Copyright Recommendations relieve Creative Freedom Foundation

The release of a cabinet paper today by Minister of Justice Simon Power was a relief to the Creative Freedom Foundation which had been opposing Internet disconnection on accusation. Bronwyn Holloway-Smith, Director of the Creative Freedom Foundation was relieved on reading the details of the Cabinet paper, saying ”this new proposal steers well clear of that [disconnection] approach, respecting due process and the principle of being innocent until proven guilty by experts.”

Holloway-Smith notes that there are still questions to answer such as liability for malicious allegations, but that the government is on the right track to creating a great solution for NZ that supports both public and artistic rights. Holloway-Smith is looking forward to the Select Committee process to address these concerns.

Clare Curran, Labour's Communications and IT spokesperson also spoke in support of the new measures, saying "On the face of it the new three strikes process is relatively fair on the Internet using public, but more questions need to be answered before we can have complete confidence in the proposal". Labour was responsible for passing the original legislation, reinserting the controversial text into the Copyright Bill after it was removed in select committee.