Hi all, I need *your* ideas! I've just read through a government discussion paper at http://www.med.govt.nz/buslt/int_prop/digital/index.html which will be used as a basis for updating New Zealand's Copyright Act for the digital age. On first reading, it appears that the NZ Ministry of Economic Development is taking a "try to please all" approach, and is aware that excessively draconian laws will damage the ISP industry and severely piss off NZ citizens. It seems to be taking a 'middle ground' of leaning towards a DMCA-styled approach which would give ISPs guaranteed indemnity within clearly defined parameters. Why am I posting this to the list? Because the laws havn't been passed yet - in fact, the Ministry is accepting public submissions up until October 12. There is an opportunity to help prevent New Zealand falling into the worst of the DMCA mire. I will definitely be making a submission with the following aims (though I won't necessarily word them as explicitly as I do here): 1) Ensure that Freenet nodes are covered by the legal definition of an ISP 2) Ensure that Freenet is protected by 'safe harbour' provisions, so that Freenet node ops are not held liable for content served from their PCs unless it can be proven they were aware of such content. 3) Exempt ISPs from any obligation to act on infringement complaints, and immunise them against any legal liability, unless: (i) It is proven that the infringing material is actually copyrighted and owned by the complainant (or party represented by the complainant) (ii) It is proven that the infringing material is actually being trafficked by the ISP (iii) The complainant is, or is represented by, an individual (human) NZ citizen or permanent resident who is willing to answer to criminal perjury charges in the event that copyright infringement fails to be proved (iii) It can be proven that the ISP has the ability to monitor and remove the offending content with minimal effort, without disruption to other services, and without invasion of privacy 4) Guarantee that in the event of a complainant failing to gain satisfaction against an ISP, all 'upstream' ISPs are completely immunised from liability. (for example, freenet node as an ISP, DSL provider as 'upstream ISP', DSL provider is exempted from all liability). 5) Provide specific exclusions for any laws against 'cracking' software - for instance, guarantee the legality of cracking software in cases such as: (i) When cracking is necessary to view licensed works on other operating systems (eg, the necessity of de-CSS for viewing DVDs on linux) (ii) When cracking is required to make licensed works available in the event of major system upgrade (for instance, a licensed user of Windows XP makes major hardware upgrade, Windows XP refuses to run on new hardware, and Microsoft won't supply a new activation key) (iii) When inbuilt restrictions on the materials prevent "fair use and enjoyment" So, please generate ideas which can be used towards a submission. Even if you're not a lawyer, your insights would help towards the submission. I have a lawyer client who I'll be asking for help from as well. Thanks in advance David _______________________________________________ Chat mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.freenetproject.org/mailman/listinfo/chat
