Dented democracy

Dented democracy
Vikram Kumar
http://internetnz.net.nz/news/blog/2011/Dented-democracy

14 Apr 2011

It’s hard not to be disappointed by the passage of the Copyright (Infringing File-Sharing) Bill into law today.

The only changes to the Bill that came out of the latest Select Committee process was a fix to poor drafting (section 122MA) and timing changes. It was as if everything else disappeared into a political black hole. No submission, research or logic seems to have penetrated.

It’s hardly surprising then that the Government used urgency to quell debate and push the Bill through with no warning. Hardly a good look for democracy.

Lipstick on a Pig

A central problem is sequencing. We should have had debate and broad agreement about the role of copyright in an Internet age before legislating what the penalties for infringing should be.

Much has been made about protecting Kiwi artists. Evoking Dave Dobbyn may touch emotive chords but only shows a lack of real understanding of the world in which artists thrive. Watch Amanda Palmer or read the views of the Creative Freedom Foundation. Understanding their views is a far better way of protecting and promoting Kiwi artists than passing laws in their name.

There are many other big issues that have been talked about elsewhere, such as the harsh penalties. Many of them are in InternetNZ’s submission and I won’t cover them again. They remain very real issues and remain unresolved.

Many people, me included, acknowledge that the law is far better than the starting point. Yes, but it still fundamentally flawed. No amount of lipstick is going to fix that.

Parliamentary Debate

I suspect, like many others in the Internet community, this is the first time I’ve actually watched Parliament TV. The experience didn’t exactly leave me with a strong desire to do it again anytime soon. The number of MPs present and the general level of debate that reduced issues important to the Internet community to the banal was disappointing.

The Internet community can be quite unforgiving. And MPs, for the most part, made it too easy for that community to respond with emotional disbelief to what they were hearing. What might have meant to simply be a clever soundbite for MPs evoked a collective cringe from the Internet community. Green MP Gareth Hughes was an honourable exception.

Many MPs also seemed unaware of the parallel conversation going on via Twitter. However, some Labour and Green MPs were not only aware but active participants. It’s fascinating to see how the two-way nature of social media is beginning to evolve from a side conversation to influencing parliamentary debates. This can only increase in the future and MPs ignoring social media conversations do so at their own peril.

Bottom Line

For InternetNZ and me, suspension of Internet accounts for copyright infringement is simply unacceptable. It’s not up for negotiation. No compromises, no deals. I have not heard any argument that makes suspension a proportionate response. It isn’t an effective or appropriate or equitable way to deal with copyright issues.

Those who favour cutting a deal on Internet account suspension are only postponing the inevitable conflict coming down the track. You can’t dance with bears for too long without getting hurt.

What Next

Given the determination with which the Government has pushed this into law with almost no changes from the latest Select Committee process, there is clearly no appetite for further dialogue or flexibility. I therefore don’t expect a blackout campaign to succeed the second time around.

The first of the notices under the law will probably appear by the end of this year. There aren’t therefore going to be tangible examples that blow up into an election issue. In the meantime, lobbyists on behalf of the rights holders are going to be raking in the money. Let’s hope some of that is credible studies of what’s actually happening in New Zealand.

The Government and MPs may therefore like to think that it’s the end of this pesky topic then, finally. It isn’t. Copyright issues are too central to the Internet. In turn, the Internet is too important to the lives of everyday Kiwis.

As more and more people become aware of the law and understand the implications to them personally, the sense of unease and unfairness will grow. They will start asking why their library or favourite free wifi provider is pulling out services. We will have a couple of cases on TV that Kiwis will find unjust and excessive. There will be cases where rights holders and their reps go too far and abuse the law. It will snowball from there.

Unfortunately, that means change to the law will not happen without people getting hurt. Change will not happen without outraged Kiwis demanding it. Change will not happen without ordinary Kiwis getting infringement notices.

The best people can therefore do is to try and protect themselves. That’s where InternetNZ will focus on in the run up to the law coming into force on 1st September. In parallel, I hope enlightened Kiwi artists will take a good look at Creative Commons and think about new models to engage with their fans.

As for me, this issue is the first time my teenager daughter finally cared about what I do. If that’s any yardstick, it’s going to be a bumpy ride ahead.

Original post on the InternetNZ blog

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