Cory Doctorow (of BoingBoing fame) has posted that NZ is to get a DMCA type amendment to our Copyright Act.
Sure enough, in the text of the amendment:
introduce an offence (carrying a sentence of a fine not exceeding $150,000
or a term of imprisonment of up to 5 years, or both) for commercial
dealing in devices, services, or information designed to circumvent
technological protection measures:
I’m not convinced that Tizard’s amendment is as far reaching as the DMCA (though trying to compare the changes to the Act with the text of the US DMCA requires a perverse sort of masochism I’m not cursed with), but I can see Doctorow’s point:
This has been an unmitigated disaster in the US: not only has it totally failed to keep copyrighted works from being copied without permission (every “copy-protected” work ever released is available on P2P networks within minutes of its release), it has also created an anti-competitive marketplace where companies can sue their competitors for making compatible products
It would be interesting to hear what a lawyer thinks about the NZ equivalent of the DMCA to know if it could have the same “chilling effects“.
Even worse is the following:
It also potentially reduces rates of piracy as a result of clear guidance as to what constitutes infringement. Increased certainty is created by New Zealand’s law being more in line with our major trading partners.
1. Rubbish. There is no way it will “potentially reduce rates of piracy”. Piracy will continue no matter what. Where’s the evidence from European and US markets that these law changes have made any difference?
2. “New Zealand’s law being more in line with our major trading partners” — read that as “we’re being pressured by foreign interests and they’re dangling the free-trade carrot”
UPDATE: Stephen Marshal has written an interesting commentary on his blog (already slashdotted). One of the more salient points he makes is:
Much of the economic damage from music and movie piracy also appears to arise from the production and sale of counterfeit CDs and DVDs, something that is already easy prosecuted under the existing laws and of no relevance to digital copyright whatsoever. Its worrying to see the Government serve up industry propaganda as fact in this way and it suggests a passive acceptance of the position stated by commercial interests rather than a deeper analysis of the facts.
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