by and on behalf of their states, let the states pay them and their office staff. Once removed from federal funds, perhaps they could then look at the spending with a less biased eye.

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
    6. Re:That's about the size of it by hairyfeet · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Uhhh...how EXACTLY are we supposed to " take responsibility for the laws" when our election cycle is as fake and rigged as pro wrestling? If you aren't from the USA let me break down how it works, in the primary you are given a choice of 4 to 5 shills, you may get one "dark horse" that isn't a shill but the MSM is owned by the megacorps and will make sure nobody knows they exist. See the video on Ron Paul by Jon Stewart where Paul was literally "He who shall NOT be named" when they would announce the first, second, and FOURTH place winners in a contest.

      Then after the corp owned MSM has made sure "the people's choice" is two shills they already own you then are given a bunch of "hot button issues" that the corps don't give a fuck about and therefor don't care which way they go, abortion, gay rights, shit that won't affect their bottom line, and then you can "choose" from shill A or shill B, either of which will keep passing corporate friendly laws that benefit the rich old fucks that have been ruling this country for a good 150+ years now, your JP Morgans, your Goldman Sachs, the whole 7 media conglomerates that own every single thing you see, hear, and read, its the same names over and over and OVER getting their way, and if anything goes wrong they just get another "too big to fail" like Golman Sachs who used Wall Street like Las Vegas and when the bubble busted got 125 cents on every dollar out of the pockets of every American, nice.

      You see friend you simply can't change a corrupt system by working within that system and the reason why should be fairly obvious...because its corrupt! So I would like to hear how EXACTLY the American people are supposed to "control" or "change" anything when the entire media is owned by a handful of uber-rich, when you have "free speech zones" and every movement ends up with 2 fed infiltrators for every 5 people, how EXACTLY are we supposed to "take responsibility" when we have less of a voice now than we did before the revolution?

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    7. Re:That's about the size of it by fredprado · · Score: 2

      Apparently you are under the false impression that there are different parties.

    8. Re:That's about the size of it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The were passed under urgency, using legislation to try and get earthquake stuff sorted. It was incredibly corrupt, and both Labour and National signed it.

      In fact it was Labour who started this law, and Clare Curran is getting a few free trips to LA to "give her a new respect for intellectual property". National diluted it slightly, but every politician is an absolute evil piece of shit for making this law.

  2. Re:The obvious question here.... by Calydor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    By being sued for illegal downloads she knows she did not do herself?

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    -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
  3. Re:The obvious question here.... by HeadOffice · · Score: 1

    That sounds like the obvious answer here...

  4. Re:The obvious question here.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Well if she is certain she did not do the download then
    a) Either they have made an error [mis identified user / mis identified file]
    b) Someone else used her connection
      - This could be figured out in a number of ways such as (proving it could be a different matter)
              - time of access (she was not home or away)
              - software platform used to download [maybe she is an OSx user and it was a Windows app?]
              - logs on her router showing different MAC addresses have connected

  5. Sort of one sided isn't it? by thogard · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They have several images on their web site that count as "derived works" of my work under US copyright law and they haven't payed me anything.

    Can I send them 3 take down notices and then pull their internet access and get them fined $15,000?

    1. Re:Sort of one sided isn't it? by girlinatrainingbra · · Score: 1

      Go for it! Clicky-linky for the derived images and your original works would be appreciated! I wish you could indeed get paid, however they have not set up a "streamlined process" for the likes of you or me, have they? Best wishes.

    2. Re:Sort of one sided isn't it? by neoprint · · Score: 2

      Yes you can, and speaking as a New Zealander, PLEASE DO SO. The more things like this happen, the more ridiculous it looks.

    3. Re:Sort of one sided isn't it? by dadelbunts · · Score: 1

      That would be great.

    4. Re:Sort of one sided isn't it? by thogard · · Score: 1

      Nearly every modern web site includes images that derive from my early work with 24 bit images. Everybody would just copy and extend and the web would not exist if that IP had been protected the way the laws claim it should be. If I hit NZ with it, other countries may find a way around it as a response. I'm wondering if I shouldn't assign the copyright to some appropriate group but I'm not sure what to do yet. It will be an excellent way to make man politically connected enemies.

    5. Re:Sort of one sided isn't it? by coma_bug · · Score: 1

      Nearly every modern web site includes images that derive from my early work with 24 bit images.

      link or it didn't happen.

