Join the Internet #Blackout Campaign...

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You may have noticed the black avatars appearing all over the internet to protest the Guilt Upon Accusation Law in the new NZ Copyright Act. Three Accusations of downloading or using copyrighted material and your internet access will be disconnected.

From @aspiegirl on Twitter:" Joined the #blackout campaign as my Autistic friends in NZ have already had their net suspended. With no warning or way to communicate!"

If it can happen here, it can happen anywhere...

Watch Kangaroo Court: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpbadsgW4Qg

For more visit: http://creativefreedom.org.nz/blackout.html

ya i looked this and they are insane ......there will be service providers that provide anomity in future..and they get all clients

It's become a huge online debate. Twitter, Facebook it's gone totally meta. But this affects everyone.

Internet access is a basic human right for education, communication, and connection to a global community.

Using copyrighted material on ones site does not appear to be a human civil right.

Posting a blank avatar will have as much effect on the current situation as saying, "Have a nice day" alleviates clinical depression.

Also for the record my friends are content producers & copyright holders themselves. Please don't let APRA & RIAANZ frame this as filesharing & piracy killing music issue. This campaign is from New Zealand artists who do not want this done in their name.

I do believe internet access is a human right and a judge would fine or send someone to jail before disconnecting the internet for any other 'crime' as it affects a whole family, library, school, business. Because under this law if you share your connection with a flatmate and they download something - you will be cut off with no way of disputing it in your own country.

They do this in the UK, too, but it dosent work well at all, I don't think any ISPs except Virgin even bother any more.

Guilty until proven innocent is being slowly but steadily introduced into the New Zealand legal system via backdoor methods like this.

The legal device that allows the state to seize property (on conviction of certain offenses) unless one can prove they are not proceeds of crime is another example.

There is currently an attempt to allow police to forcibly take DNA samples from people merely arrested for certain crimes (ie not found guilty yet), and I've actually heard politicians (including the toe dabbling PM) imply that anyone arrested is guilty of a crime (by stating that those who wish to not be effected can simply avoid committing a crime) in relation to why this is justifiable.

I well recall the absolute inviolability of the undertaking that this forcible taking of DNA would never be extended to anyone not already convicted of a crime, as being the predominant justification for why any forcible taking of DNA samples was justified (when the police were pushing for that law change). That was only about a decade ago.

We also have issues with accusations against parents being acted on until parents can prove otherwise (in some cases, yet in others, overwhelming evidence is "glossed over", apparently depending on how "desirable" guardianship of the child is or the particular personal biases of the "social worker" involved).

Another example is that chap who was denied compensation this week after the murder conviction he spent 10 years in prison over was vacated. Having been proven "not proven guilty", he will receive no compensation on the basis that he is "probably guilty".

So much for innocent until proven otherwise.

Meanwhile, as a student at a New Zealand university, I was required to submit all essays to "Turnitin.com" who then use them for their own profit and subsequently reduce the profit making potential of the work. Apparently copyright protection in New Zealand is not about protecting the profit making potential of creators'/authors' of novel works, because my right to profit by preventing others profiting without paying me, and preventing loss of value accordingly, is clearly not protected.

I understand what you are protesting, and why you are protesting against it, and agree with you. But I think displaying an image of a URL in your avatar (like www.nzcopyright.com or something) would get noticed a bit more than just a black square - I'd have had no idea that your black avatar was significant if I hadn't read your post.

Done. The last day is on Monday 23rd and you can find out how to join in here: http://creativefreedom.org.nz/blackout.html