<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">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!).<br><br><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div><b>Please please lend your voice to the cause.</b></div><div><br>There's a good write up by David Farrar about the basics of what's wrong here: <a href="http://www.nzcpr.com/guest133.htm">http://www.nzcpr.com/guest133.htm</a><br><br>Russell Brown has a bit more information about the blackout: <a href="http://www.publicaddress.net/5693">http://www.publicaddress.net/5693</a><br><br>Details of the protest along with sample images and instructions are here: http://creativefreedom.org.nz/blackout.html<br><br></div><div>Many thanks for any and all help you can offer.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div></body></html>