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Download Weekly Extra: InternetNZ disrupted
- The Free Speech Union’s coordinated sign-up effort has significantly shifted InternetNZ’s membership numbers, which could influence future governance.
- There’s a legal requirement for InternetNZ to update its constitution, rejecting the changes could put the organisation in a difficult position.
- The proposed changes (a smaller board with appointed members and a focus on Te Tiriti o Waitangi) align with wider governance trends in New Zealand, but the FSU sees them as a threat to democracy.
On Monday, InternetNZ members will vote on the organisation’s proposed new constitution at a special general meeting. Fittingly for InternetNZ the meeting will be an online Zoom videoconference.
InternetNZ has no choice in the matter. It has to update its constitution because it is an incorporated society. The Incorporated Societies Act 2022 means all incorporated societies must reregister. They also need to implement the recommendations from the 2022 Independent Review of the Act.
Good governance practices
It took 18 months to develop the new constitution. InternetNZ president Stephen Judd says the task meant focusing on good governance practices that prioritise expertise and diverse representation on the board.
It did this without losing sight of the organisation's core mission of managing the .nz namespace and supporting the wider internet community.
That’s hardly controversial in 2025 New Zealand. Yet members of the Free Speech Union object to some of the proposed changes.
"Primed for censorship"
One of its members, David Harvey, who is a former judge, says the “proposed constitutional changes would result in an organisation that is less democratic, more ideological and primed for censorship”.
In February the FSU published a media release: InternetNZ's flawed constitutional changes danger to free internet.
The FSU then encouraged its supporters to join InternetNZ to press its campaign and vote against the changes.
Membership numbers jump
As a result, InternetNZ member numbers jumped. In February, there were 370 members. Judd says that number is now close to 3000.
FSU chief executive Jonathan Ayling told media his organisation signed up 500 new InternetNZ members and several hundred more signed up in their own right.
Not all the newcomers are FSU supporters. There have been sign-up campaigns to counter the influx.
Because new members provide limited personal information, it’s impossible to know whether FSU supporters hold a majority—but that could be the case.
InternetNZ rules mean members can’t vote during their first three months. That means the proposed new constitution will likely be approved at the special general meeting on Monday, March 31.
July AGM will be crucial
Assuming that happens, the action will move on to the InternetNZ annual general meeting in July where there will be further discussion about the organisation’s governance structure, how the board is made up and InternetNZ’s future role.
Things get complicated if members vote against the new constitution, as the organisation may then struggle to meet its legal obligations under the Incorporated Societies Act.
March 31 is also the cutoff date for members to be eligible to vote at the annual general meeting in July.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi
Like many other organisations in New Zealand InternetNZ’s new proposed constitution aims to put Te Tiriti o Waitangi at the centre of all its work. That’s far from unusual.
It also means cutting the size of the board, formerly called the InternetNZ Council, from nine elected members to five. A further four will be appointed. Again, this is far from unusual, boards often include appointed members, it’s a way of ensuring there is a full balance of appropriate skills and experience.
Judd says he and InternetNZ chief executive Vivien Maidaborn met the FSU last year and assured FSU chief executive Ayling there were no plans to regulate the .nz domain on the basis of content.
“We laughed at the idea and said we're absolutely not. We explained that DNS (Domain Name System) is a very poor way to do censorship. But secondly, we don't have a public mandate to do that. Thirdly, we can't afford to do it.
We couldn't censor that way
“If you think about what has to be done to survive being sued, you need a robust investigation process. You need to put all sort of things in place that we can’t do.
“We’ve got a long history of not doing that and processes that make it extremely unlikely. So, irrespective of what you might believe about our intentions, we can’t.”
Most of the discussion about the FSU’s InternetNZ action has focused on David Harvey’s comments about democracy, ideology and censorship, without considering the wider context.
Parallel lines
“The FSU’s approach to InternetNZ mirrors its tactics in other sectors, as outlined in a recent report by Andrea Vance at The Post.
In Is this the ad that sparked Jim Grenon’s NZME takeover? Vance quotes Ayling outlining the FSU’s strategy in that case, which echoes its approach to InternetNZ.
Ayling tells Vance:
“We’ve always encouraged our supporters to buy shares, and it's consistent with the way we engage over a host of institutions.” This included professional membership councils for universities, the public service, lawyers, teachers, and healthcare.
“We've got eight professional memberships in place that have identified eight key sectors of society that we think really need investment ...[and] the individuals that we have there to say that we need to reinvigorate a cultural response here, where everyday Kiwis feel like they have a buy-in.”
This suggests the InternetNZ debate is not an isolated case but part of a broader FSU campaign to influence governance structures across key institutions.
Download Weekly Extra: InternetNZ disrupted was first posted at billbennett.co.nz.
Bill Bennett
Freelance journalist.
Auckland-based Bill Bennett writes technology and business stories that are directly relevant to New Zealand readers.
His emphasis is on telecommunications, but he also covers other aspects of technology and business. You can find his features in the New Zealand Herald and hear him regularly on RNZ Nine to Noon and the NZ Tech Podcast.
Bennett's The Download Weekly newsletter is published every Friday. You can sign up for it here.
If you want to support his work, you can make a donation to his PressPatron account.
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