    6. Re:Sort of one sided isn't it? by thogard · · Score: 2

      You know that very little of this stuff was on the web (which doesn't change its copyright status at all) since there are 16,77,217 1x1 images and someone had to invent the 1x1 pixel expansion stuff and well equipped computer at the time had 68 meg of disk. I was working creating images for evaluating if 24 bit RGB systems were good enough. The conclusion at the time is that 8 bits of R, G & B weren't but 8 bits of H, S & I would produce much more lifelike images and you might even find that discussion showing up on /. in the past. It turns out that at least 75% of the colors your computer can display are brown or grey and it isn't very good at doing simple orange. The gradient stuff is very interesting since one would expect that there are about 2^64 nice linear gradients but when you figure that there are only about 4 million useful colors and a limited number of other colors on complementary side of the color wheel (which humans seem to find ascetically pleasing) and you end up dropping lots of them when you do a gradient, there aren't that many useful gradients in use. Once you figure that most gradients are subsets of others, there is a shockingly small number of useful ones. If you want you can get a 4d matrix of Blue, Green -> Blue, Green of both 65536 starting values and find the slash dot banner gradient right there with all the other useful ones and most of them can fit on a 9 track tape. If you map that into a 2d image for colors people will describe as color (and not grey, white or black), you will find that there too.

    7. Re:Sort of one sided isn't it? by ByteSlicer · · Score: 1

      Can I send them 3 take down notices and then pull their internet access and get them fined $15,000?

      If you bring it to their attention, it wouldn't surprise me if they claim your work as theirs and get you fined $15,000...

    8. Re:Sort of one sided isn't it? by coma_bug · · Score: 1
      So you're claiming copyright over all gradients? Yeah, ok :-/

      Once you figure that most gradients are subsets of others, there is a shockingly small number of useful ones.

      In that case the merger doctrine will be a problem for you.

    9. Re:Sort of one sided isn't it? by Kalriath · · Score: 1

      Yes, but you have to do it a month apart and then you have to take them to the tribunal once you've filed the third one.

      --
      For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
  6. Re:The obvious question here.... by Aryden · · Score: 2

    b) Someone else used her connection - This could be figured out in a number of ways such as (proving it could be a different matter) - time of access (she was not home or away) - software platform used to download [maybe she is an OSx user and it was a Windows app?] - logs on her router showing different MAC addresses have connected

    all of which can be forged or otherwise have false evidence presented.

  7. Re:The obvious question here.... by mark-t · · Score: 1

    Wouldn't the more immediate conclusion be that there must be some sort of mistake, rather than thinking that somebody else did something which incriminated you?

  8. Re:The obvious question here.... by mark-t · · Score: 1

    I would think a) is the much more probable conclusion by somebody who is genuinely unaware of any of b).

  9. Re:The obvious question here.... by Osgeld · · Score: 2

    on both sides

  10. Re:The obvious question here.... by Osgeld · · Score: 2

    there must be some mistake, the ISP did something which incriminated you

    solved

    they sweatboxed her with a lawsuit, and the first rational answer popped out

    my dumbass ISP (comcast) cant even transfer the fact that I am logged in while shopping for services ON THEIR OWN SITE

  11. Easy Money by TemperedAlchemist · · Score: 1

    So, if the lady is held accountable...

    Then all a copyright owner has to do is crack into someone's wireless (or just flat out connect), download a bunch of their own copyrighted work, and then sue them for copyright infringement.

    Whoo loopholes!

    1. Re:Easy Money by nzac · · Score: 4, Informative

      This is New Zealand its not going to be the maximum fine or probably even an order of magnitude less. They will likely not recoup the costs to get it there.
      Last fines RIANZ tried to push were based on figures based on the damage it cause. The only way for to them get 3 MP3 downloads into the 3 figure mark was to try to argue that they were shared 90 times (would like to know how they got this figure) and then triple it (at least this is what they tried to do to the last distort person before it was thrown out).

      As long as it stays tied to real damages NZs fines will not make it to the 500 dollar mark, covering the 250 or so in court fees to get it there in the first place. Internet is too expensive here to seed.

    2. Re:Easy Money by schizz69 · · Score: 1

      Tell me about it. I stop seeding as soon as I finish my torrents. Suck on my bandwidth caps Linux distro peers!

    3. Re:Easy Money by Kijori · · Score: 1

      Yes, as with absolutely any type of lawsuit it is possible for a claimant to frame a defendant. They could equally crack their wireless and post defamatory statements about themselves or drop their belongings in the person's shopping bag. This is the reason that perjury is a serious criminal offence that renders a person liable to a lengthy period of imprisonment.

