You may have noticed that something has happened to your friends’ avatars on Twitter and Facebook. The place where their happy smiley face or amusing/ironic image usually resides is now a solid black square. Is this down to the platforms cracking down on copyrighted images? No, it’s actually down to the New Zealand government trying to crackdown on copyright infringement by pulling the connection of repeat offenders and the resulting orchestrated campaign against the move by the Creative Freedom Foundation.
Copyright is legal concept which protects the creator of original pieces of artistic works and has become a much discussed concept since the advent of the interwebz, as some people seem to think that if its available on line then it is free for them to use and abuse as they see fit. The New Zealand government is actually seeking to protect the holders of copyright but it is the manner in which they propose to deal with it that has riled people. A new provision (Section 92A) to the current Copyright Act is due to come into force on 28th Februaryand states that if a copyright owner thinks that an internet user is guilty of repeatedly breaching copyright, then the user’s Internet Service Provider (ISP) will be forced the terminate their internet connections and websites. The emphasis is on the word *thinks* in that last sentence, there is no need for proof before your internet connection is pulled.
The Foundation behind the Internet Blackout N.Z was started last year by two artists, the very sort of people who the provision is aiming to protect. Their reasoning is that:
The Foundation advocates on behalf of artists whose creative freedom is affected by major Governmental decisions made in their name, and in the name of protecting creativity. The Foundation represents the views of artists who don’t want injustices in Copyright law done in their name, and who want to find better ways to work.
The thought behind the blackout campaign is that if the Provision comes into force, that’s pretty much what you’re screen will look like if you’re in NZ.
As mentioned, copyright is a messy topic and not one on which I’d like to comment. What has interested me about this issue is the global involvement, internet users from around the world are blacking out their avatars and changing their status updates to read ‘is blacked out: Stand up against “Guilt Upon Accusation” for New Zealand http://creativefreedom.org.nz/blackout.html’. Including the king of the Twitterati and renowned UK national treasure, Stephen Fry. Would that have happened pre-Twitter?
The campaign is scheduled to run over the next week and we’ll keep an eye on its development and ultimate success or failure as it goes along.
Twitter
New Zealand is a ginnepig country for the illuminati to play with and experiariment upon they don’t care wheather we like it or not.
We are the first to see the light of day, and we are the first to get some stupid law that they make up forced upon us.
How can they sleep at night when people like us have to be ruled by idiots, puppets for the illuminati and the freemasons.
I can’t stand around and be bullied by these pack of crap people, who think they rule everything, there are higher people than them WATCH OUT..