The Herald On The New Copyright Bill

This story on copyright is (to put it politely) not as accurate as it could be:

Anyone caught breaching copyright by downloading films and music from the internet will face large penalties and could even be disconnected by their internet service under new legislation.

No, that's completely inaccurate. Anyone caught infringing must first be given three notices before any action can be taken. So that's two free infringements. And while the penalty is a maximum of $15,000, in most cases the amount awarded to the copyright owner will be low. The Cabinet paper that preceded the new copyright bill stressed the need not to impose excessively punitive penalties.

A three-strikes system will hand out formal warnings to offenders, and further illegal downloads could prompt copyright owners to apply for up to $15,000 compensation from the user.

The copyright owner could also ask the relevant internet service provider to cut off the customer's internet connection for up to six months.

The ban could happen only after a copyright owner, such as a media company, applies for a district court order for the internet service provider to suspend the user's internet access.

Those last two paragraphs don't work well together. The court can order that the customer's connection be terminated. But the ISP would still be entitled to disconnect the user under its own terms and conditions. Although I suspect most won't terminate, other than for the most flagrant infringements.

Dozens of bloggers throughout the country are planning to take their blogs down on Monday morning in an "internet blackout" protest against the bill. Similar protests a year ago led John Key's government to stall the previous Labour government's attempt to update copyright law.

Well that's news. I've not seen anything on any blogs about a blackout. Mind you, there are literally thousands of blogs out there.
 
But why the blackout? The bill is about as good as opponents of copyright can hope to get, because there has to be some penalty for repeatedly infringing copyright. The warning system appears to balance the rights of all main stakeholders in this matter: copyright owners, ISPs and internet users. 
 
And the provisions regarding disconnection of internet accounts have been so watered down that few people will find themselves being disconnected, other than serious and repeated infringers.
 
Some details of the system may need refining, and people will have the opportunity to raise issues during the select committee process. I really cannot see the Government giving up on this bill, so opponents should work to improve the proposed system via the parliamentary process. 
 
So I will not be blacking this site out on Monday. Not that I would know how.