Gay UK wit Stephen Fry has joined a protest against New Zealand's proposed new copyright laws, by 'blacking out' his Twitter.com avatar. Black-out: Stephen Fry "If you're on Twitter, would you change your avatar to black to show support for the fight against a 'three accusations and you're offline' law in New Zealand?" he said on the website. Sections 92A and 92C of the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act, which come into effect at the end of the month, mean the responsibility for illegal downloading of copyrighted material is the hands of internet service providers, who will be asked to terminate the accounts of customers who infringe the law. ISPs are being advised to offer a "three strikes and you're out" policy – issuing up to three warning notices before cutting off accounts, regardless if the person has been convicted of a crime or not. "Basically the government is taking away yet another of our rights by allowing ISPs to block and ban anyone who might be downloading material illegally," gay bloggers Aaron Halliwell and Andy Boreham sum up on their website. "There is no proper procedure with Section 92 in regards to fair trial, proper evidence, or compensation for false accusations. "Section 92 is open to abuse, whereby anyone at an ISP can shut down the internet connection or website of an individual or company they don't like, simply by stating that they 'suspect copyright infringement'." Similar laws in other countries have been a major threat to freedom of speech, whereby websites and connections are shut down that feature content which is politically charged against a certain corporation or individual, the bloggers add. According to the website 'creativefreedom.org.nz', this week is 'black-out week', with internet social networking users changing their avatars to black. Hundreds of New Zealanders have blacked-out their Facebook, Twitter, Bebo and other accounts, and several members of GayNZ.com's Forum have done likewise. A protest rally will take place outside Parliament at 12:30pm this afternoon, where a petition against the proposed laws will be handed over.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News Staff
First published: Thursday, 19th February 2009 - 11:03am