Copyright infringement is wrong, but should people, schools, and hospitals have their internet connections and websites cut off due to accusations of copyright infringement? - This is what all this protest is about - New Zealand now have arguably the world"s most harshest copyright enforcement law in history - Sections 92A and C of the amended Copyright Act which establish a guilt upon accusation principle
Without any further explanation, below are the controversial paragraphs of the act in full:
INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER LIABILITY
92A
Internet service provider [sic] must have policy for terminating
accounts of repeat infringers
"(1) An Internet service provider must adopt and reasonably implement
a policy that provides for termination, in appropriate circumstances,
of the account with that Internet service provider of a repeat infringer.
"(2) In subsection (1), repeat infringer means a person who repeatedly
infringes the copyright in a work by using 1 or more of the Internet services of the Internet service provider to do a restricted act without the consent of the copyright owner
In simple words, any ISP without any proof or reason can accuse anyone for infringement of copyright and remove that person from the "internet world" without any further clarifications. Yes, no proof, no explanations needed. The worse is that according to this new law, an ISP is anyone who provides any form of services over the Internet. So, you can consider even Neowin too to be an ISP!
Below is a video which explains it even more clearer
From today, New Zealand is protesting against the Guilt Upon Accusation law "Section 92A" that calls for internet disconnection based on accusations of copyright infringement without a trial and without any evidence held up to court scrutiny
All kiwi twitterrers have already shown their protest by changing their profile picture to "black"
Image Courtesy: Juha Saarinen
And even in Facebook
Image Courtesy: NBR
You can also support this protest by blacking out your Twitter avatar, Facebook/Myspace pages, or even websites. The protest is already being picked up by many others like Stephen Fry
The law goes live on February 28th