New Zealand has decided to act strong against copyright infringers. Among many copyright infringements, New Zealand is specifically paying its attention to file sharers and file sharing platform providers. In New Zealand, the Copyright Amendment Bill that aroused a lot of discussion includes three time notice warning system and suspension of Internet account for up to six months by a district court ruling. The three-time notice system is Internet Service Provider (ISP) sending warning notices over a three-month period to their customers about their customer’s copyright infringement activity. Then next step goes to Copyright Tribunal providing an efficient, low-cost process to hear illegal file-sharing claims, and finally the copyright infringer can be charged up to $15,000 and face the possible termination of his or her Internet account. All these changes have already been made and ready to take off from first of September 2011.

Concerns over this three-strike law seem to reach many places. Unlike what has happened to copyright infringement action so far, such as holding only a representative infringer or punishing the platform providers like Napster. On the other hand, New Zealand’s law can even hold retailers, schools, and universities liable for copyright infringement. It has definitely turned up a notch and extended its influence. The major motivation of this amendment to the law is to discourage illegal peer-to-peer sharing among Internet users.

Another concern regarding this three-strike law is that Internet Service Provider will be sending the warning to their customers. In the increasing trends of free WiFi anywhere we go, New Zealanders are facing some holdbacks. If a specific Internet line is pleaded guilty and receives a warning from its own Internet Service Provider, free WiFi offering zones will start to decrease in number. The copyright infringer, disregarding intentional or unintentional motivation, could use the free WiFi in order to be involved in an illegal activity online. For example in a public space like cafes, it would be very hard to track down a person for punishment. The WiFi provider could be held responsible instead.

The three-strike system may sound like a reasonable warning system but it already has too many downsides after all. Since it has not been initiated yet, we need to follow up and keep track of how New Zealanders will react to their Internet regulation changes when it really hits them.

Bibliography

http://www.futuregov.asia/articles/2011/apr/25/new-zealand-file-sharing-bill-passed-law/

http://www.3news.co.nz/NZs-new-internet-laws-still-dangerously-inadequate/tabid/423/articleID/209925/Default.aspx

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