    4. Re:Easy Money by History's+Coming+To · · Score: 1

      Which is an angle the defence lawyer should be playing. There's so much "reasonable doubt" involved in a case like this that if it goes before a jury there's a good chance they'll acquit.

      --
      Please consider this account deleted, I just can't be bothered with the spam anymore.
    5. Re:Easy Money by stoatwblr · · Score: 1

      Civil cases don't need reasonable doubt, just balance of evidence. These kinds of cases are about who's got deeper pockets.

    6. Re:Easy Money by Kalriath · · Score: 1

      Cases are heard by the Copyright Tribunal, not a court. There are no peers to judge.

      --
      For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
  12. It was actually easy... by Genda · · Score: 1

    We just threatened them with no more Hobbitses...

    So what comes after the Hobbit? Snow White as JRR Tolkien would have written it?

    1. Re:It was actually easy... by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

      Nothing. Tolkien only wrote the three classic-format stories. He loved building worlds - everything else he did on middle earth is a daunting mass of history books and artificial linguistics. The Silmarillion is not filmable.

    2. Re:It was actually easy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure the Silmarillion is even readable. I tried reading it after I read the LoTR and after struggling to get halfway through it I never picked it up again.

      But that doesn't mean you couldn't make a film or three out of it. If you can make a movie out of the game Battleships you can make a movie out of anything.

    3. Re:It was actually easy... by Genda · · Score: 1

      Hollywood (as run by bankers) has this unpleasant habit of beating dead horses into a frothy pink slurry. I'm certain there must some remaining bludgeoning of orcs and wizards after the Hobbit... they'll just make it up as whole clothes and anoint it with JRR Tolkien... have his family bless it for a 10% slice of the cinematic cow pie and everyone adjourns to count the proceeds.

      You can't succeed with a film anymore without 22 sequels, 11 prequels, 5 spin-offs, a documentary of the making of, and 7 video games in tribute of. Its like the film Oompah Loompahs will be made to squeeze every femtopenny from a genre until the fabric of space and time itself begins to unravel.

  13. Streamlined extortion queues by girlinatrainingbra · · Score: 4, Informative
    Seems like streamlined extortion to me: The tribunal can make awards of up to $15,000 against pirates, and Rianz had sought awards of several thousand dollars in at least two of the dropped cases. In one, Rianz sought about $2700 from a Wellington student whose internet account was allegedly used without her knowledge to download five songs valued at $11.75. That case also seemed destined for a formal hearing.Fairfax NZ

    Really ridiculous to seek fines of $2700 for an acknowledged value of $11.75, at least in my eyes.

    1. Re:Streamlined extortion queues by Grumbleduke · · Score: 1

      This varies by jurisdiction and claimant organisation, but often these groups will seek a "reasonable licence fee" on the basis of uploading - the argument being that because someone may have uploaded a file to a random person on the Internet, they need to pay for a worldwide, unlimited licence to distribute that song. Although being generous, sometimes they limit that a bit.

      From what I've seen, courts (so far mainly in Germany) haven't bought that argument - in one German case they went with 100 uploads of each song (far too high for anything Torrenty, imho), at about €0,10 per upload, which came to about €80 plus costs. The court wasn't particularly impressed.

      But then this is why the enforcement lobby groups have been pushing for statutory fines (such as in NZ) - then the fines/damages don't have to be based on actual losses.

  14. Law shouldn't be tested. by d33tah · · Score: 1

    It should be thought-over.

  15. Re:The obvious question here.... by Mistakill · · Score: 5, Informative

    NZ law specifically written with sponsorship from the MPAA/RIAA (about $1m NZD) and is written so that the account holder is fully the responsible party, even at say a school, library, starbucks, etc

  16. Re:3 Strikes by Dexter+Herbivore · · Score: 4, Informative

    I send a "fuck you" to every ISP on the planet, you couldn't wipe your own ass without being told to

    Don't tar them all with the same brush, iiNet in Australia has been doing great things championing the rights of the user.

  17. So everybody has to do what X Corp. requires, yes? by silviuc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It is appalling how corporations, mostly US based, have managed to get everybody working to protect their interests. Ofc, they could not have done that alone, they have the US Gov that throws its weight around if need arises. They basically have every police dept. working to enforce copyright/DMCA and whatever else they cook up. This might be all fine and dandy if those corporations would bother to pay taxes in the countries they do business in. As it turns out, most of the time, they manage to skip paying them. So we, the citizens, pay taxes to keep police depts that enforce laws for entities that pay nothing in return. Meanwhile, serious crimes do not get solved because there is "personnel shortage". I would love to see how much countries spend per month or year on "defending" copyright and how much they copyright holders paid in taxes for the service.

