New Zealand Is Out?

New Zealand Government Will Have to Disconnect Itself

With New Zealand “graduated response system” in place, some might wonder who could be one of the first victims of the regime. Surprisingly enough, it appears that it could be the New Zealand government itself! Facing copyright violation, the country’s Green Party claims that this could finally force the government to disconnect itself from the web.
The industry observers have repeatedly pointed out that the government of New Zealand simply didn’t think their “three-strikes” legislation through before enforcing it, and the latest development doesn’t quell such thoughts. The Green Party of New Zealand has claimed that the country’s government could face fines for copyright violation unless it disconnects itself from the web.
Of course, there doesn’t seem to be a plan for the government to deal with the new legislation. The law in question causes controversies because the holder of the account – Parliamentary Services – provides access to the Internet to several hundreds of users, any of whom could cause infringement notices to be sent. Actually, after the law passage, which is scheduled to come in to effect this September, there have been a lot of assumptions that this legislation could end all public Wi-Fi in New Zealand. Consequently, it appeared that the country’s own government isn’t immune to this either.
Aside from the government, schools, libraries and universities also run the risk of facing fines or disconnection from the web. One of the universities in Auckland has even claimed that they might cease providing online services for students because of the possible copyright liability.
Meanwhile, it is believed that the country’s government has a responsibility to ensure that public institutions are able to navigate around the new legislation and not face the risk of penalties.
However, by failing to provide information or advice to those institutions, the government has left them in a legal grey area. Moreover, after the law was passed in New Zealand, Wikileaks released some diplomatic cables proving that it was pushed and bought by the United States. This, of course, instantly raised concerns with the Green Party, which asked why Hollywood was writing their laws for New Zealand. Well, let’s see who will become the first victim of the “three-strikes” law.