[wordup] New Zealand's New Copyright Law Sucks (Section 92a and 92c)

[Adam Shand]

On the 28th of February, a new law comes into effect which changes how  
New Zealand's copyright laws work.  Much of the law is sensible and  
progressive but two parts, section 92a and 92c, are particularly badly  
drafted and the government is being resistant to changing them.  There  
has been a prolonged conversation with the government about the  
failings of the new law but they seem resistant to common sense (I was  
at a conference two years ago when we talked to them about it!).

This is our last week to try and get the government to listen.   
There's an online campaign going on to try and get everybody to make  
their websites black and there Facebook/MySpace/etc avatars black in  
protest.   This is a risky proposition, if we don't get enough  
traction there is the possibility that the government will decide that  
the weak showing means that nobody cares.

I would hugely appreciate it if you would join the cause, make your  
avatars and website black.  If you have people that would be  
interested in this please take the time to let them know.

Even if you are not in New Zealand we would appreciate your support.   
If the law passes here it only makes it that much easier for it to  
pass in other countries.

Please please lend your voice to the cause.

There's a good write up by David Farrar about the basics of what's  
wrong here: http://www.nzcpr.com/guest133.htm

Russell Brown has a bit more information about the blackout: http://www.publicaddress.net/5693

Details of the protest along with sample images and instructions are  
here: http://creativefreedom.org.nz/blackout.html

Many thanks for any and all help you can offer.


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