    While I do not approve piracy, I certainly enjoy reading how another attempt to down the piratebay has failed.

  18. You pay for a pipe. by NynexNinja · · Score: 1

    You pay for a pipe. What you do with that pipe is up to you. No one should be able to prevent you from using your pipe. I don't see file downloads as causing the kind of public safety concern that might require the provider to disconnect someone's service. It's a stretch. If the provider disconnects the pipe, they are liable for damages, especially if you were using it to conduct business. They do so at their own peril.

  19. Re:New Zealand = New China ? by Seeteufel · · Score: 2

    At least China is sovereign, not a poodle of the United States. China just lowers the quality of service of foreign competitors.

  20. Re:So everybody has to do what X Corp. requires, y by Seeteufel · · Score: 1

    Just a matter of time. They cannot win the copyright wars.

  21. Re:So everybody has to do what X Corp. requires, y by Rockoon · · Score: 1

    It is appalling how corporations, mostly US based, have managed to get everybody working to protect their interests. Ofc, they could not have done that alone, they have the US Gov that throws its weight around if need arises. They basically have every police dept. working to enforce copyright/DMCA and whatever else they cook up. This might be all fine and dandy if those corporations would bother to pay taxes in the countries they do business in. As it turns out, most of the time, they manage to skip paying them.

    The corporations want you to keep blaming them, because that way the people that are selling legislation and influence can continue to sell legislation and influence to them.

    I cannot believe that so many people dont get it, and convince themselves that blaming the people that arent in control is somehow the correct way to operate their protest.

    --
    "His name was James Damore."
  22. Re:So everybody has to do what X Corp. requires, y by silviuc · · Score: 2

    Actually it's exactly the big corps that have the legislators in their pockets. Both are to blame for the mess they have created

  23. Re:So everybody has to do what X Corp. requires, y by Rockoon · · Score: 1

    Car analogy:

    A passenger gets into a taxi cab and offers money to the the driver to drive to a specific destination.

    Everyone agrees that the taxi driver is still ultimately in control, that the passenger is just making an offer for services. So too, the politicians are ultimately in control, that the corporations are just making an offer for services.

    If the cab driver absolutely refused to drive to a specific location, then the cab would never go to that location no matter how many times the passenger asked. So too, if the politician absolutely refused to trade his powers for corporate favor, then rent-seeking laws such as what the RIAA/MPAA get away with would never get passed.

    Hold the politicians responsible. Don't vote for the corrupt ones, ever, and be vocal about why you aren't doing so. If everyone on the ballot is a corrupt son-of-a-bitch, write in your own name, and if thats not an option, write "fuck you too" on the ballot.

    --
    "His name was James Damore."
  24. Re:So everybody has to do what X Corp. requires, y by Rockoon · · Score: 1

    Actually it's exactly the big corps that have the legislators in their pockets.

    Its thinking like this that prevents anything from being done about it. The corporations don't hold the keys, the politicians do. The politicians are on control, and all by themselves sell the fruits of that control to corporations. Nobody is forcing them to. They do it willingly. Get it? They are fucking you willingly, for their own benefit.

    --
    "His name was James Damore."
  25. 99% RISE: Easy way to bring them to their feet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I have a simple solution to bring the entire Hollywood movie industry to its feet: don't watch any more movies. Let them create blockbusters. Let them show them at the movies. You ... you don't go to the movies. You don't spend your hard earned money on those expensive tickets to watch those movies. You don't help those Hollywood studios become rich enough and big enough to fund such stupid laws. When you stop watching those movies, and when you keep your hard earned money to yourself, you will bring those 1% companies which are trying to push these laws to their knees.

    This calls for a revolution people. Don't watch any more Hollywood movies. Within a year the entire hollywood industry and all the companies that run those movie theaters will have to file for bankruptcy if we, the 99% stick together.

  26. I Hear that some IPS have an hand time with g caps by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    I Hear that some IPS have an hand time with get the meters for the download caps working right so it's likely there may be some kind of error.

