NZ Politics Daily: 15 April (liberation)

Labour was burnt to a crispy black(out) by the interwebs when it tried to update copyright laws in the digital age, so it cannot be any surprise to National that ramming their version through under urgency has re-ignited the critics. The requirement for the accused to prove their innocence is the most inflammatory provision, especially when, as Derek Cheng in the NZ Herald reports - Net piracy: prove innocence or face fine - 30% of cases overseas fail to prove copyright infringement. The possibility of hapless parents being pinged under the new law for their teenager’s piracy is explored by Bronwyn Torrie in Internet law may catch parents unawares while Peter Griffin (Listener) in The future will be streamed points out that the real hardcore copyright infringers have many options for evading both detection and penalties under the law. The laws first “victim” is probably National MP Melissa Lee whose denunciation of digital pirates in parliament was somewhat undermined by a tweet of hers a few days ago thanking a friend for compiling some Korean music for her. Lee claims the music was bought legitimately but Chris Keall from the NBR points out that, unless an unlikely set of circumstances apply - Melissa Lee, you appear to be a pirate.

Labour appears to have stumbled into a pitfall normally reserved for junior coalition parties – voting for something you publicly claim to be against. MP Clare Curran has been toiling hard to make up for Labour’s copyright debacle while in government and invokes the “it would have been worse if we hadn’t co-operated” defence at Red Alert - No New Zealander can be disconnected from the internet. Comments on the blog ask why Labour didn’t at least support the Greens amendment to remove the disconnection penalty completely and No Right Turn simply wants to know what Labour would do if they had the numbers in the house - A question for Labour on the copyright bill. The answer appears to be that if the disconnection section that Labour voted for was ever actually used Clare Curran would want it repealed.

The Canterbury Earthquake and Recovery Act (CERA) is attracting it’s own heat – particularly within Canterbury and from constitutional experts.

Both John Hopkins from The Press Cera bill threatens democracy and Dean Knight: CERA Mark II: Henry VIII clauses and Purposes – a starter for 10? are scornful of the supposed checks and balances on the extraordinary powers the act confers. Andrew Geddis at Pundit pokes some fun at Labour’s Clayton Cosgrove for an apparent u turn on the need for legal nicieties while “digging sewage out of your own home” in Someone give that man a latte.

In other news Vernon Small writes about the latest secret escalation of our military commitment in Afghanistan in Secret shipment follows Kiwi soldier’s death. The secrecy and escalation are both primarily to protect the existing deployment but Small notes how our involvement Afghanistan has now run twice as long as WW2 and compares in scale to Vietnam .

In the NBR Matthew Hooton gives a very detailed and rational analysis of why Hide can expect no favours from national this election in Nats to reject Act deal in Epsom (not currently online).

[Continue reading below for a full list of the highlights of NZ Politics Daily]

Below are the internet links to all the NZ politics material from the last 24 hours that are either informative, insightful, interesting or influential. This list and the links are taken from a fuller document, NZ Politics Daily, which is emailed out, Monday to Friday, to various researchers, academics, journalists, MPs and so forth. The document is purely for research purposes only, and if you would like to be on the subscription list, please email: [email protected]

Copyright Amendment Bill

Derek Cheng (NZH): Net piracy: prove innocence or face fine

Bronwyn Torrie (Dom Post): Internet law may catch parents unawares

Stuff: Copyright law: Net parodists target Nat MPs

Paul Harper (NZH): Labour defends support for file sharing bill

Clare Curran (Red Alert): No New Zealander can be disconnected from the internet

No Right Turn: A question for Labour on the copyright bill

Peter Griffin (Listener): The future will be streamed

Andrea Vance (Stuff): Doubts over disconnection

John Hartevelt (Stuff): Is the Skynet Law so bad?

Matt Rilkoff (Taranaki Daily News): MP's Skynet talk attracts attention

Southland Times Editorial: Why the rush at the end?