  27. Re:The obvious question here.... by Mistakill · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This makes for good reading http://lawgeeknz.posterous.com/nzs-copyright-proposal-guilty-until-you-prove

    The form of an infringement notice is to be prescribed by regulation. However, the fact that the form is correctly completed is not relevant to the issue of whether or not there has been copyright infringement. So that does not explain why the mere filing of a notice should be conclusive evidence.

    Merely CORRECTLY filling out a complaint notice, is deemed sufficient evidence that an offense occurred if it goes to a tribunal

    To put it another way, if someone accused me of downloading X song on Y day, and i didn't, i still have yet to find anyone who can show me a way to prove i didn't

    Example:"Sir, you are accused of downloading one mp3 titled 'Justin Bieber - Baby', please prove you didn't if you wish to defend yourself"

    Um.... /pass??

  28. Re:3 Strikes by Cimexus · · Score: 1

    Yep, I'm so glad we do have a couple of 'good guy' ISPs in this country. iiNet being one and Internode (which of course is now owned by iiNet, but still operates as a separate concern) being the other. They're both run by geeks who think in much the same way as we do, and it shows.

    Sadly I'm moving to the US next year where instead of having 30+ ISPs, some of which are genuinely 'good' to choose from, I'll have 2 or 3 choices at most, all equally evil.

  29. Re:The obvious question here.... by mpe · · Score: 1

    Merely CORRECTLY filling out a complaint notice, is deemed sufficient evidence that an offense occurred if it goes to a tribunal

    To put it another way, if someone accused me of downloading X song on Y day, and i didn't, i still have yet to find anyone who can show me a way to prove i didn't

    Example:"Sir, you are accused of downloading one mp3 titled 'Justin Bieber - Baby', please prove you didn't if you wish to defend yourself"


    If it's that simple then why are there only 11 cases? Also why are there not numerous corporations, politicans (even The Queen) facing such tribunals?

  30. Re:So everybody has to do what X Corp. requires, y by redlemming · · Score: 1

    It is appalling how corporations, mostly US based, have managed to get everybody working to protect their interests. Ofc, they could not have done that alone, they have the US Gov that throws its weight around if need arises.

    I'm not sure that "US based" is a particularly meaningful distinction.

    Anyone around the world can buy stock in corporations, and where the corporation technically has it's home may have little to do with who is really pulling the strings.

    There are many individuals and organizations around the world with vast amounts of wealth, and it would be more reasonable to suppose that these wealthy individuals, or the individuals in charge of these wealthy organizations, collectively control the behavior of the major corporations, than to suppose this is some sort of US plot against the rest of the world.

    Also, in all likelihood, most major corporations have citizens of many different countries working for them, which means the policies aren't necessarily being set by US citizens.

    Rather than focusing on the "US based" concept, it is probably better to view this situation as involving a multi-nation problem of governments and corporations working together to infringe fundamental human rights, as well as a multi-nation problem with legal professionals choosing to not understand ethical conduct.

  31. Corporate bully boys! by CHIT2ME · · Score: 1

    Years ago, New Zealand barred U.S. warships which may carry nuclear weapons from docking in their ports. As an American this kind of miffed me. Since without the U.S. they would now all be speaking Japanese. But now, to kotow to corporate bullies and arrest and charge some simple schumck who failed to deploy U.S. DIA level encryption on their wifi network and charge them with "piracy", is pure "wimp-assed" policy. Even though I disagreed with your nuclear weapons carrying warship policy, at least I had to admit it was your choice to make. This total worship of the mighty corporation inspired law is, to me, a total letdown of respect for the New Zealand government. And it makes me wonder; how much money was paid and to what governmental personelle, to get this law passed?

    --
    My karma is bad. Don't get too close!!!
    1. Re:Corporate bully boys! by Kalriath · · Score: 1

      Years ago, New Zealand barred U.S. warships which may carry nuclear weapons from docking in their ports. As an American this kind of miffed me. Since without the U.S. they would now all be speaking Japanese.

      And Americans wonder why no-one likes them. "Change your laws for us because we saved you in WWII". Despite the fact that America only got involved because Japan bombed Pearl Harbour.

      The law here is quick specific: no nuclear powered ships or nuclear weapons are permitted in the country. Your warships specifically were not barred, it was simply illegal for them to dock because the US government refuses to say whether they contained nuclear weapons or not. British warships, Chinese warships, Australian warships, and even New Zealand warships carrying nuclear weapons or powered by a nuclear reactor are equally forbidden.

      The irony, of course, is that a New Zealander actually discovered nuclear power.

      --
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